I had just found out my daughters spine and neck were OK after an injury playing softball, crisis averted right? Not exactly… the doctor had also discovered a nodule on her thyroid during the work up. I look back now and think about all the emotions that were bombarding me from every direction. There was fear, oh my gosh so much fear, but there was also anger and dismay and disbelief as well. All I could think was what the hell, Please Lord, let it be nothing. This kid had already been through so much with our ordeal with her school district.
We had loaded Cheyenne into the car for the long ride home, her neck was still in the c-collar so we reclined the front seat and tucked a jacket around her head like a baby roll. It was about one in the morning and she had received pain medication at the ER so we hoped she was going to sleep most of the way home. There was a silence so heavy it was like a blanket trying to smother me. I knew my husband had questions but was afraid to ask while Cheyenne was awake, she however, was not going to wait.
She asked me, "Momma, what did he mean, what is wrong with my thyroid?"
I told her I didn't know, we would have to go to the doctor and see what he suggested.
She didn't let that answer slide, instead she asked "With your medical background, what COULD it be?"
I have always tried to be up front with my children and answer their questions directly but without too much detail if unnecessary. I told her that it could be a benign nodule but it could be something more. I told her she would most likely need a thyroid ultrasound and possibly other tests. She asked if we would wait like the doctor suggested or would I look into it sooner. I could hear the underlying fear in her voice as she asked, and the fatigue also.
I told her I would do as I always do, she broke in and groggily said, "Good Momma, you'll find out quick and then we can take care of it" and she gave in to the narcotics and dozed off.
After a few miles, my husband asked if it could be really bad.
I told him, "if you mean bad like in cancer, yes it is always a possibility and that is why we are going in Monday and getting an ultrasound." In my life, I've never known how to do anything halfway, either I'm all in or I'm out. This would be no different.
Momma Bear was on the job. We drove home the rest of the way without too much discussion. My husband knew he had his answer and it was best to let me work out my plan in my own way and just go with it. When I set my mind to something, I do not stray from the goal easily, ask anyone, they will agree. The drive home went quickly as I was Googling all the way home. I then spent most of Sunday on the computer as Chey stayed pretty medicated and we iced her neck often. She had made the semifinals of the 2015 Rodeo Rockstar competition in Houston, top 10 in her age group and was due to perform in only two days!! We had tried to talk her out of going but being the competitor she is, you know the drill by now, she was determined to perform. So, in the midst of this entire ordeal, we were doing everything possible to get her some relief so she wouldn’t miss the show.
As medical professionals, we typically encourage our patients to avoid Dr. Google because they get just enough information to scare themselves half to death or they manifest symptoms they didn't have before--often times delaying true diagnosis of their problem. As patients, we should try to follow our own advice, but I needed answers, and I found plenty. According to several articles I read, (my favorite is thyca.org) thyroid nodules in children are pretty rare but when they do present themselves they are more often malignant, in fact, approximately 26% of them are in children vs. 5-10% of malignancies in adults. Most of these cancers are of the papillary or follicular forms (90%) but there are two additional forms, medullary (mostly inherited when in children) and anaplastic which is a more aggressive type. I also found out that girls are at higher risk than their male counterparts in the 10-19 age group, and nodules could be solid, cystic or mixed. As I investigated more, I found that ultrasound was usually the first test performed and then dependent on the result they would recommend a thyroid uptake scan, (a nuclear study that tests the function of the thyroid) a fine needle aspiration, or both. A fine needle aspiration or FNA is a biopsy procedure where a thin needle is inserted into the nodule to take tissue samples. They would also probably do lab tests and the literature seemed to say that size of the nodule mattered. It would have been helpful to get the CT scan copy or the report, when we were in the ER, but they said only their medical records department could release them and I didn't have it to reference!! It made me nearly crazy wondering about the size of Chey's nodule but now I had direction, I knew the course of action to take and that the first step was to get an ultrasound and then go from there. In the meantime I would continue to learn as much as I could about this potential adversary, with Dr. Google's help and all.
Next time, In the Doctor's Office
XXOO Make Everyday Count
No comments:
Post a Comment