Boo! Hahaha, I had fun looking at my computerized tomography images and took this screenshot because it looked quite creepy (those eyes!).
I realize the little cool that was to publish on my biopsy and then take two weeks to share the results! I felt that the results took eternity. As the biopsy was Friday, I expected the results to be available on Monday; Tuesday at the latest. Usually, laboratories and tests rise to my online chart within 24 hours or so.
For Wednesday, I still didn’t have the results. I called the Doc de Ent that I had ordered the biopsy and they told me that the doctor wanted to check them in person. And that I was going to be out for a week, so the first available appointment would be 22! Upon hearing that, of course, I prepared for bad news.
Meanwhile, he had been jumping through all the hoops to obtain an appointment at the Medical Center of the University of Michigan, which is very difficult to enter; It is a great teaching hospital. (The woman to program with whom I talked even had the results of my biopsy, but she was not allowed to give it to me). I asked my primary care doctor to send my reference and records (I was surprised that people still send things for fax …) and she did it immediately. Then I had to wait for the programmer to call me to establish the appointment with the department of Ent (otolaryngology; “ear/nose/throat”). Finally I obtained an appointment for 24 (yesterday).
I was still waiting for the test results, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I don’t know why I didn’t ask first, but I contacted my primary care doctor again and asked him if he had the results and was able to upload them. In an hour, they were in my table. (My doctor is the best to do everything quickly).
Anyway, the result was that my dough is benign! Which is obviously great news. Even so, this mass is causing me many discomfort, especially after biopsy. The biopsy worsened my symptoms and I have been super irritable. I constantly feel that my shirt is drowning me, but when I reach the neck of my neck, it is not there, it is only this mass that is causing the feeling of strangulation.
The TC that took to the emergency room on my biopsy day showed that the dough had increased by approximately one centimeter (it was approximately 5.5 and now they are approximately 6.5 cm, that is * very * large). As the U m -appointment had access to its patient portal. My computerized tomography was there, and I was totally fascinated looking through the images. It is like seeing a video that travels through its body, watching a plane at the same time, and there are images from several directions, which are directed from the front of my face to the back of my head, and from each side that travels to The other side, and even starting in my lungs, moving towards the top of my head. You can see everything in 3D.)
Based on the doctor’s notes and the images, he showed that my trachea and my esophagus were being pushed to the side due to the dough by pressing against them, so I have difficulty swallowing and what is causing the feeling of strangulation. He is pushing my carotid artery towards my back. It even touches my spine, and passes through my clavicle (neck bone). Needles to say is very large. I knew I would have to leave, but I hoped to save my right thyroid to * try to * avoid the need for hormonal replacement medications for the rest of my life.
*You may need it, it will depend on my thyroid function after surgery*
Here is an image that is shown from front to back: the red line is my airway, which should be straight up and down. And the blue circulates the mass itself.
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| CT of thyroid mass, surrounded by blue |
My app appointment yesterday did not start well. I know that most people will think that this is superficial, but I have written before how I am having such a difficult time to show signs of aging. You may remember when, in 2018 (?), Jerry and I went to the laboratory so that he took the blood and I was with him. I sat in the waiting room and he went up to the counter to register. The woman there saw her license/date of birth and exclaimed how young she looked and said these words that still chase me: “I thought that was your mother with you!”
Until that time, I never thought about myself as an old man. But that triggered something inside me that made me notice everything about me that shows signs of aging. Does it really seem to be 60 years+ years? Even if Jerry seemed much younger, let’s say 30 (he is 44 years old), that would mean that he would have to look at approximately 50 (today I turned 43). I began to feel extremely aware of my age at that time, although I never cared before. Isn’t it stupid how a single comment from someone has the power to do that? Most people would probably laugh at that, but I had the opposite effect on me.
Anyway, again to my appointment yesterday. The medical assistant brought us back to weigh me and get my blood pressure. He asked me: “Is this your son with you?”
My face became very hot and my ears immediately began to sound. I was so nervous that I couldn’t even answer him, and Jerry, knowing that he was crushed, helped relieve the discomfort that I felt when making a joke about the youth source or something. The medical assistant asked for my birthday and when I said, he said: “Happy early birthday!” I said, in what I expected to come out as indifferent, “thank you, but suddenly I feel very old.” I wanted to hint that, instead of asking if it was my son, I just ask who is with me today or something.
I thought he would apologize, but he didn’t realize. I remember being (relatively) young and never understanding why age was such a delicate issue for women. When I worked in curves in my 20 years, most women were in the age range of 40 to 60 ISH and often talked about aging, I just didn’t understand it. I never thought I would care about aging! And I would not mind honestly, if I thought I had looked at my age, 43, but more than 60 years. That is difficult to swallow. (Literally at this time, haha). When he was only a person who mentioned it, he could be ruled out as a unintentily rude unique comment; But when two people say it, well …
Well, enough of that. I was pleasantly surprised by the minimum waiting time, which was incredible. The OTS doctor was highly recommended by my cousin, who is a practicing nurse there, and she was all he expected. It was extremely friendly and patient, taking the time to answer my questions and explain everything very well. An anesthesiology student was with her and he was just as great.
They had to reach my throat, which was not fun (in the previous office of Ent Doc, they also did). They put a long, thin and flexible tube with a camera at one end, through my nose and down in my throat to look at my vocal cords. It literally feels like a covid test, just as pushing the swab until stabbing your brain. Then he felt as if he had a pill stuck in his throat. But my vocal strings are not damaged; The change in my voice is likely because my trachea (airway) is being pushed aside by the dough in my thyroid. (My voice has become a little hoarse and it is a tension to speak).
They agreed that the Mass should leave, and the doctor explained to me the surgery. It is under general anesthesia, which is more complicated than the IV sedation that I had recently for my teeth extraction, but I have been less than three times before, for my two jaw repair surgeries and for my skin extraction surgery, skin extraction surgery, So I’m not too worried about that. The most terrifying part is that they will work in a very critical area of my body, an airway, my esophagus, my carotid arteries, jugular veins and vocal strings, and there are risks with that. But the entator is the one who will perform surgery and I feel very safe in it.
When I was super nervous about general anesthesia before repairing my jaw, my surgeon (which was an OTS document) told me this: if you are worried about your airway during surgery, the best team you can have with you is an understand It is a team. That is comforting! Ha ha.
The surgery sounds very direct and will allow me to leave the same day (he said three hours or so). During a week after the operation, I need to rest, not lift anything more than 10 pounds, eat soft foods for a couple of days, and that is. There is a lot of follow -up work to see if my thyroid hormone tank. They are completely normal at this time, so I hope my right thyroid works well when the left is gone. The DOC of the IND said that it occurs in approximately half of the patients with this procedure.
Now, I just have to wait for a call from the planner to get a date for surgery. The doctor said that, since it is not cancer, I do not have to do it immediately, just when it is convenient for me, but I am going to take the first date available. My symptoms are driving me crazy, especially from my biopsy.
Ha ha! Speaking of, after my biopsy, they told me that “I could have a small bruise that should disappear only in a couple of days.” Now it’s 15 days later, and this is what it seems:
However, apart from hematoma, the bulge is very remarkable in my neck. It wasn’t like that before biopsy. This dough grew very fast. I realized that at some point in summer, I think my neck looked a little bigger in the front. I forgot it when I got Covid, and then the headache that lasted two months, and the process that led me to teeth extraction.
It was still noticeable in December, but now there is no way to miss it. I worry that it continues to grow at this rhythm. I am delighted that it is not cancer, although I knew that I would undergo surgery in any way, but it is very uncomfortable, I cannot wait for it to go!
