Speaking of Greek - Doctor's have their own language

And it's all so we don't throw ourselves under the next convenient bus.
Anyway, the biopsy results were that there were no cells showing malignancy but lots of different cells that will happily continue to grow without restraint. Anyone here remember pictures of goiters from the good old days before iodized salt?










Okay, mine isn't that bad right now but, left alone, it will be and on both sides of neck.
Also, some of the cell structures in the biopsy are the kind that have a rather unpleasant habit of suddenly deciding to go to the dark side - Darth Synthroid....so I see a surgeon in a few weeks and find out about having yet another bit of the innards yarded out. It isn't working anyway and is starting to get uncomfortable, so what the heck, eh?

At least that's what I hope. I don't want to go through another year of playing the ultrasound, biopsy specialist boogey. It takes a long time, time off work, time driving to appointments, time sitting in waiting rooms, time wondering, wondering, wondering what's developed since the last time...

The Wheels on the Bus

keep falling off, falling off, falling off...

If my life was a Greek play, the Chorus would be humming that in the background through just about every day now. It starts when you turn 40; things stop working and other bits get scheduled for removal and maybe replacement - depending on parts availability for your particular model.
I've been joking for a few years now that I've had pretty much every disposable organ removed (except for the standards, appendix and tonsils) so now the medical professionals are starting to sharpen their scalpels for the semi-disposables, those bits that really have a function but can be replaced by medication or something mechanical.

I started this post when I was just about to head off to the doctor's office for the result of a thyroid biopsy - oh boy, was that fun but another story...in a long series of uncomfortable, painful and/or embarrassing medical examinations I have had over the years.

I've had a little thyroid problem for years, called Hashimoto's thryoiditis, that is responsible for a disparate group of symptoms from dry skin, lethargy - some days, when the thyroxine needs adjusting upwards, lethargy is more like wading through glue - constipation and and enlarged tongue, of all things. Actually that last item explains a lot of difficulty I've had over the years in simply talking quickly and clearly. Anyway, thyroxine is a synthetic hormone that replaces the thyroid hormone not being produced by the thyroid...Because the thyroid isn't producing enough hormone the brain secretes another hormone to stimulate the poor wee thyroid but only makes it grow larger - and become a goiter.

Anyway, long story short, I've been under control for a long time but last year my dentist noticed growth in the thyroid. That could mean an adjustment in meds but my doctor thought an ultrasound was in order. This led to a biopsy which meant lying on a gurney, my head hanging back off a pillow so my throat is raised. A total stranger walks into the dimly lit room, wipes the cold ultrasound gel off a part of the neck and injects a local anesthetic into the area of the thyroid he plans on sampling. It felt like my vocal chords were being pinched from the inside...weird. Then he roots around with a hollow needle sucking out bits of the larger nodules to send off for a look-see by a pathologist.

That's what's supposed to happen, anyway. The first time I went for the biopsy, the radiologist (i.e. man with many needles) looked at the ultrasound and said, "gee, you've got so many nodules, I think it's just a goiter." Off I scampered, happily free of the prospect of having needles jammed in my neck. The doctor said, "Of course it's a goiter: your thyroid is enlarged. That's what 'goiter' means - I want to know WHY!" and back I went.

Yesterday, when I started this post, I found out the why. With my history I have a statistically significant increased risk of developing one of four cancers in the thyroid. Three of them are quite treatable and have excellent prognosis, one of them means I'm dead before Christmas. But if it was that one, I'd be dead now. Anyway, there was more than a little apprehension waiting for the results to this one.

I'll post the results later. This is already too long and I've got a lot of housework to do in a very short amount of time before my friend from Edmonton shows up for a golf game. Man, I really need this - a few hours away from everything. I love golf, it's one of those few things that forces me to focus on one thing at a time and, while I'm not great at it, I am relatively competent - which is a nice change from just about everything else right now.