Two Adam's Apples?

This weekend has been one for reflection. If you have followed my blog, I don't discuss much personal details about myself or my life. Part of it is I am a private person and the other part is my life in general is pretty unexciting.

Saying all that I remember distinctly this past New Years Eve that it would be a good idea to relax as 2008 would be an action packed year. On many different levels this is for sure the case. From a government economy/job standpoint there is no doubt nothing has been this bizarre in a very long time - probably my whole life. I just did not know what personal things would take place.

January saw me feeling decent, living life but by February my body just did seem to be in the right position. I was very tired and my mental well being was decent but just different. I had minimal health insurance at the time but was in a position to get decent health care allowing me to get a physical and get some blood tests. I finally scheduled an appointment during a phone call in March but the appointment would not take place until May. I told myself that would be fine but in the back of my mind I was thinking it might be wise to figure out how to escalate all this but I did not know how. My energy was down but outside of that I really did not have any more telling symptoms other than some small random things

Not too long after I made the physical appointment I ended up doing something I VERY RARELY do - gargle. Yes I know you are all scratching your heads on that one. I gargled in the bathroom after brushing my teeth - must have had a scratchy throat. I looked in the mirror and saw something peculiar. It appears I had two - count them - two Adam's apples. Needless to say this was a source of alarm for me. To the best of my knowledge you should have one, I have always had one and I could not figure out for the best of me what was going on. I for sure did not put two and two together in terms of how I was feeling and the "extra Adam's Apple" Needless to say I was on the rampage to figure out - WTF?

After some discussion with my personal "doctors" some course of action was devised. I had people who were medically knowledgeable take a quick scan of it all and the consensus - call a REAL doctor. I called my REAL doctor an they told me they could see me the following week. That was about mid March. When I saw the doctor - usually a slight slow reactive one - she gave me a list of things I needed to do in q quick manner. I scheduled some tests and an appointment with a endocrinologist.

I went and got some tests done and scheduled the appointment. This all took place over Easter weekend - Good Friday and the Monday afterwards. The endocrinologist requested get a test on the second "Adam's Apple" which was in the Thyroid region. In that same appointment I was a little frustrated no action was taken based on the symptoms I had been experiencing for a few months. He added that only five percents of nodules on the thyroid are cancerous. That was great news.

I did as the doctor requested and got a biopsy on the nodule. It was done on a Friday afternoon. As the biopsy was taking place I asked the person doing the work if it would be removed if it were not cancerous. Her words - "They will remove it!" This was not "regardless if it is cancerous they will remove it". This was between the lines "It is cancer". I would not know for sure though until I talked to the doctor.

The doctor followed up pretty quickly with me requesting I stop on in the following week. I knew the verdict but it would slightly unclear until the doctor gave it the 100% confirmation. When I stopped by it was a beautiful April Wednesday afternoon. The doctor told me - I had thyroid cancer. Thank heavens I had an inkling other wise I would have dropped a load in my pants. Everyone in my family knew before hand that this was probably going to be my diagnosis. Surgery was scheduled with in ten days of the official diagnosis from the doctor. That would take place on April 24, 2008.

The toughest - and best - thing was telling people about it. People being my firends which I have way more of that I can swing a stick at for sure. I ended up writing an email blast because calling each person would take a considerable amount of time. After writing about a one page email to about fifty people - not including friends through my parents - I ended up getting a slew of phone calls. A cancer diagnosis did not make me cry. The people calling with in minutes of sending that message out for sure overwhelmed me. Everyone has the same response - WTF? How are you doing?

With everything that happened in my life, I will tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt the most positive things have produced the most positive big impact results. This topped them all for sure. I got emails from people who I thought were barely acquaintances writing heart felt messages making I was doing well and wondering if I needed anything from them. To say that in some form this was not a rewarding experience would be a terrible understatement.

The day of surgery took place and the whole thyroid was removed from me. While this is going on I have taken a whole week off work following surgery. It is typically suggested you take six to eight weeks off for all this stuff. I grow bored after three business days and log in to work and start bugging people to get stuff done. That is how I roll - I am a loser - LOL! I did have some difficulties - some which kept me from sleeping ,much more than three hours a few weeks from the syrgery

I was on the schedule to receive radioactive iodine six weeks later. This involved a few visits leading up to it. I should clarify - this was NOT typical cancer radiation, rather it was radioactive iodine. Iodine is only adsorbed by thyroid tissue. This took place on the day of the Red Wings parade for winning the Stanley Cup. The goal of the radioactive iodine is to kill all live thyroid tissue. The results of all is your body's hormone levels are completely unbalanced. You have zero stamina and mentally you are living an existence similar to either a woman going through post partum depression or manic depression. I would not wish anything I went through on my worst enemy. I was told to start the hormone replacement therapy two days after the radioactive iodine.

After a few weeks of taking the hormone Synthroid I started to get feeling better. I went in for some blood tests and the reading were good. The progress is slow though.

Six months later...I am back to a routine work out schedule. The other day I rode ten miles on the exercise bike at the gym in forty five minutes. My blood levels are quite good and I will not see the doctor until some time next spring. I feel about as good as someone can expect whether they went through what I went through or did not go through it.

As amazing at this sounds I think there is some fortune to what I went through the past six months. The show of support was out of this world and more than I could ever have imagined in my mind. The summer - despite going through much of it during that time, was one of the best I have ever had in terms of getting stuff done and good times. In general was a low moment in my life but will be look upon due to all the positives with much gratitude. I will stay this Thanksgiving when someone asks that YES I am thankful for my health - along with many other things.