Last Wednesday, I failed to tell you all a lovely piece of news! I celebrated a very happy anniversary that many of you may know nothing about.
November 7th was my 6 year anniversary of being CANCER FREE!
I know some of you are in shock right now.
You're thinking, WHAT!? You had cancer!?
Yes, I did, but it was really not as serious as it may sound.
Let me tell you a little story...
The year Jason and I got married (2006) was quite a big year for us.
First, we got married, and for anyone who's ever thrown a wedding, you all know no major events should ever happen in the same year. It was a lot of planning and stress all for 2 beautiful words
("I Do") and a big party.
Two, we moved in together, and for anyone who's ever lived with a boy, you all know how hard it is to train them to put the seat down. Whew, glad that's a mission accomplished! Thanks, babe.
Three, my doctor found a lump in my throat.
So here's my little story...
One day, in late October I went to see the best OBGYN in the world, Dr. Kim Carter. As she was conducting my well-woman's annual exam, she asked about my family history, as all great doctors do. During her investigation she discovered that my mom was diagnosed with Thyroid Disease and was a cancer survivor. Most doctors would shake their head up and down and nod, especially since throats are not their specialty, and move along, but Dr. Carter did an amazing thing... she took the time to check my neck.
What came next was the scary part; as she examined my neck I could feel her continue to go back to the same spot over and over....
and finally she said,
"Well Cyndy, I don't want to alarm you, but I found a lump."
These are words no one ever wants to hear.
I immediately replied,
"Uh, WHAT?!"
I was stunned with a very quizzical look on my face, trying not to freak out on the outside as I completely freaked out on the inside.
She then said,
"I don't want to worry you, but you need to get this checked out soon, and by soon, I mean tomorrow."
So, tomorrow came, and I went to an ultrasound office. They put goo all over my neck and tried see if they could find anything suspicious in their fancy black and white pictures. Well, they did. So they sent me to have more tests done, and about a week later I was in an Ear Nose and Throat doctors office having a biopsy.
Of the whole ordeal, the biopsy was by far the worst part.
Picture this, you're sitting reclined in a chair, with your neck stretched out like a giraffe, as far as you can manage, looking up at the ceiling as someone takes a long huge needle and jabs it into your throat as they try to extract samples of the lump, over and over. It was horrible. And painful. But that was by far the worst part of having Thyroid Cancer.
The other thing that sucks about a biopsy, they're not so accurate.
Picture a tennis ball. This tennis ball is the lump. Now, picture a pencil. Take the pencil and draw a few dots on the tennis ball. That is essentially what a biopsy is... a very small needle punching holes into a tennis ball to see if they can find any cancer but unfortunately leaving a lot of the tennis ball unexplored.
In my case, the biopsy came back benign (not cancerous), so we had a big decision to make:
1. leave it alone, and watch it grow or
2. take it out and live with a big scar on my neck.
I am vain. I did not want a scar on my neck. I struggled a lot with this, and even to this day I am a bit self conscious about that scar. But, knowing that Thyroid Cancer already ran in my family with my mom, I thought it best not to wait and see if cancer wanted to spread in my body, but rather option to have preventative surgery.
So, on November 7th, I went into surgery with Jason by my side, my mom, Jason's mom and MawMaw and others (sorry if I don't remember you being there, I was very drugged up!) Thank God for family.
What would I do without you all?
The plan was to extract the lump, while leaving the thyroid intact, then freeze the lump so they could then chop it up into cross sections to see if there was any cancer. Well there was cancer, and since there was, they went back into my neck and took out my entire thyroid just to be safe so it wouldn't spread.
I went into surgery thinking I was just being cautious, I came out a cancer survivor.
There was a lot of risk to having the surgery, primarily to my vocal chords - if they nicked a vocal chord, I could lose my voice - and then what would I do? I love to talk so that could have been really bad! But, luckily there was no such problem. It was seamless. I was blessed. It took a couple months to recover and a few bouts with radiation to make sure any leftover cancer monsters were zapped.
Jason and I watched the ball drop on New Years Eve that year from opposite sides of the living room. I'd had a major dosage of radiation earlier that week and I didn't want to hurt him with all my radiation power, so, he ran across the living room when the ball dropped, kissed me, and went quickly back to his side as we sat "together" that night.
I married an amazing man. One that has been with me through thick and thin and he's smiled most of the way through. I know sometimes, I make him sound like a grump, but I am truly the luckiest woman on the planet. He loves me and I love him more.
Goodnight everyone. I love you too :)
xoxo, cb.
