Cancer Update: July Check-In
Please note, this language was adapted from an email, so please pardon if there are any lingering email references.
Happy July! I hope you are staying cool, it seems everyone is absolutely roasting in the summer heat. In astrology, it's Cancer season for another couple days, and the irony of that is not lost on me. It's cancer szn here, too.
WHERE ARE WE AT?
If you recall (no one will be quizzed), July was when we planned to check tumor markers again to see if they had gone down after the April blood draw (thyroglobulin was at 1.4). After a slapstick time getting blood drawn, twice, due to the fact that I have two doctor's named "A. Leung," a lot of anticipation on whether the results would be released to me or sent to my doctor first, they came back at 1.3. (They were sent only to her, but she mercifully sent them to me on Tuesday ahead of my appt today). Definitely not ideal. I had hoped they would have dropped to even 1.1 (0 being no evidence of disease), but 1.3 it is. In short, that means there is still cancer present, and honestly, a notable amount. It didn't take long to figure out what was up.
My doctor did a neck ultrasound, and there appear to be two new tumors, right in my thyroid bed (where my thyroid used to be). "But you had all your lymph nodes removed on the left side of your neck, how can there be tumors?" you say? I feel that, but this time, the tumors are simply in thyroid tissue rather than in a lymph node. All of my thyroid tissue is essentially trained killers, so any thyroid tissue can and will mutate. One is snuggled right up by my blood vessel (convenient for cells that thrive on blood -- hot take: is cancer really Dracula?) and another snuggled up by my esophagus. We are hoping the second one isn't attached to my esophagus, but I wouldn't put it past my very enterprising cancer cells. As a refresher, my first tumor had latched on to my SCM muscle previously.
So yeah, not great news. Not the worst news, but not great.
PROS
The growth is still in my neck, suggesting that it hasn't spread too far beyond my neck (which would make me a thyroid cancer stage 2 of 2, rather than 1 of 2). This means the neck ultrasounds will, for now, be sufficient in scanning for tumors.
We found it now, so we can monitor it. A shame it grew so quickly after surgery, but again see: trained killers.
The two new tumors aren't very big, so it's not even necessarily recommended to have surgery or ablation yet. They might even hang out at this size for a while.
Great excuse, I mean reminder, not to spend time doing things that aren't supportive to my well-being. (will you also learn this lesson on my behalf so I don't drive myself bonkers watching everyone living unhealthy lives? Kthanksbye)
CONS
More, new cancer. Fun stuff!
Have to decide the route forward of which there seem to be a hundred paths and no paths all at once.
Navigating the new territory of how to prolong the time between treatments to give me the best quality of life for the longest time. There hasn't been any discussion of how this affects my prognosis of "you'll probably live to be an old lady" but none of us really know anything. We'll take it all as it comes.
Cancer is a big bummer.
> Below is a selfie of me while writing this to show off how good my scar looks these days! Acupuncture is like magic, let me tell you. I love my acupuncturist Grace.<
Also a photo of me taking this as an invitation to come back to what really matters, on the simplest level. Finding stillness and ease in the present moment. That sort of thing. Everything else is just noise.
Next appointment: October 11
For now, we wait! Cancer, despite its urgency, seems to be nothing if not waiting. When this month is over, I will have waited over 5 hours just for bloodwork alone.
We will let the tumors hang out until my October appointment with my surgeon. We will be doing another ultrasound on a fancier, bigger machine right before the appt to get much clearer imaging on what's up (is it attached to my esophagus? Have the tumors grown a lot?). I'll also check my tumor markers again, hoping they stay at 1.3, but time will tell.
We are also having the tissue from my previous surgery tested for any possible genetic mutations. This will tell us whether any chemo-like drugs are available in the future or not. It doesn't mean we'd use them, it just means we'll know more info to feel prepared for future decisions. Understanding which treatments are available and which are finite (for example, lifetime radiation exposure) helps us pace ourselves in terms of which treatments to pick.
So the next fork in the road will be October. At that point I'll send another update with more specifics on the options we have moving forward, but in short it includes radioiodine, surgery, ablation, beam radiation, and if viable, some kind of chemo-like drug. (I keep typing chemo-life and that feels like a true oxymoron.)
I also have an appointment with my oncology naturopath on August 10th, so we will also discuss any non-Western approaches to cancer control beyond what we are already doing. The tough part about those is insurance doesn't tend to cover it, so that is always a big debate (do I want to buy a house eventually or do I want to live long enough to buy a house eventually? Really fun stuff.). If there is any notable change in treatment plans there, I will send an update. Otherwise, expect to hear from me in October after my appointment.
I love the Kurzgesagt videos -- they do a great job of explaining complex concepts and the illustrations are so cute! (I'm also biased as a German-speaking person) I thought this video was so helpful in explaining why cancer is such a megabeast. You'll see why I feel like cancer cells are akin to trained killers. PS they sell tshirts with the little duck icon/mascot and oh boy is it cute.
Thanks for being here!
xo
Julia