Diagnosis

We have a lot of people asking about Morgan and our family, so I going to try and blog all that is going on to keep everyone up to date.

Morgan was dignosed with  thryoid cancer on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 while she was at her annual cranial-facial appointment.

On November 12, 2010, Morgan got a sports physical at our local CVS, so she could try-out for the bowling team. (She made the team and is very much enjoying it.)  The nurse practiciner told us that it looked like she had an enlarged thyroid and that we should get it checked out.  On December 6, 2010, Morgan had a doctor's appointment with our family physician, where they did blood work and had us scheduled for an ultra sound.  She had the ultra sound in late December.  We then didn't hear anything throughout the holidays.  Early in January, I called to follow-up and was told that she needed a CT scan and needle biopsy done.  It took us a couple of weeks to get these tests scheduled (lost paperwork and no record of phone calls between the doctor's office and the hospital).  Finally, on January 20, 2011 she had the CT scan done and on January 24, 2011 the biopsy was performed.  During all of this time the doctor was not sharing much information, but of course our minds were everywhere. 

I was trying to shield Morgan from all of the craziness of scheduling and was only telling her when an appointment was set and only of one appointment at a time.  The evening I told her of the upcoming biopsy, she soaked it in for a few minutes and then turned to me and said, "What's the worst it could be, cancer?"  Oh, how we try to shield our children from the stress of life and they are already dealing with it in their own way.

We were told that the doctor would have biopsy results on Wednesday afternoon, two days after the procedure.  I called Wednesday, I called Thursday, I called Friday to get an answering machine each time.  I must admit that the messages I left were not as polite as the previous one.  Finally, on Friday I received a call back, only to tell me that it is usually 7 to 10 days befor they get results at their office.  I beleive that was the longest week we have been through.  I don't know how many times I would think/worry about what the results would be.  I believe that I played out every senerio at least a dozen times in my head.

I'm already amazed at how God is showing himself through all of this.  One morning I had Fox News on while we were getting ready and they had a story on about a young doctor who was recently dignosed with thyroid cancer.  She was a new mom and was looking in the mirror while getting her hair done and noticed that her neck looked enlarged.  She had it checked out and was dignosed very quickly.  She has already had surgery and is waiting to have the radioactive iodine treatment.  Both Steve and I sat on the edge of our bed amazed at the timing of such a story.  God was certainly at work preparing us for what was to come.

On February 1, 2011, Morgan had her annual cranial facial appointment for her cleft lip/palate.  For the most part we usually enjoy these appointments.  We have gotten to know the doctors and staff throughout the years and feel very comfortable with them.  Morgan had just had rhinoplastic surgery in August and we were looking forward to seeing her plastic surgeon so he could see what a great job he had done.  Also, Morgan had finished up with braces over the summer and had just had veneers placed on her front teeth, so her smile was gorgeous.  We were nearing the end of the years of treatment that she had gone through to correct this birth defect.  As we were updating her medical history with the nurse and then the doctor about all of the testing she had recently gone through,  our plastic surgeon left the room and made some phone calls, he came back in the room with a consent form for me to sign.  Within 15 minutes he had biopsy results.  It was so God's timing with us being at this appointment when we found out results.  Our doctor was very professional yet caring in breaking the news to us.  There was an ENT on site that was able to explain the surgery and treatment to us.

The next mornig we had an appointment with the ENT at his office.  Steve was able to go with us and we were told more details of the surgery and post op treatment time line.  An appointment was later set up for an edocrinologist, the specialist that will be in charge of post op treatment.  Both Steve and I have talked with the ENT over the phone, and it has now been decided that Morgan's surgery and post op treatment will be done at the James Cancer Center at OSU.  There is an entire team of doctors that work closely together to coordinate her entire procedure and treatment.  We have an appointment with this team on February 11, 2011.

We have been told that Morgan will have surgery to have the entire thyroid and the affected lymph glands removed.  They expect the surgery to take about six hours.  She will have at least a 24 hour stay in the hospital.  Approximately six weeks after surgery, she will have a radioactive iodine treatment.  This is pill that is taken and the radioactive iodine goes throughout the body killing any remaining cancer cells.   Morgan will then have to be basically in quarintine for three to five days.  From what we have read and been told, she will especially need to stay away from pregnant women and small children, luckily we have none of those here at our house.   There is over a 90% percent success rate for this surgery/treatment combination. 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.