Spleen Ultrasound Results

We heard back from Dr. Lee (Tanya's surgeon) this afternoon with the results of the spleen ultrasound, and it is good news! The spot that Dr. Lee saw on Tanya's spleen from the chest CT appears to be a cyst, and nothing that needs to be worried about right now. We will have it looked at again in 6 months to see if anything has changed. For now it is one less thing to worry about.

The CT and Waiting...

We got the CT scan done last Tuesday (October 2), which Tanya said was much better than the MRI (only 15 minutes compared to the 45 minutes for the MRI and with a lot less noise). We then had to wait until last Friday (October 7) to meet with Dr. Lee again to get the results. That was the longest few days in history.


At our appointment we learned that as far as the radiologist and the doctors could determine, the cancer had NOT moved into the lung. What they saw was a granuloma, probably from an infection in the past. I think Tanya and I both breathed for the first time in a few days at that news.


Dr. Lee then told us that the CT scan showed something on Tanya's spleen... She said that she hadn't researched a lot on that, but that she wasn't aware of thyroid cancer moving to the spleen. She is going to do some more research, and may have Tanya do another CT to see more detail. Hopeful a biopsy will not be required...


Dr. Lee also told us that she was talking with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who would handle the neck dissection (Dr. Lee will do the thyroidectomy and assist the other surgeon with the neck). Once she determined who she wants to work with, she will provide us the information so that we can setup an appointment with him.  Hopefully this will be the last appointment before setting a date for surgery.

The Endocrinologist (Dr. Kimmel)

At our appointment with the Endocrinologist (Dr. Kimmel) , we were told more information about the thyroid in general and thyroid cancer specifically. Things like:

• There are usually no symptoms
• If you are going to get cancer this is the one to get
• This is generally something you die with, not of (we really like this one!)
• Post-surgery treatment of radioactive iodine (more about that later).

Dr. Kimmel also mentioned that while reviewing the chest x-ray she noticed a shadow on the lung, and requested Tanya get a CT of her chest. We were told that it is not uncommon for thyroid cancer to move to the lung, so Dr. Kimmel wanted to get a CT scan for a more detailed look. Needless to say we were even more terrified upon hearing about this.