My journey one day at a time...
Okay...so here it is, my journey in a nutshell thus far:
I went to my PCP for an ear infection in 2008. I hadn't seen my doctor in a month or so, and he was astonished at my weight gain.
He decided that I needed to have my thyroid checked.
Off to the hospital, I went.
X-rays, ultrasounds, uptake, scan, drive drive drive. The Hospital is an hour away. I felt like I was always driving! :)
I never received any results from all of the tests, so I called the doctor's office a few weeks later. Nothing. I got: "I can't give you any results over the phone." So I asked the mean little receptionist, very politely, if the results could be mailed to me, as the doctor's office was about 45 minutes away.
"No." That wasn't a possibility. "You have to make an appointment."
So I did. I was scheduled for an appointment that was three months away!
One thing led to another, and I ended up changing PCPs. I decided I needed a doctor who was A.) closer to my work, and B.) more receptive to seeing me! It also didn't hurt that the front office staff at my new PCP is WAY nicer than the bitchy little women that work in my previous doctor's office!
I fell throught the cracks.
I asked my new PCP if my results from those tests were okay, and I was assured that they looked normal.
Fast-forward to December 2010.
I make an appointment at my doctor's office for what I believe is another ear infection.
AGAIN. Still. Always.
I do not get to see the PCP for such a trite illness, but rather a Nurse Practitioner.
She told me there was nothing wrong with my ears. How can that be? They hurt like hell. AGAIN.
I told her, as long as I was there, that I had another issue. I showed her the lump in my neck. "Hmmm..." She felt around and decided that I needed to be sent to the hospital for an ultrasound.
Wow.
Really?
What about my ears?
So off to the hospital I went, a week or two later. I had the ultrasound done, and a week later, I went on Christmas vacation.
I got a phone call while I was in the Florida Keys, on vacation. "You have an appointment scheduled at Drs. Crawford and Fitch's office. ENT. Scheduled for January 28th."
I met with the lovely Dr. Fitch on that date. She spent over an hour with me. Her bedside manner is excellent, and she talks to her patients like human beings. Very refreshing.
The good doctor went through all of my previous tests with me. The tests that no one would show me or speak of with me. She actually showed me all of the ultrasounds, etc. from 2008. She then showed my the ultra sounds from 2010. Very interesting! I had a problem. All along. Now it was aparent that it was a MUCH larger problem!
She compared them all side by side for me, explaining, measuring and educating all the while. She explained to me (and showed me on the scans) that the right lobe would have to be taken out. It was too full of nodules, etc. and looked like one giant, very vascular, mass. Instead of making it angry, she suggested that I just have it removed and do a biopsy on it afterward. Good deal. Sounds like a plan to me. Problem: That side was the only side of my thyroid that was still working. The other side had no activity at all. Completely cold. We'd just have to cross our fingers that it would "wake up" after the surgery. "Of course, I don't want you to feel like you have to do this. You are more than welcomed to get a second opinion." She reassured me, a few different times during the course of our visit.
Fine. We are taking out the right lobe of my thyroid.
BUT WAIT...
The good doctor then showed me one of the tumors that looked, to her, like it was an issue. It was on the LEFT lobe. It was an ugly little guy. Slightly irregular in shape. Not too big. "BUT...to be on the safe side, I want to do a biopsy on it."
Okay. Sure.
So she pulled up a chair, got her assistants briefed, and did the utrasound guided FNA. It did not hurt...just a pinch. She positioned the ultrasound screen so that it allowed me to watch the whole procedure on the monitor. VERY cool! I think that because she knew I had been left in the dark for so long, I really was in need of seeing the procedure for myself! It put me at ease.
I have never had a doctor take the time and care that she did. It is nice to feel like I am not just "business"!
When it was all said and done, I left the office with an appointment for two weeks later to discuss the results of my biopsy.
I received a phone call a few days later asking me if I would like to come in tomorrow? Sure. I hate to wait! I thought "Wow! This doctor's office is a well oiled machine! They really have their act together!"
I never...in a million years...would have thought that she called me in to tell me that I have cancer. Not me. I am healthy.
Not any more, I guess. I was diagnosed on February 3rd with malignant papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Today, 02/10/2011, I will make the trek to Pittsburgh to meet with a doctor in the radiology department who will examine my situation a little further. I will have more ultra sounds on my thyroid, as well as my lymph nodes, and have chest x-rays. My fingers are crossed in hopes of good results this afternoon!
