I got to the appointment 15 minutes early to complete paperwork as directed. I took my paperwork to the waiting area for Dr. C. and began completing it. Of course I completed the forms that I didn't need to complete ... the diabetes patient forms. I am not medically educated and have a tendency to just complete forms even if they do not apply to me. <smile>
At 1:00, the Medical Assistant (MA), Hillarie, came and got me and took me back. She took my vitals, heart rate 68 (I'm glad my heart was beating, seemed a little low to me but she liked it), blood pressure 118/68, good. Of course everything is in the computer now, so she updated my medication list to show nothing that I take on a regular basis except magnesium (ladies I've taken this for 30 years for PMS ... it now helps me with a different PMS ... post menopausal syndrome. Magnesium helps control your central nervous system). Hillarie finished up with my records and left me to sit in the room and wait for Dr. C. Now I had taken a Lasex (water pill) yesterday morning because my ankles had started swelling again ... and if you're thinking I was needing a bathroom, that was not the case. I needed some water in the worse way. My mouth was so dry and the dryness was spreading to my lips at a fast rate. I got my iPhone out for distraction and played Hanging With Friends, read my email, googled side effects of Lasex, text my daughters and my sister and then finally there was a knock on the door and in walks this young 'girl' or so she looked and introduced herself as Mary Beth C. She looked all of 24 years old .... and ... do you know how bad I wanted to ask her how old was? Don't worry, I didn't but I sure wanted to.
We started discussing my ugly thyroid and the nodules. She ask me if I had experienced any effects from the nodule(s). Well since I do not know what type of effects I would be experiencing because I didn't know that I had nodules until a couple of weeks ago, I had to ask what those effects might be. She said have you had any trouble swallowing? No, my food hits my mouth and doesn't stay there long and I swallow and it seems to go down just fine. She was sitting about 4 1/2 feet from me and she looked at my neck and said it looked normal. I thought ... that's good, since I know I'm getting a little loose skin on it. She was actually looking for any swelling which she didn't see. She told me that with all I have been through with breast cancer, this thyroid thing was just a little bump in the road. I wanted to say that I really prefer smooth roads myself but I didn't. She showed me the sonogram report and it had the size of the nodule(s) which both measured less than half an inch. Of course the medical field uses centimeters and I had to get her to convert that to inches for me. I only learned inches when I went to school, I don't think they had developed centimeters back then. <smile> She said we could watch these nodule(s) or we could biopsy. AND she said the worse thing that could happen is ... if the nodule is malignant, I will have my thyroid removed and be on thyroid hormones the rest of my life. KEY word here ... hormones ... I'm thinking lady, they are getting ready to give me a medication to kill all the hormones in my body and you want to give me more ... she said no, these hormones do not have estrogen in them. Whhhewwww ... thank goodness. She ask me if I wanted the biopsy and I said ... if it were you and you were sitting in my chair, would you want it? She said absolutely ... I said ... absolutely I want the biopsy. So away she went to get Hillarie to set up the procedure room. Again ... I pull my iPhone back out and repeat the play on the phone process and wait for Hillarie came to get me.
We get to the procedure room and there are these procedure tables with all these shot things (syringes) laying there, slides just waiting and ready for some nodule juice to be put on them, a jar with liquid just waiting for the rest of the nodule juice. Hillarie got things all set up and gave me a gown to protect my new t-shirt from the iodine that will be used to clean my neck. Now I gotta tell you, I had one of my new t-shirts on from my Kohl's trip last week and I didn't think that gown was going to keep iodine off it because it was a crew neck but what did I know ... I've never had a needle biopsy on my thyroid, maybe it's higher in my neck than I thought. Hillarie says ... I'm going to go get Dr. C and let her know you are ready ... she leaves me in this room sitting on this table with this heavy gown over me. I wear an undershirt and t-shirt every day and you add a heavy medical gown on top of that in a room where I do not think there was any ventilation and not much air, I was about to cook. Being the good patient and wanting to be ready when Dr. C. came in, I left it all on. I read every thing in the room and then thought I would take advantage of being on this table. I leaned back and did exercises for my core, leg lifts, ankle rolls. The table I was sitting on was kind of leaning back and my back was getting tired of sitting on the angle so I decided to lay down on the pillow (that seems to always bring the doctor in). After I laid down, I had a hot flash ... after all I had three pieces of clothing on my upper body ... so I had to sit up. Then I thought ... get your phone and take some pictures ... so I did and just as I was finishing up my photo shoot, in walks Dr. C.
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| Above: The table I was sitting on. See how the end of it has a little rise? And there's the gown that I was wearing. |
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| Above: See all those shot things, there were 10 of them. See all those slides, there were 10 of them. See that little cup with the white lid, that was for the left over nodule juice. See that piece of gauze on the right, that was for all the blood I expected to gush out of my neck. |
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| Above: These five shot things were for the other nodule. |
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| Above: The sonogram machine used to find the nodules so she could stick the shot thing in my neck to get the samples. (NOTE: She was very good with using all this equipment and sticking those needles in my neck.) |
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| Above: The osteoporosis poster that I read while waiting. It has a list that says: You Might Get Osteoporosis If ... 1) You are over 50 and post menopausal - check, and the last one was .... If you have had chemo - check. Great news ... I had at least two of those things on that list. NOTE: The figure in the picture has hair and it turns gray. |
Dr. C. is now ready to begin sticking those shot things in the nodule to get nodule juice. She gets shot thing number 1 and said ... OK, are you ready? Yep ... She finds the nodule on the songram and stuck needle #1 in my neck and either completely missed the supposedly deadened area or the lidocaine honestly didn't work. Yes, the needles was small and I have to tell you ... I felt all five sticks. On stick number 3, she hit a blood vessel and told me I would have a bruise. Hillarie is wiping the blood off my neck after each stick and I'm laying there thinking ... I'm sure glad I took that new t-shirt off. (laughing) After the procedure is finished, I'm thinking now I have to sit up and all the blood is in my head and my neck is probably bleeding profusely. Hillarie put a bandaid on my neck so I have something now for show and tell for all those shot sticks. NOT ... It was what I call a 'dot' bandaid. NOTE: See how pretty the color of my new t-shirt is. It has decorations down the right side of it. <laughing>
Praises:
* Thyroid biopsy complete
* Wonderful medical team
* Feeling good
* Good appetite
* Thrush going away
* Wonderful rain we have had the last couple of days
* Sense of humor to get me through these side trips of my journey
* Sooooo many more praises
Prayer Requests:
* My friend, Wendi, as she is now day 3 after her round of chemo
* All those who have received a diagnosis of a life changing disease
Blessed and praying for many blessings for you.
genam44@charter.net
The needle hit you right under adams apple:)
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