The Rest of the Story

Holy cow, this has been a crazy couple of months. We went from thinking Chance just had a cyst to it suddenly being an abnormal tumor to him almost definitely having cancer. Now we are back to where we were a month ago, right after we heard the biopsy came back abnormal and not knowing whether the nodule was malignant or benign.

We saw the endocrinologist at Mayo on Monday. He did not even hesitate to call this cancer. I asked if there weren't still a chance that it was not, and he was pretty discouraging. Based on the ultrasound report from Sioux Falls showing enlarged lymph nodes, he said it is cancer, no doubt in his mind. For him, it was just a matter of planning a course of treatment. He ordered a new set of bloodwork and a new ultrasound since they hadn't received anything from Sioux Falls or Pierre. (Apparently, you are supposed to bring those things with you. We had no idea. I guess we know for next time???)

Anyway, we went in on Tuesday to see the surgeon. He told us the lymph nodes were normal on this new ultrasound. He wanted a Mayo pathologist to look at the slides from Pierre to make sure those were read correctly. The Mayo pathologist concurred with the original report, agreeing that this is a follicular neoplasm. Because of the nature of a follicular nodule, the tissue surrounding it must be tested to know if it is cancerous or benign. So surgery is still needed. The left side of the thyroid will come out, along with the lump and the surrounding area will be tested.

We have been told all along that if this is cancer, thyroid cancer is slow-moving. That is why there is a lack of urgency for the doctors. Of course, we would have had the thing out a month ago if it were up to us, but I understand the need to gather all information possible since we do have the time.

So the surgery is tentatively scheduled for February 13th. Chance's and Jolie's birthday is the 15th, and we hate to have him in the hospital or recovering from surgery on his birthday. If we don't do it on the 13th, though, we have to wait until March because of the surgeon's schedule. We just want this over with, so we'll take the earliest possible date we can get. We'll just have to celebrate the birthdays early or late. Or both. Hopefully when we get back, we'll have some good news to celebrate, too.

For now, we're back to our normal routine for a month or so. I wish we had our answer now, but at least we have a great deal more hope for a positive outcome than we did when we left for Minnesota last week. Thank you again for everything you all have done. I'll update if I learn anything more.