Beginning Another "Adventure"

Well, looks like our family's being led into another "adventure". My thyroid (which I have helped out for 30 years with medication) has whacked out a little lately, so I went to get it checked. A CT scan and ultrasound showed a nodule on the left side. Everyone says it's very common and everything I read says almost always benign. Nothing to worry about. And if it is cancer, it's the easiest to get rid of, just take it out and you're done. I had a biopsy done last week just to check it out. Wednesday I was called by the doctor's office to make an appointment...for that same day...to discuss the results of the biopsy that I had done. Hmmmm. Called W, went to get him at work in Phoenix, went to doctor in Scottsdale, and sure enough, he said I have cancer. But not one of the easy kinds. (I rarely do things the easy and normal way!) It's called "Medullary Thyroid Cancer" and will require surgery, probably sometime in January. I haven't talked to the surgeon yet, so I don't have all the details. Dr. Hurley said he feels we caught it early, and completely on accident (the things I went to get checked in the first place are totally unrelated), which is good news because this kind spreads to the lymph nodes quickly. There are different types of this cancer, so I'll be going through some more testing to find out what kind. He said I'll need a total thyroidectomy along with all lymph nodes (please pray it has not spread to the lymph nodes) in the front of my neck and the left side removed...I think it's time to go to Disneyland.

Just in case you want to read about it...
http://www.thyroidcancer.com/medullary_thyroid_cancer.htm
http://www.endocrineweb.com/camed.html
http://www.endocrineweb.com/surthyroid.html
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/thyroid/medullary.html

*If you or anyone you know has had Medullary Cancer, I'd LOVE to hear from you!!!
CynPartridge@msn.com