Two weeks and three days.

Two weeks and three days ago my doctor called to tell me that I have cancer.

Two days before that, I had spent an uncomfortable morning at the local hospital having a nodule on my thyroid biopsied.

Ten days before that, I had an ultrasound at the same hospital to investigate the thyroid nodule my doctor had first found during a routine annual physical exam at her office ten days prior.

I want that to sink in for a second. Not the big scary C word. That one takes a long time to sink in. What I want you to see is that bit about "a routine annual physical exam". If I hadn't gone in for my routine annual physical I would still have cancer and I wouldn't know it.

People. Go to the doctor. At least once a year. Find one who actually DOES a physical exam on you AND GO.

So far here's what I know. The 1cm nodule in my right thyroid gland is a papillary carcinoma. It's a scary set of words for a wimpy ass cancer. It grows slowly. It likes to spread to lymph nodes but even if it does, it almost never becomes a life-threatening issue. I'll take those odds. If I had to have cancer, I guess papillary carcinoma is the way to go.

I'll see a second ear nose and throat doctor tomorrow for a second opinion (you know, because I'm a doctor too and I don't make decisions like this without hearing at least two opinions from other doctors). The first doc suggested a surgery to remove only the half of my thyroid that has the nodule and leave the left side intact. This makes me happy for a couple of reasons: Firstly, it's an outpatient surgery with no overnight stay. Secondly, the potential serious side effects are cut in half because they're only messing with half of my neck. Lastly, I won't likely have to take synthetic thyroid hormone replacement after surgery (at least not until my genetically predispositioned Hashimoto's sets in and my thyroid goes the way of every other woman's thyroid in my family - that is to say "south", "kaput", or plainly "useless"). What worries me about the partial thyroidectomy (AKA lobectomy) is that I do have nodules in the other half of my thyroid that will need to be monitored. It's possible that I'll need to have a second surgery to remove the other side if those nodules aren't behaving, or possibly even sooner if the histopath on my papillary carcinoma shows that it's one of the more ugly variants.

I was panicking a lot until I read the American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for Adult Patients with Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer. If you think the name of the publication is cumbersome, you should see the actual article. It has over 1078 references, yo! OVER A THOUSAND papers cited. DAMN. Those human docs like to do it up!

I've got an ultrasound appointment this Tuesday afternoon to check all those pesky lymph nodes. I'm scheduled for surgery on February 19th at a big hospital downtown with the fancy cancer surgeons. It's a Tuesday and I'll take the rest of the week off.

Sorry if I didn't tell you all of this news in person or on the phone. Something like this inevitably creates a lot of questions and conversation. It's not that I don't want to talk about it but having to see the shock, concern, worry, and fear in my friends' and family's eyes as I tell the story for the 17th time wears on me. I want to talk about it but without the negativity and fear. So get that all out of your system before you see me or talk to me again - because this momma has NO ROOM for downers.

With your prayers and support, this will be a breeze. I'm ready and God is with me. He's got this.