Saturday, July 19, 2008

Cancer Updates

Holy Cow! (No offense to the Hindu's)

SSSSOOOO much has happened since I wrote last! The biggest and most imposing one is that I have been diagnosed with follicular cancer which is a type of thyroid cancer. I had 2 surgeries in about 3 weeks. The first was to just remove the tumor and when it turned out to be malignant (when the doctor told me it was malignant I had to think in my mind, "Now, is malignant the good one or the bad one?" which is probably why I took it so well!) it was back to the hospital to remove it all! I was in the hospital for 3 days with the second surgery and the service was horrible! I was so glad to get out!

I now have to take thyroid hormone medication for the rest of my life, but really it's not too bad. Right now I'm not on any medication at all because they want to see what my body is still producing and where the remaining thyroid cells are in my body. Next week I will have a total body thyroid scan to find those remaining cells and then to blast them away into oblivion using radiation! I can only hope it is as cool as it sounds!

Thyroid cancer is one of the easiest cancers to treat and pretty much everyone survives it so it's really not a big deal. Now we just have to hope that the cancer didn't spread to my thyroid from somewhere else. We are pretty sure it didn't spread from the thyroid to anywhere else because there were no traces of cancer in the left side of the thyroid. Only time can tell!

It's already been a long process and it will only get longer! I am hoping that this whole waiting around thing won't be so long after this next test (I have to be off medication for two weeks prior for it to work correctly) but who knows. Honestly, the only information I'm getting is from people who have known people who had thyroid cancer, and the internet. My doctor's are really not very helpful as far as telling me what is going to happen to me! My primary doctor after this will be one that we already know and he's great so I'm hoping this lack of communication will end.

I'll update more as more comes in!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Wow, you poor thing. That stinks! I hope everything turns out okay.

rebecca said...

mari! holy cow! ( to quote you:))im so glad you are doing better!

Shane and Tiffany Barker said...

Mari, this is Tiff Peterson. How are you? My little sister Michelle has a class with your husband at BYU and he told her about you. I am praying for you! You are one of the most amazing people I have ever met. You have so much faith and courage! Fear doesn't come from heavenly Father. You sound very optimistic with everything... you thin you'd milk it for a little pity or something? ha ha. You're too selfless for that.

Anyways, I know you can get through this. I am so grateful for your example to me. You're a beautiful girl with A LOT of things left to do. Your little babies are waiting for their mommy to get better so they can come meet you ;) You are amazing. I love you and will keep you in my prayers and in my fasting. Love ya, Mari.