Latest results

Well, last week in Vegas was a ton of fun.  I came home to a letter from Dr. Chahal and it's good news.  I'll give a summary and then some technical details for those of you who are fellow ThyCans and who are following this blog.
In summary:  My ultrasound is stable from last time.  My Tg (tumor marker) is stable from last time.  My TSH is low normal and I'm no longer overdosed!

The details for you techies:
Tg 0.4.  I'm not thrilled that it's moved over the years from undetectable to 0.2 to 0.4 but anything below 5 is good when factored in with other test results.  Of course a higher TSH will mean less suppression so it's OK that Tg has migrated up slightly as TSH has as well.  You can bet I'll be watching this closely.

Tg Antibodies <20.  This means the Tg test is meaningful and not being influenced by Tg antibodies.

TSH is 0.76 - HOORAY.  Normal is 0.27 - 4.2.  I really like to be at about 1.5 but I'll take this lab result!

Free T4 is 1.57.  That's the top end of the acceptable scale.  So this means that I am taking plenty of Synthroid.

T3 is 1.09 - towards the bottom end of of normal which ranges from 0.8 to 2.0.  I find it interesting that my free T4 is so high but my T3 is low normal.  T3 is what give us our energy and our bodies convert T4 to T3.  I will watch this and if my T3 consistenly falls I'll ask about supplementing with Cytomel, or take Thyrolar as a combo drug.

Ultrasound:
Findings:  Slightly decreased hyperechoic nodule in left thyroidectomy bed measuring 0.3 x 0.3 x 0.2 cm, previously measured 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.3 cm.  Stable small iso to hyperechoic nodule in right thyroidectomy bed measuring 0.3 x 0.2 cm.

Bilateral stable cervical chain lymph nodes.  Right level 3/4 node measures 1.8 x 1.0 x 0.7 cm.  Left level 2 lymph node measures 1.9 x 0.5 x 1.1 cm.

Impression:
1.  Slightly decreased hyperechosic soft tissue nodule in thyroidectomy bed on left side and stable soft tissue nodule on right side lightly represent postoperative changes.  Given stability, favor benign etiology (hooray).  Recommend continued follow up as clinically indicated.
2.  Bilateral stable cervical chain lymph nodes, likely reactive, given the stability.

The radiologist did not put (hooray) into his readings - I took some poetic licence.

To all my friends on Inspire.com - it's such a pleasure to know all of you and I look forward to our ongoing Thyroid Cancer dialog.  To my Facebook friends - I miss you and I'll see you when Lent ends ;-)