We just returned from appointments with both the surgeon and the endocrinoligist where we received very encouraging news! They are still seeing a couple of lymph glands that concern them, but they are too small to be removed by surgery at this time. She has another appointment in three months, where they will once again ultrasound the area. The radioactive iodine can work for up to six months, and they are very hopeful that it will continue to shrink the few remaining tumors.
The power of prayer is amazing and we are so grateful to all of you for lifting Morgan up through all of this.
God is good!
Love, Kim
Friday, June 17, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Treatment
Morgan was busy with doctors appointments early this week and is now bored while being confined to her room until Saturday afternoon.
She is glad to be coming off from the low iodine diet. We are amazed at how many foods contain iodine. She is tired of eating salad and fruit and is very much looking forward to having pizza tonight.
Monday morning she had an appointment that did bloodwork and labs. Then she had a Thyrogen shot - this shot takes away the affects of the synthroid medicine that she takes each morning. She could have gone off from her synthroid (the thyroid replacement medication) for two weeks, but this shot is a better option then going off from medicine and having the side effects of no thryroid hormones in your body.
Tuesday morning she had another appointmet for her Thyrogen shot. She then had an appointment with Nuclear Medicine where she got a tracer dose of the radioactive iodine (this was three pills) and a body scan.
Wednesday morning, she had more blood drawn before going back to Nuclear Medicine. She had more body scans, two different types totaling two hours of scanning. We then waited for the doctor to read the scans and come up with a dosage amount for the radioactive iodine. Her scans came back with only one spot that was of concern. It is in the lymph gland area on the left side of the neck and the doctor felt confident that the radioactive iodine would take care of it. The rest of her body looked free from any cancer cells. Praise God!
The radioactive iodine that she took was about 5 ounces of liquid that she drank through a straw. She said that it really had no taste. The only side effect that she has had was some swelling in her jaw/saliva gland area and this is very normal. There were many other side effects that she could have had, but thankfully she has felt fine through this process. Her dosage required her to be in quarantine for 72 hours. She is very ready for Saturday afternoon to get here! Her bedroom walls feel as though they are closing in on her.
The rest of us have been doing our best to maintain our distance from Morgan. Steve and Zane are up at camp with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days and Lance and Max are hanging out in our man cave (that is not anything new). Suzie (Morgan's dog) has been missing Morgan, she will lay outside Morgan's door and cry to be let in.
Her next appointment is on Thursday, April 28th, where she will have another total body scan.
It has been amazing to see God's hand through all of this, from her first visit at the Minute Clinic to seeing no permanent side effects from surgery or treatment. A big concern had been damage to her vocal chords, but her voice has now returned to full strength!
Thank you all for your prayers and support. We know that we would not have made it through this trial without all of your prayers being lifted up on Morgan's and our family's behalf.
Kim
She is glad to be coming off from the low iodine diet. We are amazed at how many foods contain iodine. She is tired of eating salad and fruit and is very much looking forward to having pizza tonight.
Monday morning she had an appointment that did bloodwork and labs. Then she had a Thyrogen shot - this shot takes away the affects of the synthroid medicine that she takes each morning. She could have gone off from her synthroid (the thyroid replacement medication) for two weeks, but this shot is a better option then going off from medicine and having the side effects of no thryroid hormones in your body.
Tuesday morning she had another appointmet for her Thyrogen shot. She then had an appointment with Nuclear Medicine where she got a tracer dose of the radioactive iodine (this was three pills) and a body scan.
Wednesday morning, she had more blood drawn before going back to Nuclear Medicine. She had more body scans, two different types totaling two hours of scanning. We then waited for the doctor to read the scans and come up with a dosage amount for the radioactive iodine. Her scans came back with only one spot that was of concern. It is in the lymph gland area on the left side of the neck and the doctor felt confident that the radioactive iodine would take care of it. The rest of her body looked free from any cancer cells. Praise God!
The radioactive iodine that she took was about 5 ounces of liquid that she drank through a straw. She said that it really had no taste. The only side effect that she has had was some swelling in her jaw/saliva gland area and this is very normal. There were many other side effects that she could have had, but thankfully she has felt fine through this process. Her dosage required her to be in quarantine for 72 hours. She is very ready for Saturday afternoon to get here! Her bedroom walls feel as though they are closing in on her.
The rest of us have been doing our best to maintain our distance from Morgan. Steve and Zane are up at camp with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days and Lance and Max are hanging out in our man cave (that is not anything new). Suzie (Morgan's dog) has been missing Morgan, she will lay outside Morgan's door and cry to be let in.
