Too Much on Our Plait

Another update on the Cancer Clan. My Aunt Gracie (a non-member) is getting biopsies done of nodules in her thyroid on Monday. From what I recall, she has a goiter, but her endocrinologist (same as my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin) decided she should have biopsies just to check. If any of this information is faulty, I'll change it immediately. So, we'll see how that goes. I'll keep you folks posted. I was looking through my Cancer Timeline, as I call it, recently. Today, I decided to glance through to see if there are any significant dates in September. I stopped around September, and I found this: September 19, 2007 -- Thyroglobulin results betray that there may be more cancer. I feel kind of sad that I didn't see this until today. This post would have been much more effective yesterday, but ah well. At any rate, here are my thoughts about this. The back story to this event is that I had my usual scan on September 5 along with bloodwork. My endocrinologist gave me...

JANINA'S SCAN CAME BACK CLEAR!!!! Sorry, I just had to blurt that out. Totally couldn't control it. I mean, can you people blame me? :-) Mom is up next. Truthfully, I'm pretty worried about her scan. We were told she had no spread during her surgery, but then the scan following her treatment showed some uptake (RAI cling-age) in the right side of her neck. So, I really don't know what this scan will say. Let's just hope this treatment does the trick. Unfortunately, she does have to go through the low-iodine diet in order to prep for the scan. Oh, yay. Looks like I'll be doing some baking/cooking for her when that time comes around. I know by experience that stuff sucks. To top off this fun entry, I have my 6 month follow up with my endocrinologist mid-October. Woohoo. While I do love seeing my endo, I don't really like having the waiting game. All she does is ultrasound me (while making comments and pointing at things, all of which I despise), feel ...

It has been forever, loves, but there is finally  an update on the Cancer Clan. Janina has bravely endured 3 weeks on her low-iodine diet , and has her nuclear scan tomorrow. This scan will determine one of three things: 1) if she is clear of thyroid cancer, 2) if not, she undergoes more radioactive iodine, or 3) she undergoes another surgery. Of course, we'd all prefer #1, but if that isn't the case, then I'd much rather her go through #2 than #3. I don't think I could handle seeing her go through a second surge ry. She would take it well, though, knowing her. She's braver than any woman I know. But, let's not dwell on all that, shall we? Mom is due for her scan soon. She's going to have it on a day she's off work, so I can go with her. She told me the other day that she has to brace herself for a nap. "It's too long of a scan," she said. The scan is an hour long, and it hovers about an inch away from your face/body, and it sloooowly move...

"Bringing Sexy Out of the Thyloset" For My Friends at, and the Fans of " Dear Thyroid "   What kind of thyroid cancer were you diagnosed with?   In December of 2009, I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma.   Not even a year has passed since my diagnosis.   What does Thyroid Cancer Awareness mean to me in terms of importance, and spreading awareness? As for all cancers, Be Aware and Beware …it could be you.   Thyroid cancer, in particular, can lurk in one’s body rather silently for many years, yet as Dori’s endocrinologist once remarked “You can die from it”.   And that’s the harsh truth.   I spread awareness by being open and forthcoming about my cancer.   And I love the way people subtly touch their necks, silently examining themselves for lumps, when I tell my story.   (Be honest…Are you feeling your neck right now?).   It would be difficult for a layperson to detect thyroid enlargement muc...

My fabulous thysisters over at Dear Thyroid have put together a Blog Tour entitled, "Bringing Sexy Out of The Thyloset," and my mother and I immediately signed up. Today is my turn, and tomorrow my mother will post hers! Below are the questions presented to and my responses. I'm so excited to be doing this for these wonderful ladies. I love them all. Please go check out their website. It's thylicious, thylightful, and thylovely! What kind of thyroid cancer were you diagnosed with? How many years have you been a survivor? I was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Cancer (PTC) in 2006. I've been a survivor for over four years. Woo! September is thyroid cancer awareness month. What does that mean to you? Why do you think awareness is important? How do you spread awareness? Wow. Loaded question. September being Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month means that I have an excuse to spam the world. It means I have the ability to say, "HEY, Listen up, people! This...

