August 2008 Update

Well, it's been a heck of a summer. The lovely side effects of being overdosed on synthroid have been awful. The worst part has been chronic insomnia, anxiety and a resting heart beat that's settled at 97 beats per minute. Yuck!! I worked with Dr. Swift locally and she strongly suggested a low dose beta-blocker. Since I don't have high blood pressure, I was not thrilled with the idea...but I tried it. Well, I'm now sleeping, my resting heart beat is in the 60's range and I'm not as anxious! All good, right? Sorta. My blood pressure has dropped some from a normal range to a low normal. It's O.K., I just have to get used to feeling this way.

In the meantime, I went down to Iowa City for my chest CT to follow the lung nodules I've been told I have. The new doctor, Dr. Chahal, wanted new baseline scans. Beth Ann McDaniel drove me down since I was on day three of the beta blockers and not thrilled with the idea of driving while drowsy. She's GREAT company. I did the CT with no contrast and then waited. And waited. And waited. I waited a week without hearing anything other than an e-mail from Dr. Chahal saying "it's fine that you are on the beta blocker. I'll send a letter with your CR results." Great. I wrote back and asked if there was cause for concern and she said no, but I had scarring in my right lung.

I got the official letter today (technically yesterday since I'm typing this at 2 a.m.) and the CT findings, are of course, more complicated than just that. Yes, there is scarring and a nodule in my right lung that appears to be scar tissue based on the scan. This is good. I also have scarring at the base of both lungs...likely damage from prior pneumonias. They also see an area of low density in the liver. This is the lovely thing called "an incidental finding." In other words, "we were not looking here, but ooops, we found this by accident." The radiologist suggests an ultrasound if warranted. Dr. Chahal mentions nothing about it. My internet research tells me it's likely a "birthmark" in the liver. So, I'm not worried (yeah, right) too much about it.

I'll call Dr. Chahal to discuss further, but I suspect she'll also say it's likely nothing. Oh the joys of being a human!! God puts us here on this earth and if we are going to take up time and space, our physical bodies will be bumped and bruised along the way. It's life. I am grateful to all the support, prayers, and love that I've been getting as I journey with thyroid cancer. For the moment, I'm in a good place and looking forward to ongoing good reports from the doctor. I'm also pretty psyched up about the upcoming thyroid cancer survivor's conference in St. Louis in October!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a place to connect with others like me and I'll get to hear talks from top researchers from around the globe.

I'll post another update when there's something newsworthy!
Peace, dj