Since I seem to be documenting everything here, might as well continue. Quarterly lab and ultrasound was done last week on truly horrific "UP in winter" roads. If cancer doesn't kill me, the drive to get to Wisconsin every three months will. Good grief. Anyways. Rob and I saw the doctor on Monday, and made it a "get away" weekend for the two of us. Which was SO nice. Out to dinner, a stay at the Hyatt, then Christmas shopping for the kids in the morning. We had a great time. Driving on snowy roads is so much more pleasant when Rob's at the wheel instead of me ;).
So the bottom line from my appointment is... pretty status quo. Tumor marker went up from 4.2 to 4.9 and is now 5.1. So slowly rising, but not as dramatically as last year at this time, when it went from 4.3 to 7.5. No answers as to why things would go up and then come down. The doctor said that sometimes such fluctuations are associated with varied TSH numbers (when TSH is higher, so is the TG level), but the data doesn't support that theory in my case. My TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is now the lowest it's ever been in my life at .07. The doctor is trying to get the number as close to "0" as he can to starve the cancer. So, it's low low low. But it doesn't seem to bother me at that level. Apparently such low levels of TSH can cause tremors, irritability and hot flashes. Given that I'm going through menopause... who can really say what's what anymore, but I DON'T have tremors. So that's good.
A thyroglobulin level of 5.1 equates to about 5.1 grams of cancer, per the doctor. Which means about 5 paper-clips worth of cancer still hanging around SOMEWHERE, but we can't see it on ultrasound, so there's nothing they can do, apparently. Believe me. I asked LOTS of questions. Zapping me with radiation again isn't an option at this time, as the doctor said that the cancer is obviously embedded in other tissues where the radioiodine can't find it, so it wouldn't be very effective. The only treatment option with any chance of success, he said, is additional surgery, but since we can't SEE the cancer, there's nothing to cut out at this point. So here we are, still in "watch and wait" mode... waiting for the stuff to get bigger and show itself, go away (my choice), or.... undulate for all eternity. Which at this point seems the most likely scenario.
Dr. Sheehan said he sees about 350 cases of thyroid cancer a year, of which 9-10 have metastasized. Of those, he has one other guy who is "biochemically incomplete" like me, and has been for EIGHTEEN YEARS. One-eight. Which means for 18 years, he has been monitored every 3 months to make sure the cancer isn't growing. His TG number has stayed about half of what mine is, but still. I suppose, on the one hand, if I can live my life and just deal with monitoring, 18 years is a good sign. It becomes more of a chronic condition than an acute problem. Obviously, the guy hasn't DIED in that 18 years, so that's awesome. On the other hand... 18 years of something LURKING, of having to be seeing doctors, and not being able to do anything about it, seems kind of a downer to me. But whatever. It's better than the alternative. And we've all got our medical issues anyway... this one is just mine.
I asked the doctor what the magic number is. How far do we let the TG number creep up before we DO SOMETHING. He gave me a random number of 10. But didn't say what we'd do if we hit 10, because from what he was explaining, there's not much to do. But 10.
So, current plan: Keep TG under 10, and get a date night to Wasau, WI with my husband every three months. That's probably what God's plan was all along. If we're too stubborn and cheap to go on dates voluntarily, he'll FORCE us to go on them. HA!
