Thyroid Cancer

I don't believe I've said much on our blog, but when I was 9 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Not going to lie, when your doctor calls and tells you that the biopsy she took this time came back cancer, and your pregnant, the tears and panic set in. Having watched my dad battle and die from cancer, cancer has always scared me to death. I wasn't worried about the biopsy she had taken a few days earlier. She had done it before and it came back fine so I figured she was just being cautious since I was pregnant. I really didn't know a ton about thyroid cancer, but my endocrinologist (thyroid doc) assured me this didn't look serious (stage 1) and was easy to treat and would probably just require surgery to remove my thyroid and maybe radiation afterwards. The cancer was in my thyroid. After panicking, freaking out and probably googling things too much, we began finding out my options. We found a surgeon I liked and learned I could have it removed while pregnant without causing harm to the baby between 14 and 22 weeks of pregnancy - my OBGYN concurred. Or I could wait until after I had the baby since this is a very slow growing cancer and have it removed at about a month postpartum. The thought of waiting another 8 months to get it removed was to much for my crazy brain to take as I knew I would worry and obsess and have crazy thoughts thinking the cancer was going to the baby or something. Plus the thought of probably having a repeat c-section and then another surgery a month later was not appealing to me. So, after much talking, Brian & I decided it was best to get rid of this cancer and get it done now. 

On June 15 (18 weeks pregnant) I went in for surgery - terrified as I always am with any medical procedure - and got it over with.  The surgery went well, but the recovery was less than fun. My body did not like the anesthesia and I wasn't able to keep anything down for a good 24 hours and my calcium levels were too low. Calcium levels become a concern as there are 4 little glands attached to your thyroid called parathyroids. These parathyroids control your calcium levels. Calcium levels are particularly concerning during pregnancy because if your calcium is low it can cause muscle spasms. And obviously while pregnant you don't want your uterus having contractions to early so it was a big deal to get that calcium up. During surgery I lost one of my parathyroids and the surgeon had to relocate two of the three remaining. This meant that my parathyroids were "stunned" and were taking some time to recover and work. So after having blood draws every 4 hours (not fun when a few of the blood takers missed, man does that hurt!) and taking countless number of calcium supplements (at one point I was taking 30 tums a day), my calcium eventually got to where she wanted it and I got to go home. I had to stay an extra day which was a bummer, but in the end it was probably a good thing. 

It was nice to get home and be in my own bed. Plus it was nice to have my mom there to take care of me and little Grace to entertain me! It was a rough couple of weeks because I wasn't allowed to lift Grace which was hard for her to understand and she was very concerned about the owie on mommy's neck. She thought though it looked best with a princess band-aid so I happily obliged. Since I was not allowed to drive for a few days or lift Grace, my mom and sister happily came and helped us out. They were both amazing. Mom took the first part of the week and Katie the second. Mom made me lots of my favorite foods and helped me regain the 12 pounds I lost in the hospital. And Aunty K came and was a great help with Grace and cooked too. I am so very grateful they were able to come help us. 

The great news is that when the pathology of my thyroid came back it appeared that all of the cancer was in the thyroid and none of my lymph nodes! So at this point I am cancer free and don't require the radiation! I just have to take a daily thyroid pill which acts as my thyroid now since I don't have one and need to continue some calcium supplements while pregnant since the numbers haven't quite recovered how the docs wanted. And after every other day blood draws, I was finally released and don't have to another thyroid related one until October. To bad there are a few pregnancy related blood draws ahead! We are thrilled that the surgery went well and worked out and that I can now get back to living. I really hope I never hear the words cancer uttered from a doctor's lips again. 

The crazy thing is that when I started telling people I had thyroid cancer, it was amazing how it seemed that most people knew someone who had the same thing or had their thyroid removed for another reason.  I already knew my mother-in-law went through it, but beyond that didn't know anyone else. Apparently thyroid cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in young women right now. Doctors aren't sure why at this point, but it is concerning. However, it is an "easy" cancer to treat and beat. When people would say oh it's no big deal I would get irritated. It was a big deal to me, but after dealing with it now I know that really this cancer was not that big of a deal and I'm super lucky it was this and not skin or breast cancer. Either way it sure makes you sit back and think about your health and how much you just want to live. 

Now onto some photos from when we had mom and Katie here. 

Making banana bread. 

Trying to spray Aunty K!

Summer time!

Getting to play at the splash park. 

Thank you so much to my amazing husband, family and friends for all of their incredible support during this time. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!