I TALKED TO THE DOCTOR!

Okay... finally the doctor called late yesterday. By the time he called, I had a list of 10 questions. Most of them had been answered by my own online research and by the nice people (other thyroid cancer patients) on the Yahoo Groups ThyCa Forum. So I ran them by the doctor for verification and he said yes, that they were correct. Several ladies from Yahoo Groups replied to me that they thought my scan was GREAT, that it looked normal to them. Keep in mind that most of these people have been through this several times already, so even though they are not doctors - their experience was just as valuable to me. It also helped to ease my mind.

Here it is.. the doctor said "it's a good scan, Christy - those are good results"

... I do wonder why he didn't just SAY THAT into my answering machine instead of rambling on and sounding so weird.

I asked if the uptake in the nasal area could have been from the cold or congestion that I have and he agreed that it could have been as that would not be the kind of place one would find thyroid cancer.

I asked what it meant that there was 'uptake' shown on the scan and he said that they expect to show uptake in the scan.. if there had been no uptake then it would have meant they didn't give me enough I-131. The uptake is where there is still residual thyroid tissue (healthy or cancerous, no way to tell the difference from this). The I-131 is also typically taken up in specific tissues like the thymus (middle upper chest region), breasts, liver, stomach, bowel, urinary tract including the bladder. However, the I-131 will continue to work for a number of months to kill off all thyroid tissue, whether cancerous or healthy. The key here is no "abnormal" uptake outside of those areas!

I inquired why he had made the comment that my case was not as straightforward as most - since no other doctor has referred to me in this way it had confused me. He apologized and explained he said so because I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer while pregnant, which was very uncommon. Thyroid cancer is uncommon enough by itself... he said "you sure had a lot going on at one time!" (agreed).

I asked him if this meant that the cancer could come back eventually. He said yes. That with cancer there are no guarantees of a cure. They expect that this will have taken care of it, and I will continue to be monitored regularly with blood tests and periodic scans like the one I just had. If it starts to show again then they will just take care of it with surgery or another blast or radioactivity.

I'm not worried. I feel like I have been through the worst of this adventure - the unknown - and whatever may happen in the future will not be as devastating as what I have gone through this year.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers, encouragement and support. It has continued to lift me when I felt like I couldn't even think straight!