Like Mother - 03

I get the most puzzling looks when I tell people that I have thyroid cancer, since most of these people know that my daughter has it as well. Even the doctors are a bit surprised. I’ve been asked about everything from radiation exposure to cancer cluster. The cancer cluster issue is an interesting one, and probably worth exploring, particularly because my daughter’s husband, Michael, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer about a year after Dori, and they lived across the street from us for about 6 years. We sold that home and moved in 2004; it was checked for radon at that time.

According to my endocrinologist, there is a particular type of papillary thyroid carcinoma that has familial tendencies. He plans to explore this with me at a later time. So, in the meantime, everyone in my family is getting a screening ultrasound. My son has a cyst on his thyroid that his doctor feels is of no significance, but you bet we’ll keep a close eye on it. If it is genetic, it looks like I started the trend. How kind of me—certainly not the sort of thing you want your children to inherit.

But for today, I continue to do all of those things that will better ready me for surgery; eat well, get enough sleep, exercise, keep busy, laugh as much as I can, lean on my family & friends for support, cry if I must, and know that this too will pass.

Eight more days until surgery…

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