Her next appointment is on Thursday, April 28th, where she will have another total body scan.
It has been amazing to see God's hand through all of this, from her first visit at the Minute Clinic to seeing no permanent side effects from surgery or treatment. A big concern had been damage to her vocal chords, but her voice has now returned to full strength!
Thank you all for your prayers and support. We know that we would not have made it through this trial without all of your prayers being lifted up on Morgan's and our family's behalf.
Kim
Monday, April 4, 2011
Treatment Scheduled
Morgan will receive her radioactive iodine therapy on April 20th. Starting on April 3rd, she will go on a low iodine diet. The lower her body iodine level, the better the therapy will work. On Monday the 18th, she will have some lab work done and receive a Thyrogen shot, this shot reduce the thyroid hormones in her body that she is receiving through the drug Synthroid. Tuesday the 19th, she will again receive another Thyrogen shot and also receive a tracer dose of the radioactive iodine.
On Wednesday the 20th, she will once again have lab work done, then have a total body scan and a three dimensional image taken before receiving her full dose of the radioactive iodine. This will be a long day at the hospital - up to 5 hours. Depending on the dosage she receives, she will have to be isolated from the family for three to four days and away from the general public for at least five days. She is hopeful that she will be able to return to school on Monday, but it may not be until later in the week. On Thursday the 28th, she will have a follow up appointment with labs and another full body scan.
Morgan is doing amazingly well. She seems to have more energy than pre-diganosis. She has returned to all of her previous activities. Her voice continues to sound stronger, only after a long day does it show some signs of strain - especially after Lance's volleyball games.
We thank you all very much for all of the prayers lifted up for Morgan and our family. We know that it is through your prayers that we are all getting through this time.
On Wednesday the 20th, she will once again have lab work done, then have a total body scan and a three dimensional image taken before receiving her full dose of the radioactive iodine. This will be a long day at the hospital - up to 5 hours. Depending on the dosage she receives, she will have to be isolated from the family for three to four days and away from the general public for at least five days. She is hopeful that she will be able to return to school on Monday, but it may not be until later in the week. On Thursday the 28th, she will have a follow up appointment with labs and another full body scan.
Morgan is doing amazingly well. She seems to have more energy than pre-diganosis. She has returned to all of her previous activities. Her voice continues to sound stronger, only after a long day does it show some signs of strain - especially after Lance's volleyball games.
We thank you all very much for all of the prayers lifted up for Morgan and our family. We know that it is through your prayers that we are all getting through this time.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Week Three Post Op - Good News!
Morgan had appointments today with both the endorcinologist and surgeon. She had two ultrasounds done, bloodwork and another test to check her iodine level.
The surgeon went over the pathology results with us. They took the entire thyroid out and found that it had a 4.7 cm tumor. The took 50 lymph glands, 34 of them were cancerous.
The ultrasounds looked good. The saw a few lymph glands that looked as if they were benign tumors and a few more lymph glands that looked as if they had traces of cancer, but nothing that they thought the radioactive iodine treatment would not take care of.
Her calcium levels are back in the normal range, which means that he parathyroid glands have started working again. She is able to be taken off from one of the calcium supplements next week and will reduce the dosage on the other one. Her calcium levels will be tested again in three months.
Her iodine levels were tested today and will be tested again two weeks prior to the radioactive iodine treatment. They are looking at having the treatment done in late April or early May. We were given a lot of information regarding the treatment and ways to lower iodine intake prior to the treatment.
All in all a very good day. We were very glad to get test result and see much better ultrasounds! Now we can move on to the next phase of treatment.
She went to school full days this week, taking the Ohio Graduation Test each morning. She says that she is less tired now than she was before surgery. Her voice is sounding stronger each day. It is awesome to see such great progress - our God is so good!
Thank you all again for your prayers, notes, and thoughts. All of the outpouring of love has been very encouraging to all of us.
Kim
The surgeon went over the pathology results with us. They took the entire thyroid out and found that it had a 4.7 cm tumor. The took 50 lymph glands, 34 of them were cancerous.
The ultrasounds looked good. The saw a few lymph glands that looked as if they were benign tumors and a few more lymph glands that looked as if they had traces of cancer, but nothing that they thought the radioactive iodine treatment would not take care of.
