Dave noticed a lump in his neck the middle of January (which I thought he was making up, because I couldn't feel it.) He asked my OB doc about it at one of my visits, and the Dr told him that he thought maybe it was his thyroid and ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound came back showing that he had a 4 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm growth on the right lobe of his thyroid. So, the dr ordered a thyroid uptake and scan. This is where he takes a radioactive iodine pill and then they use a special camera to see how much iodine the growth uptakes. Anyway, the scan came back showing that the growth was cold, which means that it is a growth on the thyroid, not part of the thyroid. So, then we had a fine needle aspiration which is a biopsy where the radiologist pokes little needles into the tumor and gets tissue to test. The results came back saying that they couldn't say it was cancer, but they couldn't rule it out. So, we met with the surgeon last week and he recommended that with the growth the size it is (quite large) and that it is undetermined as to whether it is benign or malignant for cancer, he needs to have it removed. The surgeon said that he thinks the risk of cancer is 50%. Dave is scheduled for a thyroid lobectomy on Tues, April 14. It is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour surgery and they will keep him in the hospital overnight to make sure there are no complications. Then they will do extensive tests on the tumor to rule out cancer. If it is cancerous, they will go back in a few weeks and take out the other side of the thyroid. If not, all it well and we are done. They say that 80 percent of people can live with only half a thyroid and no meds. If he needs meds, it is a cheap hormone that replaces the thyroid produced hormone.
Please keep Dave in your prayers. We are kind of nervous about all of this. Although they say that thyroid cancer is the best cancer to get if you are going to get cancer, we really don't want to go there.
5 comments:
Good Luck Dave....and I really really love the new fam pics. they are so cute.
Cute pictures~ Good luck Dave we will pray for you. I hope everything goes well with your surgery.
Oh Kate, I am so sorry! It seems like you have quite the time with bad events lately! We will keep you all in our prayers, and if you need anything at all please call. We would love to take your boys so that you can be with Dave at the hospital! Let me know.
I hope things go well with Dave's surgery. I will for sure be thinking about him.
We were just telling Macy about staying at your house while we had Charlie. She thought long and hard and thinks she can kind of remember it. Good times!
Hi Kate! I'm sorry to hear about the health scare. There are so many things that can go wrong with our bodies...so frustrating. We pray that everything will be fine! Looks like you guys are keeping busy. Maybe we can get together when I am in ID in August.
Post a Comment