Health Update - late May 2008 - Good News!

It's been a while since I've blogged. I saw Dr. Chahal at University of Iowa, Hospitals and Clinics on 22 May. She reviewed my recent blood work, and the neck biopsied from February. She was pleased with everything. She wants me to do a chest C.T. of the lungs sometime between now and six months from now (I scheduled it for August) and then she wants to see me in six months. At six months (November) I'm supposed to do a neck ultrasound in the morning and see Dr. Chahal in the afternoon. We will also check by Thryoglobulin (cancer marker) again at that time. My Thyroglobulin (Tg) has always been "undetectable." U of Iowa has more sensitive labs, so the Tg shows up, but it's very very low. This is good! Of course, we gotta stay on top of it and check it often. If it should go up, or if a neck scan should look bad, or if the lung scan should look bad, then we'd need to do more testing. But, I can't let myself go there...I've been cancer free for 12 years...I'm planning on about 50 more!!
In my conversation with Dr. Chahal, I complained about having to take so much Synthroid. The symptoms of being overdosed ("necessary" for cancer patients to help supress future cancer growth) are not fun...heart palpitations, always warm, sweaty, anxious, loose bowels, increased appetite, lack of sleep, light sleep, very high heart rate, etc. She reluctantly is allowing me to back off just a little bit of my Synthroid...just a 5% reduction. Hopefully it will help reduce the symptoms!
I also found out this week that I have borderline osteoporosis. I have a lot of risk factors. Synthroid usage (even when not overdosed) can pull calcium from the bones. My Dad has osteoporosis. I went through menopause at the age of 42. These things all work against me. I noticed that I've lost an inch of height and I have a lot of lower back pain and wrist pain. So, I did a baseline bone density scan of the hip and lower back. I'm not surprised about the results. I have to take 1200 mg of calcium daily (with vitamins K and D) and do weight bearing exercise...then get re-tested in a year's time.
Well, the good news is that I've lived long enough to have borderline osteoporosis!! That beats the alternative!
Well, I don't plan to update this post until I have news...so probably this will remain "dormant" until after the upcoming August scan of my lungs...
Enjoy the Summer!