Update on my Thyroidectomy

If you followed this blog you probably noticed I was really active and then disappeared. That was due to a number of disappointing cancer related news. My brother-in-law died of colon cancer shortly after getting diagnosed. A friend of the family died of lung cancer during his treatments. My nephew, who has suffered for 15 years with cancer, is reaching the end of his story. And here I am with the "Good Cancer". By "Good" I mean: I am still alive. There is nothing really good about thyroid cancer. The fact that I am still alive unlike so many around me has caused me to question my mortality. I have stopped participating in the online Thyroid support groups because there are so many stories of people's thyroid cancer returning even after complete thyroid removal. Many of the stories are depressing and they pull me back into questioning why I have survived cancer while others haven't.

Several months ago I met with my endocrine for my one year check-up and she congratulated me and said "You are cured!" And I was like... well... all right! And then I met with my surgeon for the one year check-up and he said "You will never be cured. You will always have to come see me so we can check to make sure the thyroid isn't growing back." And I was really bummed out.

The CPAP has helped me a lot. Finally, I am not sleepy during the day. But I have no energy. All that motivation I had earlier in the year to lose weight had been erased, plus having no energy - the weight loss didn't stick. I returned to bad habits in attempt to get through the day.

But then, around late October, I got a thyroid medicine level change from my doctor. And it worked! Thanks to the CPAP I am no longer tired, and now thanks to my current dosage I have energy.

I spent November and December balancing weight control with the holiday goodies and was able to maintain! That doesn't probably sound like much of an accomplishment, however, if you've been down the thyroidectomy path - you'll know that this is an incredible accomplishment! It appears I have been able to stabilize my metabolism into something predictable.

That's the update! I can't promise I'm going to post often to this blog simply because I am finding greater comfort trying NOT to think about cancer and just go live my life. But I did make a commitment that I wanted to help others who struggled with thyroid cancer and thyroidectomies, so, I'll provide periodic updates.