Update on my mom [View All]

[Cabcere]

Hi DUers,
As some of you may remember, I posted a while back about my mom being diagnosed with thyroid cancer. (It wasn't in a separate thread - I think I posted it in one of the Elizabeth Edwards threads, but many of you responded with kind words, prayers, and encouragement, and I thank you for that.) :) I haven't posted in a few days because I've been busy with a bunch of other stuff, but I wanted to let those of you who might be interested know what I know about what's going on.

My mom had surgery for thyroid removal on Wednesday. The surgery itself went well, although it took more than 4 hours (they were expecting 2-3) because a) the cancer was on both sides of her thyroid (they thought it was only on one side before) and b) there was a sticky coating/mass that made more difficult to remove the thyroid without damaging her vocal apparatus. They also found that the cancer had spread to some of her lymph nodes, which isn't great news, but the doctors do think they caught it in time. They had to transplant her parathyroid glands (I think?) into her muscle tissue, and they kept her at the hospital under observation for the first 48 hours to monitor her calcium levels. Apparently they stabilized quite nicely, with only a few minor instances of spiking or dipping, and she was able to come home yesterday morning. My aunt (her sister) has come up from NC to help my dad take care of her, and she seems to be doing well - I actually got to talk to her a little bit on the phone yesterday, although not for long because she's still pretty hoarse. Aside from that, she sounded pretty good and in high spirits, and my dad says the incision site looks fine and that she's feeling much better. She's scheduled to undergo two radioactive iodine treatments, to destroy any remaining thyroid cells and track down the cancer that has spread so they can take care of that, but I'm not sure exactly when. For the moment, though, she seems to be doing quite well, and I just wanted to thank you all very much for your thoughts, prayers, and support. :) :hug: You guys are great!

Peace,
~Cabcere