Biopsy bites

Two weeks ago, I underwent my thyroid biopsy. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you already know that I got positive results, which is comforting. But I thought I'd take some time to recount my experience of that day and since then.

I took the day off work, which was smart. In hindsight, if I have to do it again, I'll take a second day to recover, or at least make sure the procedure itself gets scheduled for the morning. I THOUGHT that was the plan, but turns out my morning appointment was just the consult with the endocrinologist. Fortunately, his son was who did my procedure, so I could get in for the biopsy the same day. After the consult, it was pretty certain I'd be put on synthroid based on my blood work results, but the final verdict would come post-biopsy.

I am quite thankful that I have a friend who went through this same procedure about a year ago. She did not hold back and told me how painful it would be. She. Was. Right. All the web sites that said it wasn't "any worse than having blood drawn" lied, or those writers have superhuman tolerances for pain.

When I arrived for the procedure, I had to lie down with a bolster pillow under my shoulder blades and lean my head back. I was basically upside down so that they could easily do the aspiration on my thyroid. I was not given any anesthesia ... doc's reasoning was that it would only numb the skin, and wouldn't prevent any other pain ... plus, that's more needles. No thanks.

They took three samples. It hurt like hell. My mom, who came with me, said they were pretty big needles. When it was over, doc asked how I felt. My response: "All I could think was I wondered if this is how it would feel to be stabbed."

I'll admit, I'm not a fan of pain, but I'm not a baby either. However ... I was glad I didn't have to drive myself home right away. And when I did, I slept about half the evening. And I was sore, BOY I was sore for that whole next day. And my voice was hoarse. But by Friday, I was feeling pretty normal again, physically.

That's when the "what if" thoughts started kicking in. See, I was supposed to get the results Friday or Monday at the latest. I kind of expected it to be Monday, since I had the procedure done late in the day, and they needed time to send it to one of the best pathologists in town to review. (Or so I was told.) As small a chance (about 5%) as I had of it being cancerous, I still worried some about it. I know that if it had gone the other way, I'm very lucky to live in Houston and have MD Anderson in my backyard. But I still was not excited about the prospect. As positive as I worked to be, it was just nagging in the background.

You can imagine my relief when I finally learned Monday afternoon it was benign. I was disappointed, however, that the procedure doc sent the information to his dad's office Friday afternoon, and they opted to mail me the report instead of calling me. MAIL biopsy results?? I know it's probably routine to their office, but this is my thyroid and my quality of life we are talking about here. I suppose if it were serious they would have called ... but if they'd called, they'd have saved me a weekend of worry. But by that point, I was just relieved to get the positive results.

So after reminding the nurse the doc wanted to start me on synthroid, I began my prescription a week ago. The first day was tough. I woke up, took my pill, and the prescribed hour later when I could eat, I was nauseous and exhausted. I called in sick for half a day and worked from home the other half.

Then I was doing great until today. I came back from a lunch meeting feeling very spacey and again, a little queasy. After working through it for an hour without subsiding, I came home early and slept again for 3.5 hours. Thank goodness for sick hours, and that until now, I've not had a big need to use them.

I realize it will take a good 3-6 weeks of being on this dose of the meds for my body to adjust and regulate itself. I can be patient. I'm just not used to being a visitor in my own body. Everyone knows I'm a bit of an Energizer bunny ... I can go go go, and that's what gets me through busy seasons like the one I'm smack in the middle of running. But I'm not used to my body quitting on me. I guess one bad day per week out of seven is pretty good, but it's still odd to me.

I am determined to get through this. This is MUCH better than any of the alternatives, and such a minor health issue compared to what others I know deal with every day. Everyone tells me when I get to the other side when my body has adjusted, I'm going to feel great. It's not that I feel badly right now, I just clearly have my days or moments where I feel differently. And that's okay. After all, as much as people joke that I may be superhuman, I am after all, just a regular human like everyone else.