Hey, just. checking in. I also hope that you're continuing to heal and get answers, hopeful23 .

I totally get it @cocha -- it's been 4 1/2 months since this process started and it just feels so unbelievable/unreal sometimes. I keep having to remind myself that the prognosis for these papillary cancers is sooo good. It's just so fatiguing, all the waiting and weighing options and waiting more ... The surgery wasn't bad at all for me -- the biggest thing was just feeling tired and a cough I developed from, we suspect, from the intubation.

My pathology came back and it was confirmed to be a .7 x .7 x .9 papillary microcarcinoma, the common variety. So that is good (if it has to be cancer). Unfortunately, they took two small lymph nodes and found a tiny bit of cancer in one of them in the central compartment involving a parathyroid gland, so it spread outside the thyroid, which I guess is not uncommon. So now we have to decide if I need more treatment. I am going to see my surgeon next week and have a bunch of questions for him -- like how do they know that they found all the lymph nodes that have become involved (other structures around the thyroid) ... if getting rid of the rest of my thyroid might reduce the chance that this cancer could recur ... etc.

Again, I think the worst part of this is the waiting and not knowing when, and how, I can finally feel some confidence that I am cancer free.

What's next for you @cocha? Have they told you how they would like to proceed?

Lise

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