So it begins...

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, August 18, 2009, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, based on an ultrasound and fine needle aspiration conducted on Friday, August 14. The biopsy, of a small nodule on my right thyroid lobe, indicated papillary carcinoma. A number of other areas were highlighted for further exploration as a result of the ultrasound, including questionable nodules in the lymph nodes/parathyroid areas.

I'm sorry if you're finding out about it for the first time here on my blog. Please do not take it personally if you are. It's only been a couple of days since my diagnosis, during which time I've been trying to schedule many consultations and tests, and also get some work done at my full-time job. Hence, it's been difficult to let everyone know in a timely manner. I'm afraid, however, that if I hold out any longer so I can tell those of you I really want to call or email personally, I'm going to be "outed" any minute now on Facebook.

Again, then, my advance apologies if this is the way you're finding out. It doesn't mean I don't love you or want to tell you in a better way than this. I do.

Going forward, I hope to use this blog to keep in touch with you and give you updates on my medical status all at once. Because this is the most common question I've had since the diagnosis, let me first tell you the steps from here:

See a surgeon: Between now and September 3, I will have visited with four surgeons.

Get an MRI of my neck: Scheduled for Wednesday.

Run about from place to place, collecting results: Ongoing.

Schedule the surgery and the follow-up iodine therapy: Surgery will probably happen sometime in September; iodine therapy will happen 4-6 weeks after the surgery, assuming that my doctor wants to do it.

I will write more on my medical history, how I got to this diagnosis, and on the consultations as they move forward. In the meantime, more information on my condition can be found below, in some text from a really excellent message that Jim sent to some friends of ours:

"So, here's the news as we know it: Lisa has early stage thyroid cancer that may or may not have spread to the surrounding lymph nodes. (We'll get a better sense of this from an MRI next week and during the operation itself.) Treatment involves complete surgical removal of the thyroid plus any affected tissue, followed by radiation therapy. We're already meeting with various doctors and hope to get Lisa slotted for surgery in early/mid-September... It was caught early, so we've been told the prognosis for someone of Lisa's age/health is very good. We like hearing that sort of thing. :)"

That sums it up nicely, I think. Please feel free to contact me via phone or email if you'd like to talk - I would love to hear from you.

XOXOXO
Lisa