I went to my PCP for an ear infection in 2008. I hadn't seen my doctor in a month or so, and he was astonished at my weight gain.
He decided that I needed to have my thyroid checked.
Off to the hospital, I went.
X-rays, ultrasounds, uptake, scan, drive drive drive. The Hospital is an hour away. I felt like I was always driving! :)
I never received any results from all of the tests, so I called the doctor's office a few weeks later. Nothing. I got: "I can't give you any results over the phone." So I asked the mean little receptionist, very politely, if the results could be mailed to me, as the doctor's office was about 45 minutes away.
"No." That wasn't a possibility. "You have to make an appointment."
So I did. I was scheduled for an appointment that was three months away!
One thing led to another, and I ended up changing PCPs. I decided I needed a doctor who was A.) closer to my work, and B.) more receptive to seeing me! It also didn't hurt that the front office staff at my new PCP is WAY nicer than the bitchy little women that work in my previous doctor's office!
I fell throught the cracks.
I asked my new PCP if my results from those tests were okay, and I was assured that they looked normal.
Fast-forward to December 2010.
I make an appointment at my doctor's office for what I believe is another ear infection.
AGAIN. Still. Always.
I do not get to see the PCP for such a trite illness, but rather a Nurse Practitioner.
She told me there was nothing wrong with my ears. How can that be? They hurt like hell. AGAIN.
I told her, as long as I was there, that I had another issue. I showed her the lump in my neck. "Hmmm..." She felt around and decided that I needed to be sent to the hospital for an ultrasound.
Wow.
Really?
What about my ears?
So off to the hospital I went, a week or two later. I had the ultrasound done, and a week later, I went on Christmas vacation.
I got a phone call while I was in the Florida Keys, on vacation. "You have an appointment scheduled at Drs. Crawford and Fitch's office. ENT. Scheduled for January 28th."
I met with the lovely Dr. Fitch on that date. She spent over an hour with me. Her bedside manner is excellent, and she talks to her patients like human beings. Very refreshing.
The good doctor went through all of my previous tests with me. The tests that no one would show me or speak of with me. She actually showed me all of the ultrasounds, etc. from 2008. She then showed my the ultra sounds from 2010. Very interesting! I had a problem. All along. Now it was aparent that it was a MUCH larger problem!
She compared them all side by side for me, explaining, measuring and educating all the while. She explained to me (and showed me on the scans) that the right lobe would have to be taken out. It was too full of nodules, etc. and looked like one giant, very vascular, mass. Instead of making it angry, she suggested that I just have it removed and do a biopsy on it afterward. Good deal. Sounds like a plan to me. Problem: That side was the only side of my thyroid that was still working. The other side had no activity at all. Completely cold. We'd just have to cross our fingers that it would "wake up" after the surgery. "Of course, I don't want you to feel like you have to do this. You are more than welcomed to get a second opinion." She reassured me, a few different times during the course of our visit.
Fine. We are taking out the right lobe of my thyroid.
BUT WAIT...
The good doctor then showed me one of the tumors that looked, to her, like it was an issue. It was on the LEFT lobe. It was an ugly little guy. Slightly irregular in shape. Not too big. "BUT...to be on the safe side, I want to do a biopsy on it."
Okay. Sure.
So she pulled up a chair, got her assistants briefed, and did the utrasound guided FNA. It did not hurt...just a pinch. She positioned the ultrasound screen so that it allowed me to watch the whole procedure on the monitor. VERY cool! I think that because she knew I had been left in the dark for so long, I really was in need of seeing the procedure for myself! It put me at ease.
I have never had a doctor take the time and care that she did. It is nice to feel like I am not just "business"!
When it was all said and done, I left the office with an appointment for two weeks later to discuss the results of my biopsy.
I received a phone call a few days later asking me if I would like to come in tomorrow? Sure. I hate to wait! I thought "Wow! This doctor's office is a well oiled machine! They really have their act together!"
I never...in a million years...would have thought that she called me in to tell me that I have cancer. Not me. I am healthy.
Not any more, I guess. I was diagnosed on February 3rd with malignant papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Today, 02/10/2011, I will make the trek to Pittsburgh to meet with a doctor in the radiology department who will examine my situation a little further. I will have more ultra sounds on my thyroid, as well as my lymph nodes, and have chest x-rays. My fingers are crossed in hopes of good results this afternoon!
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