Endo details

One more day to go.  Tomorrow is my last day of work after being laid off, and at this point,  I can’t tell you what a relief it is.  This whole experience has been a bit of a struggle with them,  which feels sad because I didn’t do anything wrong. Sigh.  I’m working through it as best as I can with hr.

And jeremy came home yesterday! It’s definitely hard having him away right now. Luckily I had planned a trip a while ago to San Diego to visit my friend Jenn, and it was an awesome way to avoid thinking about all that and a good use of pto I don’t get paid for!

We went to the zoo,  botanical gardens, Coronado,  ate sushi and pizza, and roamed a fancy hotel that opened down the street from her. It was a lot fun to reconnect.

I had my Endocrinologist appointment yesterday and got some clarity.

Sort of.

They don’t talk about thyroid cancer the same way as others,  I learned.  I will never be considered ‘in remission’; but instead,  I’m currently, “biochemically incomplete”.

Hot,  right?

There are two measures for thyroid cancer

• Structural- can they see active cancer in scans

  • I am clear of this right now

• Biochemical- are the tumor makers in blood work low

  • Mine are still higher than they want them to be. This is not surprising this soon after surgery, she said.  It takes up to 6 months for that to even out. Hence, the biochemically incomplete.

So the plan now is to increase my thyroid replacement dose and do blood work again in 6 weeks. The hope is that those levels will be lower by then. I will have to watch because with a higher dose of that pill,  I could experience increased heat rate,  tremors, increased anxiety,  and insomnia (wish I already have); so this should be interesting!  I will also have ultrasounds every 6 months for the next 5 years, likely both of my chest and thyroid.

One other positive note is that my calcium level is normal, so once I get settled on the new dose,  I can stop taking that. One less pill!

I feel pretty good about this plan,  despite knowing I won’t ever get the validation of remission. All I can do right now is have patience and hope for the best.

Tomorrow I will celebrate the completion of one chapter and hope that the universe opens up and guides me in a new direction.

In the mean time,  greetings from sunny San Diego!