Around this time last year, I was home for Christmas and was having a good time with family and friends. I had an upcoming Cleveland Clinic doctors appointment but I was not nervous for it at all. I had finished radiation a month before and was told the cancer was all gone.My dad and I made the drive up to Cleveland for my early morning appointment. I was excited to see Dr. Shin and get the news that I was clear of cancer and did not need to come back for six months. Little did I know that I would be getting bad news.
We arrived a few minutes late and Dr. Shin called me to make sure I was still coming. Once we got into the office, I was taken back immediately to be evaluated. Dr. Shin instructed me to lay back on the ultrasound table so she could examine my neck. Not nervous at all, I hopped up on the table. Dr. Shin began performing the ultrasound and was taking longer than normal. She had the ultrasound on the left side of my neck for a long time. I didn't think much of it, I thought she was just being thorough. She began to tell me that their was a suspicious area but she would be very suprised if it was cancer because all of my blood work looked normal. At this point I started to get worried but not to bad. My blood work was fine so I was hoping it was nothing.
Dr. Shin decided to preform a biopsy just to be safe. I HATE BIOPSIES! A giant needle to my neck is not the way I wanted to start off my Christmas break! The biopsy was complete and Dr. Shin told me I would hear from her tomorrow about the results.My dad and I left the Cleveland Clinic in shock. I thought I was clear of cancer, this was not the news I expected to hear. A million things were going through my head on the drive home. I was upset, I had a feeling it was going to be bad news once I got the phone call. I was just so frustrated, did the radiation not work? Did I go through the low-iodine diet and no synthroid for nothing? I just wanted answers but had to wait a full 24 hours.
24 hours finally passed and I got a call from Dr. Shin saying the cancer was back and I would need a modified radical neck dissection. The modified radical neck dissection would consist of removing lymph nodes from the left side of neck and a drain would be placed in my neck during surgery and would remain in my neck for a few days after surgery. I could not have surgery until after the new year due too the holidays ahead. I did not want to wait to long but I also did not want to get it done right away because I needed to be able to go back to work. Cancer was really getting in the way of my career.
Dr. Shin, my parents, and I decide that I would have surgery the last week in January. I would be able to go back to work for a few weeks and then come back to Ohio once again to go under the knife, hopefully for my last surgery.
