Telling our Friends

Yesterday we finished telling everyone we wanted to tell about my Cancer. On Monday I told my boss at work. Tuesday we told my sister so she would be ready for a call from my mother. Then we told the kids, then my mother. Then I sent emails to my brothers. On Wednesday we told our friends, my wife's brothers and sisters, and I told my two cousins on my father's side of the family. I think cancer came into the family through my father's mother, although that is just a guess. My grandfather died of a stroke and I am told my grandmother died of cancer. All of her children then died of cancer and my nephew has it too.

I have been reading many stories from others. They report weight gain until the Thyroid meds are figured out, and then being unable to lose the weight no matter what. Two stories talked about taking radioactive iodine at Month 4 to burn off any remaining thyroid tissue. Most talked about struggling with deep depression and lack of energy while the meds get straightened out - which could take a year to a year and a half! So, I am concerned about a few days of surgery pain followed by many months of torture while the med levels get figured out.

I imagine that if someone has a great Thyroidectomy, they probably don't write about it. They just move on with life. And if someone has a bad thyroidectomy, they are going to seek answers and share stories. So, I am reading the worse case scenarios. At least, I hope so.