Phew. Day 1 is done. It went well, considering. 6:50 a.m. for blood work. Results: Cancer marker [Tg] is undetectable (hooray!), TSH is way too high at 8.9 (no wonder I've been tired).
I had a long break, so I went looking for a Catholic Priest. Fr. Innocent was delightful, thoughtful, funny, and just plain nice! It was great to have him available through the Spiritual Care department at Mayo. I planned to attend Mass at 3:30 too - but that didn't happen. Read on. Fr. Innocent (a name given to him at birth) gave me the Sacrament of the Sick (I didn't ask for it - he offered).
At this point, I was hungry...it was 10:30 and all I had had thus far was a cup of decaf after my blood work. I found an Irish pub and had a really yummy shaved ribeye sandwich and a lemonade for brunch. No beer with a biopsy coming up...
The biopsy went well. The Radiologist should write a book on bed-side manner. Wow. Kind, soft-spoken, thorough. He biopsied some worrisome lymph nodes - one on the left (level IV) and one on the right (level IV). He did say that they were less worrisome than last summer and he wasn't alarmed with what he saw...that made me feel pretty good going into it. He said my endocrinologist wanted to make sure nothing else was going on. His team was awesome. The ultrasound tech was fun - originally from California by way of Connecticut. We reminisced about how we miss Jewish delis and Italian bakeries. The lab tech who prepared the slides was super nice too. They did a time out to vote on if they were doing the right procedure, and if they all agreed on the process (safety check). They all voted verbally. So I voted too! LOL. They explained that Mayo has found that six samples per lymph node is ideal. With two needles per side for the lidocaine, that meant a total of 8 pokes per side or 16 all together. Ugh. Only the lidocaine hurt in the moment. The samples were just a feeling of pressure. I got taken back for my 2pm appointment at 3pm...finished up at 4 so I missed Mass. I left with two ice packs to use later when the lidocaine wore off. Oh, it did. Sore neck! Black and blue. Feels bruised and stiff. I stopped at Best Buy for a laptop charger...I forgot mine at home. Then I went to Costco for gas. I ordered dinner and picked it up (didn't eat most of it - not hungry). Just about that time I felt like I really needed the ice packs. I got to my hotel room, chatted with Bob and took a long nap after the ice packs were no longer cold. Tomorrow I get results of the biopsies and have a CT of my lungs scheduled. I did learn from the radiologist that I would likely have treatment (ethanol ablation) of the lymph node from 2012 that has grown and developed some vascularity that wasn't there before. But the final word will come tomorrow.
Some pre-Mayo highlights: I drove from Kansas...stopped for rest and Mass in Des Moines at a church that features the Risen Christ rather than a Crucifix. I met up with an old, dear New Jersey friend there (Irene) and she greeted me with flowers to brighten up my hotel room. We went out for breakfast then I drove to Rochester, MN. There I met up with a dear, Deere friend (Tonia) for dinner. I enjoyed catching up with both of these amazing women.
I'm tired...so catching some Zzzs before tomorrow's appointments. 6-10 inches of snow is expected here on Wednesday. Oh yay! Thankfully the hotel has indoor parking...and the city of Rochester knows how to handle the snow. So long as it's gone from the roads for the ride home (scheduled to start that drive early Friday, unless something changes).
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