Sept 6, 2008

Hello All,


Just a quick not to let you know that I am out of the hospital. We came home late Friday night. I am still rather sore but doing alright. I just want to clear up any confusion about the surgery I just had, because some of the details seem to have gotten confused. On wednedsay morning, the doctors went in to remove a tumor in my left lung. The tumor was a lymph node that the cancer has spread to, that was either not caught, or not there when I first had lung surgery in february. Lymph nodes are "Any of the small, oval or round bodies, locatednalong the lymphatic vessels, that supply lymphocytes to the bloodstream and remove bacteria and foreign particles from the lymph". It is not really uncommon for cancer to spread through the lymph systom. The tumor that was in my lung this time was a cancerous lymph node. While Dr. Marshal was operating, she looked around for any other cancerous or non-cancersous lymphnodes to take out, since I don't NEED them she just assumed take whatever she could find. She did find one out of the aprox 6 she removed that she believed was also cancerous, but will not know for sure about any of them until the pathology comes back. Three of the lymph nodes she removed were on my pericardium (the membranous sac enclosing the heart) and the other three in my lung. They also removed the upper lobe of my left lung (a lobectomy). It was the easiest, and safest way to get everything out. I will be fine, there are two lobes in your left lung, and three in your right, and the left are smaller since that is the side the heart is on. I can live a perfectly normal life without this lobe. There have also been questions about the kind of cancer that I have. I have Stage 2 Papillary Thyroid Cancer. No matter how much spread or anything, a patient cannot be above a stage 2 unless you are over the age of 45, because it is not reallythat lethal. My case is a rather "agressive" case but it is not as "lethal" or "terminal" as alot of other cancers. They do believe they can cure me, and get it under control, it is just somewhat of a neusance to do so.My endocrinologist called me on Monday before the surgery to reassure me of this, and to let me know that I will be ok. I am going to see another neurosergeon to see about the second tumor in my spine. This one is within the new bone growth that was placed within the hardware where they removed verterbrae. They will remove that tumor at some point, and then we will do another raidoactive iodine treatment. I am sorry if some of this makes no sense, I realize that all of you are not nearly as familiar with this as I am, so I hope I am explaning it in a way for everyone to understand. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions, I will try to answer them the best I can.



Thanks for the prayers,



Take Care,



Hattie