I met with an ENT (ear, nose & throat) surgeon yesterday for the purposes of removing my thyroid lesion. He was highly recommended by my oncologist and endocrinologist, so I guess I'm in good hands. He told me that the surgery would be pretty quick (30-45 min), and they would analyze the specimen from the removed section of my thyroid while I'm still under anesthetic. If the cells are cancerous, then they would go back in and remove the entire gland. If determined benign, then they'll patch me up and send me on my way.
I haven't scheduled the surgery yet because I'll need to finished with chemo for a few weeks before my immune system is ready. Fortunately, I should only be out of action for a few days.
On a side note, it's been interesting meeting all these new doctors in a small amount of time. There's of course the annoyance of showing up early to fill out the new patient paperwork every time (at least now I have interesting things to put down on the medical history section). Comparing the various personalities and bed-side manners has been quite intriguing. Here's a list of the various medical personnel I've come into contact with since December:
- Urgent care doc #1 (Tucson, when my mystery rash first appeared)
- Urgent care doc #2 (California, wicked stomach virus)
- Chiropractor (we still can't tell if my back pain was Hodgkin's related)
- General practitioner
- CT scan technician
- Oncologist #1
- Pathologist (fine needle biopsy)
- Oncologist #2 (second opinion)
- Andrologist
- Physician's asst. and several chemotherapy nurses
- ENT #1 (lymph node removal)
- surgical staff
- PET-CT technician
- MUGA technician (cardio scan)
- Respiratory technician (pulmonary tests)
- Podiatrist
- Endocrinologist
- ENT #2 (thyroid surgery)
- many phlebotomists
- several pharmacists
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