It's been a whole year since my last radioiodine treatment. What a busy, quick year that has been! My last follow up appointment was in October of 2019. I was supposed to come back in February, but given that the roads in February are not great, and we had scheduled a trip to Hawaii to celebrate a certain husband's 50th birthday, we postponed that appointment til April. Then the pandemic hit, and no one was going anywhere in April, so.... June it was. Eight months after my last appointment, and a year post treatment. I've never gone this long without knowing what the cancer was doing, so I had NO IDEA what to expect. Given that it's 2020, the year of the Apocalypse, I half prepared myself for bad news. Didn't stress over it, just began trying to figure out when we could fit in another round of radioiodine and it's accompanying time off work. As it turns out though, I didn't NEED to think about that! (Foreshadowing of Good News. Yes. Even in 2020!)
Rob and I hit the road for Rochester, and were planning on making it our 22nd Anniversary getaway. Quarantine has lifted enough that the kids could stay with friends, and hotels were open (although no breakfasts included. BOO!). We were hoping to go out to a nice, romantic dinner, but in Minnesota, restaurants weren't yet open to Dine-In, so we got Mexican food to go and ate it in our hotel room. Not so romantic, but whatever. We even tried to do a little shopping, as I had gotten a gift card for being an "essential worker" during all of this pandemic stuff, and I was itching to spend it. Pier One and TJ Maxx were open, but woefully empty, with bare shelves everywhere. Apparently, TJ Maxx had been open since June 1st, but hadn't gotten a truck with new inventory in 3 months. I had money, but very little to spend it on, which was a bummer. Stores required masks, six feet distancing, hand sanitzer at every entrance, and sterilized carts. Dressing rooms were closed. Not the funnest shopping experience, but better than Walmart, which is the only option we have at home.
The Mayo Clinic also required temperature checks, masks, six feet distancing. When we went into Dr. Stan's office, there was a pillow on the bench between his desk and I, so that I had to sit at least six feet away from him. Rob was stuck on a bench in the corner. Just interesting how life is run these days.
Bottom line, though, was GOOD NEWS! My tumor marker thyroglobulin went from 2.0 to 1.9, which is in the downward direction (even if only a little), and the LOWEST it has EVER BEEN!! WOOT WOOT! The ultrasound showed no new growths, and the spots we knew about had behaved themselves and stayed essentially the same size. So, it looks like treatment last year may not have cured my cancer, but at least stopped it dead in it's tracks, which is AWESOME NEWS. Fabulous. Great news at a time when great news is hard to find. SO HAPPY.
That's where we're at, and I have a feeling the second half of 2020 is going to be quite a bit more pleasant than the first half. Let's have an all new New Year's Eve on June 30th, and start this whole thing over, shall we???
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