January 20, 2015 ~~~ Special Note:Great News!! This afternoon the ultrasound results came back and my oncologist called. There are some issues with my thyroid and throat, but they don't appear to be IBC (inflammatory breast cancer) related. No one wants cancer, but the worst cancer is Stage 4 cancer. Thus, I am so grateful to have my oncologist refer me back to the ENT and Endocrinology.
Below are my unedited thoughts before I knew the results. Perhaps it will give you some insight into the worries that race through a cancer survivor's mind when medical troubles brew...
January 17, 2015
This update is being written before I'm willing to post it. Just thinking about the possibility of recurrence is frightening. But, before we know whether I'm having a recurrence (the return of cancer), I wanted to jot down my thoughts.
Right after Thanksgiving, I developed a nagging sore throat just on my left side. By shortly before Christmas, it became so annoying that I begrudgingly went to urgent care. Urgent Care diagnosed me with strep throat. Made sense, except that I didn't have a fever and the pain was only on one side. But, the initial strep test was positive. So, I was given antibiotics and told to see my doc if things didn't get better. Well, things didn't get better so I called my regular doc. They referred me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist.The ENT 'scoped' my throat and diagnosed me with a "weird" but non-threatening case of carotidynia. This is when the sheath of the carotid artery's bifurcation point is inflamed. She prescribed a heavy-duty anti-inflammatory and said I would feel a lot better in a few days. Well, a few days later I wasn't feeling better but had a check-up with my oncologist so mentioned it to him. He has ordered an ultrasound of the head/neck/thyroid to either verify the ENT's diagnosis or work more on the puzzle. Ultrasound is Monday (January 19th).
Gotta say that I'm very nervous. In fact, that is an understatement. The thought of going through treatment again is just scary to think about. But I know we need to get answers. Sore throats on one side don't just linger for 8 weeks without a reason. Hopefully, this is simple and not cancer. Whatever it is, we will prevail. Stewart Scott said it best in his ESPY Speech about a year ago, "You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live. So live!" If you have six minutes, he is inspiring...
Because this is potentially serious and I promised the kids, from the start, that I would keep them in the loop; I told them. I hate worrying them with unknowns. That was hard. But, we are all optimistic. I'm hoping my doc is just being cautious and that the anti-inflammatory drugs are just slow to kick in. We find out Monday. The doc promised to call me as soon as he gets the results on Tuesday.
In the mean time...
