Bumping the Surgery

I started getting sick on Sunday.  Monday I was even worse, so I called and rescheduled the surgery that was scheduled for Tuesday.  I went to the doctor - Upper Respiratory infection.  So there I was laying in bed on Monday and Dr. Stephanie Byrum called.  She did my stomach surgery and her staff told me she didn't do thyroid surgery, so I went elsewhere.  She was calling to tell me that she does a few thyroid surgeries, but she would recommend Dr. Shellenberger at MD Anderson, which is where she is at.  I have been thinking of going there anyway.  It's just weird that she would call the day before I was supposed to go under the knife, and that I would be sick and not doing it!  Coincidence?  I don't know what to do!  I already paid half of the surgeon fee, so I need to find out if I can get that back if I switch.

Meeting with Surgeon

Dave went with me to meet with Dr. Masur, the surgeon yesterday.  I'm glad he went with me, because he spent an hour with us!  It was a lot of information.  I have the surgery scheduled for next Tuesday, October 23.  They will go in and remove the "almost golf ball size" nodule and the right side of my thyroid.  They will then send it to the lab and wait the 15-20 minutes for the results (while I "sleep").  If it is not cancer (which it is most likely not) then they are done and I will go home after a few hours, as long as I am doing OK.  If there is cancer (please, NO!) then they will take the other half of the thyroid out also, and I will have to stay overnight.  The only symptoms I have is that I have felt like I am getting a sore throat, but it never gets bad.  This has been going on for months.  It also feels like there is a small obstruction when I swallow, but not a big deal.  I am anxious to get this over with!

Results

I called Dr. Dharia's office at 10:30 and left a message with the receptionist to give to his assistant asking for the biopsy results.  At 1:30 I called again and left a message on the recorder for Dr. Dharia's assistant telling her that I needed to know the results today and that I was coming down there if I didn't get a return phone call.  They close at 4:00, so I went down there at 3:00.  I told the receptionist I was there to find out the results of the biopsy because the hospital told me the doctor would have them by Wednesday.  She checked the computer and said they were not in yet.  I insisted they were supposed to be there.  She went in the other room and came back awhile later and said they just came in.  I'm sorry, I don't believe that.  I bet they came in yesterday.  She said the doctor would call me later, or I could wait to talk to him.  Yeah, right, they'll call me.  I'm waiting right here!  I really like Dr. Dharia, but I've had 3 bad experiences with the staff, so I am checking out another place, probably MD Anderson.  Anyway, Dr. Dharia comes in and says the good news is that it's not Lymphoma, but inconclusive about it being another slower growing cancer.  I will have the nodule removed and they will be able to tell exactly what it is.  It would have to be removed anyway.  As I was leaving, the doctor said they were about to call me.  I'm sorry, I don't believe that.  I know I wouldn't have gotten a call today, and I doubt I would have gotten one tomorrow either.  I just don't think they care (except Dr. Dharia).  24 hours, 12 hours, even 2 more hours is a long time to wait for results.

Waiting......waiting.....waiting.....

Do you know what it's like to wait for the results of a Biopsy?????  I know it is probably NOT cancer, I know it is probably NOT cancer......but until I get that phone call, I don't KNOW!!!  Mostly I think it will be good news, but sometimes I'll think "But what if it is C????"  Just call me already!!!!  They said if I didn't get a phone call by Wednesday, to call the doctor.  So today is Tuesday, which means I could get THE phone call today.  Waiting.......waiting.......

Thyroid Biopsy

I got to go in for the thyroid biopsy today at Banner Baywood hospital.  Can't think of anything I'd rather do!   Everyone was super nice, which makes such a difference!  My blood pressure was super high when they first took it.  Gee, just a tad nervous!  The nurse explained the procedure and said the doctor would stop and let me swallow in-between each extraction.  This freaked me out, because that is one thing I hate about the dentist! A nurse did another ultrasound and they had the finger clip and blood pressure hooked up during the procedure, which took about 15 minutes.  The doctor came in, Chris Davis, who was super nice.  He gave me the numbing shot, which wasn't fun.  Everyone has compared the shot to a bee sting.  Well, I've been stung by a wasp (in the neck, even!) and I didn't like it! The nurse who was watching my vitals held my arm and talked to me the whole time.  I could talk and swallow the whole time, so I was worried about that for nothing!  So there were 4 people in the room during the procedure.  Nurse holding my arm, Doctor sticking needles in my neck, nurse helping doctor, another nurse who took the samples from the doctor.  He took 5 samples, which I couldn't really feel, since I was numb by then.  I just felt pressure.  I got to walk out of there with a nice blue ice pack taped to my neck.  So all in all it was a bigger deal than I expected, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be! Results by Wednesday, and then we'll go from there.  One day at a time.