Her calcium levels are back in the normal range, which means that he parathyroid glands have started working again. She is able to be taken off from one of the calcium supplements next week and will reduce the dosage on the other one. Her calcium levels will be tested again in three months.
Her iodine levels were tested today and will be tested again two weeks prior to the radioactive iodine treatment. They are looking at having the treatment done in late April or early May. We were given a lot of information regarding the treatment and ways to lower iodine intake prior to the treatment.
All in all a very good day. We were very glad to get test result and see much better ultrasounds! Now we can move on to the next phase of treatment.
She went to school full days this week, taking the Ohio Graduation Test each morning. She says that she is less tired now than she was before surgery. Her voice is sounding stronger each day. It is awesome to see such great progress - our God is so good!
Thank you all again for your prayers, notes, and thoughts. All of the outpouring of love has been very encouraging to all of us.
Kim
Monday, March 14, 2011
Two Weeks Post Op
Morgan has been doing well! I continue to be amazed at how quickly she is healing and how much more energy she has.
She went back to school for half days last week. This week she is taking the Ohio Graduation Test each morning at school and plans on staying the rest of the day. She has caught back up from being out and feels good about where she is at in each class. She is still not playing her violin, but we are hopeful that by the first of April she will be able to take that up again.
She has an appointment this Friday afternoon to see the surgeon. We hope to get pathology and bloodwork results. Unfortunately, we are unable to see the endocrinologist at that time, so that will be another appointment - hopefully next week.
Thank you again for all of your continued prayers.
She went back to school for half days last week. This week she is taking the Ohio Graduation Test each morning at school and plans on staying the rest of the day. She has caught back up from being out and feels good about where she is at in each class. She is still not playing her violin, but we are hopeful that by the first of April she will be able to take that up again.
She has an appointment this Friday afternoon to see the surgeon. We hope to get pathology and bloodwork results. Unfortunately, we are unable to see the endocrinologist at that time, so that will be another appointment - hopefully next week.
Thank you again for all of your continued prayers.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Follow-Up
Morgan had her post-op follow up appointment this afternoon. The surgeon was very pleased at how she is doing. He did an ultra sound on her neck area and also did blood work.
Morgan has been improving daily. She is getting bored with being home and is ready to go back to school. The surgeon still wants her to take it easy, so she is planning on doing half days next week.
She will have another appointment in two weeks with both the surgeon and the endocrinologist.
Kim
Morgan has been improving daily. She is getting bored with being home and is ready to go back to school. The surgeon still wants her to take it easy, so she is planning on doing half days next week.
She will have another appointment in two weeks with both the surgeon and the endocrinologist.
Kim
Monday, February 28, 2011
Home!
Morgan made it home today around 10:30.
She had another good day yesterday, feeling stronger and getting more bored with the hospital as the day went on.
The drainage tubes came out this morning. Her magnesium level is now in the normal range. Her calcium level has gone up over the past couple of days, but it is still low. She is taking two different calcium supplements, one twice a day and the other four times a day. Both of these levels will be checked again at her post-op appointment on Thursday afternoon along with her thyroid hormone levels that she is getting through the synthroid medication.
Her incision is healing nicely. The swelling has gone down and there is very little bruising. She has disposable stitches and then surgical glue on the outside, so there will be no stitches to be removed. The glue will peel away in about 10 days. She is allowed to get the incision wet, just not allowing the water to soak into it.
Her voice is getting stronger each day. She is still talking in a whisper, but it is not as rhaspy.
She says she isn't in much pain, it is more like an aching in her neck/incision area. She said the area feels tight and the incision area is starting to itch.
Kim
She had another good day yesterday, feeling stronger and getting more bored with the hospital as the day went on.
The drainage tubes came out this morning. Her magnesium level is now in the normal range. Her calcium level has gone up over the past couple of days, but it is still low. She is taking two different calcium supplements, one twice a day and the other four times a day. Both of these levels will be checked again at her post-op appointment on Thursday afternoon along with her thyroid hormone levels that she is getting through the synthroid medication.
Her incision is healing nicely. The swelling has gone down and there is very little bruising. She has disposable stitches and then surgical glue on the outside, so there will be no stitches to be removed. The glue will peel away in about 10 days. She is allowed to get the incision wet, just not allowing the water to soak into it.
Her voice is getting stronger each day. She is still talking in a whisper, but it is not as rhaspy.
She says she isn't in much pain, it is more like an aching in her neck/incision area. She said the area feels tight and the incision area is starting to itch.
Kim
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