In keeping up with the more ancient memories and early memories of my thyroid cancer journey, I do want to address one thing that people tend to ask me when I initially tell people about my diagnosis: How did you deal with it? You're just...so young! Well, yes, I am young. I was young at diagnosis. 17 isn't exactly an old age to get cancer. In fact, in my mind, I was probably younger than 17. I did, however, have to grow up pretty quickly, so it was a little stressful in that respect. How I dealt with it was another story. When I received the news, I did cry. A lot. I cried quite a bit after the fact, when I was alone in my room. I was petrified of everything that was awaiting me, whatever that could have been. When I left the doctor's office, though, I had stopped crying and made all the phone calls I needed/wanted to make. I called my then-boyfriend, family, friends, church, etc. Everyone I trusted. I didn't, however, contact many people from school. I maybe tol...

Woohoo, entry #40! :-) It'll be a real feat when I hit #50! I'll hardcore celebrate then. Which should (hopefully) be in about 10 days. I apologize for not blogging as often as I promised. I spent the weekend helping one of my cousins and her family pack and get ready to move. This is my cousin that came out clear of thyroid cancer. She had three nodules, but all of them were very small and the doctor was not concerned. So, she is being followed on a yearly basis. Now, onto the fun stuff. The 'Stupid Cancer' Show , an online radio show hosted by the 'I'm Too Young For This!' Cancer Foundation , came back on the air tonight after their month hiatus/vacation. The show's theme tonight was StandUp2Cancer , in celebration of their second annual TV concert broadcast this Friday, September 10th at 8pm EST/7pm CT on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX (You should check your local listings and watch it). Laura Ziskin, Co-Founder of SU2C, was on the show tonight, along...

During this month, every so often, I'll blog about some unforgettable days during my thyroid cancer journey. Today's blog will be one of them.  Since I was so busy yesterday, I'll blog again tonight. I don't think I ever blogged about how I was diagnosed. Not a lot of people know the entire story, so I'll attempt to make this brief yet detailed. May 2006. I'm finishing my finals and about to leave high school forever. While taking my AP Psychology final, I  felt pain and swelling at the base of my neck. It was so uncomfortable taking the test. The odd thing was, I felt fine otherwise. I talked to my mom that night, and she thought it was just a swollen lymph node or something. She didn't seem concerned, so I felt okay about it. My sister took me to my pediatrician, and he knew what the problem was right away. "Oh, she has Hashimoto's Thyroiditis." I said, "I have what ?" I was so confused; I didn't even know what that meant,...

To follow the theme I started, I posted a statistic on Facebook that I happened to find as I was doing my research this morning: Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month Fact #2.1: From 2003-2007, approximately 1.8% of thyroid cancer patients were diagnosed under the age of 20 . Wow. Go ahead and ask me: How does it feel to be part of that 1.8%? Shocked? Me, too. And, to top it off, I'm definitely part of that 1.8%, considering I was diagnosed in 2006. I was astounded when I found this statistic. I had never really seen a percentage or number that ever told me exactly how uncommon if not rare it is to find thyroid cancer under 20 years of age. Here's something that may surprise you. As I was contemplating that 1.8%, I couldn't help but wonder: Who out of the other 98.2% were not diagnosed under the age of 20 when they could have been? And, if they could have been diagnosed before 20, why weren't they? If you really break down the events leading up to my diagnosis, I tec...

HAPPY THYROID CANCER AWARENESS MONTH! For the entire month, I will be blogging every day. I may go through my entire journey up to now, but I may also jumble it up a bit. You never know what I'll do next. :-) Why am I doing this? Well, I want to keep this blog going, and I also really want to bring my story out a lot more. I haven't had much of a chance to do that here in this blog, since it was mainly about my journey with my mother and the rest of the sexy thyroid cancer clan. But, I also want to keep raising awareness, and I plan to do that with the blog this month, along with Facebook and Twitter posts. So, without further ado, here's my first post: In case our readers did not know, I am a big part of a community called Dear Thyroid , a place of rants, raves, and refuge for men and women of all ages with thyroid disease and/or thyroid cancer. Anyone with a pain-in-the-neck thyroid (haha) can write a letter to their thyroid and say anything they need to...