Whew! I had the most amazing day today, so I just had to share my story. In looking back, I thought I had seen the biggest answers to my prayers when Lauren, Drew and Jack were born so healthy. Not only did I lose one other baby while I was pregnant with them, but I also had a surgery, pneumonia and found out later I had thyroid cancer during their time in the womb. Now that’s a miracle! And look how healthy they and big sis are now.
To get the full effect of my story, let me back up. So, as part of my treatment for the thyroid cancer, they removed my whole thyroid. Now, I take a pill every day to supplement back the thyroid hormone my body no longer makes. I have been having stomach problems off and on for the last two years, and the medicine that I took for that messes with the absorption of my thyroid hormone pills. So, I was following up with my doctor that has cared for me since my diagnosis, let’s call him Dr. A. He noticed that everything was off and had me do some blood work in November and December. Normally, I wasn’t due to see him until April, but then I got a letter in the mail saying I should make an appointment for January. But by January, I was feeling pretty good, so I was confused about why I had an appointment. After waiting two days for Dr A’s nurse to call me back, they said if I was feeling fine to cancel my appointment. So I did.
Then in February, I had trouble with one of my prescriptions and asked Dr A’s office if they could call a fresh one in for me at the pharmacy down the street. Two days later, they called and said they sent in a new prescription to my mail order pharmacy. I called back and literally begged them to call in just a 7 day supply to the pharmacy down the street, so I wouldn’t have to suffer needlessly for another week while I waited for my medication to arrive. I am still waiting for them to return that call.
So add that to a long list of frustrations I had with Dr A’s office and the 35 minute drive each way,and that sealed the deal. It was time to look for a new doctor. I did some research online, found one that sounded really good, called to see if she was accepting new patients, and went through the big hassle of transferring my records. It was such a hassle, in fact, that I prayed about it. I wasn’t sure if this was God’s way of telling me I shouldn’t switch? I felt like God was saying go ahead. So I did. It turned out the doctor I was all excited to see wasn’t taking new patients after all. But, after I did everything short of an interview to become a new patient, I was offered to see a partner in the practice. Her first name was Lauren, so I though I’d give her a try. Just to avoid confusion, let’s call her Dr. B.
I have to admit was a little nervous about meeting Dr. B last month, because if I didn’t like her, I was scared I had burnt my bridges with Dr. A and how in the world would I get my thyroid medicine then (which I need to function every day!). Luckily, I worried for nothing and Dr. B was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I wondered why I hadn’t made the move sooner. I was treated so well by the entire staff, not to mention the 15 minute drive, that I was so glad I stuck with it and made the move.
One of the things I like best about Dr B is that she is detailed and thorough. She had looked over my past records and noticed something in my blood work that was concerning – a possible indicator that my thyroid cancer had come back. When she asked if I knew my December blood tests indicated this, I was shocked to hear that for the first time. Why didn’t Dr A ever mention that? I felt really let down that I had trusted him, and he didn’t tell me what was going on in my own body. But Dr B did give me reassurance that I had done everything I could have at the time. My cancer wouldn’t have been treated as aggressively if I had gotten my same diagnosis in 2013.
So this particular blood test is for a protein called thyroglobulin (Tg). It is a protein only made by thyroid cells, including cancerous ones. Since my thyroid cells have all ben obliterated, the Tg blood test came back under 1 (or undetectable) for years. In December, it was the highest it had been since May of 2007 (when my thyroid was surgically gone and I was getting ready to take my treatment to destroy any residual cells). It was inching towards 2 (I know that doesn’t sound like much, but Dr B says it’s a very sensitive test.) So in March, Dr B had it retested. It was up to almost 50.
Next, she ordered a neck ultrasound. I had a sinus infection at the time, so 7 of my lymph nodes were a little off. They didn’t look cancerous, but were affected by my infection. It also showed a small mass (about 9 mm) near where my tumor was previously. My doctor was pretty sure at this point that my cancer had returned. Next, she ordered a full body scan to see how much it had spread.
At this point, we decided to go ahead and tell the kids. Man, did I dread that more than the time I broke up with my high school boyfriend. Dave did such a good job of explaining it all, and the kids took it pretty well. They were scared, but I was happy not to see anyone in tears. The great thing about thyroid cancer is that it is usually a good prognosis. I am blessed that I was never given a death sentence, and I don’t take lightly that isn’t always the case.
So after almost 3 weeks of eating a low iodine diet, my scan was last Thursday. By Sunday, I was really having a hard time keeping the worries at bay. It seemed like every time my memory or concentration failed me, I worried I had brain cancer like my grandpa, who died from it. Then came the death of Roger Ebert, whose journey with cancer started with the exact same diagnosis as mine. That really got my mind to thinking – what is that mass in my neck attached to? Will I come out of surgery not looking so great either? But going to church that morning was just what I needed. The band played the song “How Great is Our God”. That was my theme song that got me through the pregnancy with the triplets! When the music started, it was like God was yelling at me “Remember all that I have brought you through? I’ve got it all under control!” Throughout this whole month or so I really have had a peace that it would all be fine and that God was in control. But then I got distracted by my worries and forgot how big my God was.
So aside from a few glitches that delayed my scan by a day, it went pretty smoothly. I asked to see the picture, and to my untrained eye there was nothing lit up in my neck like I expected! I am no doctor, but I thought that was really good news or really bad news. (The bad news would be that my cancer had returned, and it was acting less like thyroid cells and more like cancer cells, so that’s why they didn’t show up on the scan.) But they also did a neck reading and more blood work to add more pieces to the puzzle. Those I obviously didn’t know about.
So bright and early this morning my doctor called me. She had the best news ever! The results of my scan were negative, which surprised her in a good way. The blood work for my Tg test also came back negative, or undetectable. It almost seemed too good to be true! With this new information, Dr B now thinks that the mass they found in my neck is scar tissue, which often does show up this many years out from my surgery (which was in 2007). She also thinks there is a problem with the lab where my higher Tg results showed up. The 0.1 number I had from last week was from a different lab – at the hospital! It’s possible that I have developed over time an antibody that may be interfering with my Tg test results. The hospital lab does an extra step to prevent this problem. Dr B doesn’t think my previous lab does that extra step. But as of today, SHE DOESN”T THINK MY THYROID CANCER HAS RETURNED AFTER ALL! Wow! I can’t even begin to tell you what that means. She was preparing me for a surgery and another radioactive iodine treatment (which means time away from the kids). I was freezing things and setting aside stuff to do in preparation. Now I feel like I got my summer back. It’s such an amazing feeling!
So the story isn’t completely over, and I can’t pretend to explain all that God is doing. But, I know that lots of people were praying for me. I believe in the power of prayer! I have been reading When Your Doctor Has Bad News by Dr Al Weir (highly recommend it). Dr. Weir mentioned scientific studies where the patients had better outcomes when people were praying for them (see also: Faith Factor: Proof of the Healing Power of Prayer by Matthews and Clark). I was telling some of my family and friends about this and I know they were faithful to send lots of prayers up on my behalf. I don’t understand why I had to go through any of this, but maybe there were some other people who needed to see the power of prayer at work. I don’t know. I still struggle with my miscarriages – why even let me get pregnant in the first place? All I know is that God is God. He can do what He wants. And He even says so at the end of the book of Job. All I can do is tell you what I have personally seen. And what I see is that God is good!!!
God bless,
Amanda
PS Being able to have the picture you see above is another miracle I will cherish forever!
