I received some disturbing news this morning, but right now there isn’t really enough information to react to it. A friend of mine called me to tell me that he was having surgery on Tuesday, because they just found a tumor in his thyroid.
I don’t know what to do. I don’t think there really is much I can do at this point. There simply isn’t enough information to know how serious this could get. I know enough people who have had thyroid problems, including cancer that I’m very alarmed. I’m just not going to let my imagination go there.
He’s only 26 years old. He’s one of those old soul people. I met him about ten years ago and I know him as an artistic and sensitive individual. He speaks softly and not a lot, but when he does you just have to stop and listen because you don’t want to miss anything.
Right now he’s more focused on the surgery, then on anything else. I know he’s scared of going under the knife. We hope they don’t have to remove any of his thyroid. We hope that it is just one benign tumor. We hope that his thyroid functions aren’t affected. At this point in time, there are far more questions then there are answers and we only want good answers.
He has a good support network. He lives with his fiancée and his mother and his brothers both live near by. He also has several friends in town. I want to be there for him, but I just don’t know how. There really isn’t anything I can do except for check-in with him and try to be supportive. Any well wishes you’d like to send his way I will pass along.
About Me
- Lora
- While I'm loving life in the Austin area, I mainly grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York. I’m a 38 year old INFP married to a very handy INTJ. We have a three year old that keeps life interesting and full of meaning, a little girl in the womb and a 9 year old puppy. I tend to take a Zen approach to life and, at least mentally, I’m always going off on one tangent or another. This really is just a hodge-podge of whatever’s on my mind at the moment with little rhyme or reason.
10 comments:
Sorry to hear about your friend...I hope the tumor is benign...
It's stories like this that give us pause and remind us that we all live on borrowed time, so we should make the best of it.
Best wishes.
Many well wishes for your frind. I hope it goes well and he recovers quickly.
I'm sending best wishes to your friend, and to you!
(Let's try that again without the typos!...)
Lora, I've done medical typing for an endocrinologist (doctor who specializes in problems of the endocrine system, of which the thyroid gland is a part) for 14 years. Let me just tell you that thyroid nodules are common. Three most-used methods of treatment are medication, radioiodine ablation and surgery. Also to allay your fears, thyroid cancer is rare in these tumors. And if thyroid function has been affected, it's easily brought back to normal, and maintained, with medication.
(All that from a lay-woman's perspective, of course.)
Lora, I am so sorry to hear about your friend, but I am sure that the outcome will be positive. Why? My mom had a tumor on her thyroid (she has lupus, btw) and had to have it removed. She takes a synthetic thyroid- has to the rest of her life- but is totally fine. In fact, the surgery for the thryoid was less traumatic than her hysterctomy.
Best wishes to you and your friend.
Thank you for your reassuring perspectives!
Have him read my friend Kalli's blog - she's just recovering from a very serious illness that resulted in a big surgery. Her wit and wisdom might make him smile, and give him some things to think about.
www.kallipallooza.blogspot.com
Lora:
I've got a whole knot of folks praying for him. He's a special guy, and we all love him very much.
A good thing to remember -- prayer in its many forms has been scientifically proven to help patients recover, regardless of the patient's religious presuasion, or that of those who pray for them. They don't even have to know they're being prayed for -- hint hint. :-)
Even athiest to athiest works. Thought is energy.
I think about him a lot.
-- Dan
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