Like Mother - 22

Yesterday almost felt like a regular day. I drove for the first time since my surgery. I picked up Dori from her minimester class, grabbed some coffee, and went to Panera for lunch. It felt to good to be among the living. I’m feeling better and better as the days go on, and looking forward to returning to my job on Monday.

Did I mention that I have the greatest job in the world?  I am the practice manager for an internist. He is a remarkable physician and an extraordinary person. He brought me homemade soup when I was in the hospital. Did you ever know a doctor to do that? Well mine does, and he thinks nothing of it. It’s just part of who he is. He does it for many of his patients; and did I mention that he makes the soup himself? It is a privilege to work alongside of him.

I put a call in to the genetics doctor, since after Janina heals that will be our next step. In the meantime, I’ve been going crazy on the internet Googling thyroid cancer and possible genetic links. It’s scary to think that it may not stop with the thyroid cancer and that perhaps a tumor suppressor gene is to blame. I’m trying not to let my thoughts run away with me until the Geneticist helps us to make sense of it all.

Sometimes I just don’t want to talk about it. The fact that Dori has thyroid cancer is enough for most people; then when I talk about myself, I can see the eyebrows raise a bit; when I mention Janina, I get out and out foot-stomping shock. Although I do agree that it is almost unbelievable in that thyroid cancer itself is not all that common, I can’t help but feel almost freakish – like we’re contagious or something. Silly…I know.

The weekend will fly by, as weekends do, and Janina will have her surgery on Tuesday. In the meantime, family members are lining up at radiology to have a screening ultrasound. Many of them have been found to have thyroid nodules, which in of itself is not surprising as thyroid nodules are common. Whether or not any of these nodules pan out to be cancerous is another thing. Unfortunately, for my family, “Node news is not good news”.

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