Constant Surveillance

Once a cancer patient, always a cancer patient. The name of the game is "constant surveillance." I still have not heard back from the doctor's review of the CT and chest X-Ray films. But I did get a letter from Dr. Chahal stating the excellent results of my needle biopsy and my blood work was also good. My TSH is 0.24. That's below normal and a bit high for a thyroid cancer patient. Sounds backwards, right? That's because it is. Thyroid cancer patients need to be over-dosed on Synthroid to drive TSH down as close to zero as is tolerable. When I get down below 0.5 I don't feel well. That means most of the time I don't feel well. I've learned to live with it...the shaky hands, constant nervousness and anxiety, irregular heartbeat, always warm, insomnia, etc. But, as they say, "it beats the alternative." My Tg (cancer marker) was 0.2. This is also excellent as below 5.0 is considered very good. However, mine has always come back as "undetectable." The fact that it is 0.2 is probably due to the test being done at a different lab this time. Some labs report the bottom of their test range as the result. This happened to me when I was living in Mexico and had my blood work done there and my Tg came back as 1.0 and I was so upset...then I learned their lab standard is to report the bottom of their ability to detect and they can't detect below 1.0. Maybe U of Iowa does the same thing. I'll find out in May.
So, in May I go see Dr. Chahal again. I have an appointment for 22 May at 10:45. It seems soon to be going back. Dr. Weideman used to give me six months or a year in between appointments. But, I'm in the U of Iowa system now and following their protocol. So, if Dr. Chahal says May, then I'll be there in May.
Dr. Weideman called me yesterday to ask how I was doing. She had not heard from U of Iowa yet. I told her all that I knew and she thought it all sounded great. She also said I could continue at U of Iowa or continue with her...it's my choice. She is a wonderful doctor and a wonderful person...and I certainly owe her my life. In 1996, after the Dubuque doctor mis-diagnosed the lump in my neck for THREE YEARS, she found it in the first visit. And she treated it aggressively. Thank God for her!!
I'll update this blog as I learn more...hopefully the news continues to be good. Thank you to all of you who are praying and who continue to pray. I am praying for all of you as well! Prayer works!!