My Name is Alysia. I Have Cancer.

My name is Alysia.  I am a 35 year old wife, teacher, and mother of two young children. My life took a dramatic turn last Friday when I was officially diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.  Carcinoma...CANCER.  

I still haven't fully come to terms with the fact that I have this diagnosis.  I have been wandering through the last several days in a bit of a fog. It doesn't seem real.  It's certainly not fair.  I keep telling myself and everyone around me that it's almost over and that as soon as this incision on my neck fades into a barely noticeable scar, all of this will be behind me.  But the more I think about it, the more I realize that my life is going to be completely different from now on.  

My surgery last Friday left me without a thyroid, and the Radioactive Iodine treatment (RAI) that I will undergo in a few weeks will kill all of the remaining thyroid cells left in my body.  I don't know how much you know about your thyroid, but as it turns out, it's kind of an important part of your body.  Admittedly, I knew nothing about it before I found out there were problems with mine.  Allow me to educate you.

Your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland that sits at the front of your neck.  It produces a hormone called thyroxine (T4) that helps your body maintain a healthy metabolism, as well as regulating your weight and body temperature.  Without your thyroid, your body goes into a state of hypothyroidism because you are no longer producing the T4 hormone.  This can cause fatigue, weight gain, depression, and memory problems.  

Because I no longer have a thyroid, I will rely on a medication called Levothyroxine to help my body regulate all of those functions.  I will take this medicine every day.  For the rest of my life.  It might take a while for us to find the perfect dosage for my body, but right now I'm on a middle-of-the-road amount.  I am hopeful that this dosage will be close to what my body needs so I won't have to experience the dramatic highs and lows I know some people have had to endure when going through this.  Did I mention that I'm a teacher and a mom?  I don't have time to feel sick. 

I have a post-op appointment scheduled with my surgeon this Friday.  At that time, I should have the full pathology report and will hopefully have even more specifics about my cancer. I realize that in everything I have read and from what all of the doctors have told me that the type of cancer I have is very treatable...even curable, which is excellent news.  And while I am definitely going to make the best out of the situation I am in and I will continue to look for positives, I also know that even though there's a great chance I will be able to get rid of all of the cancer in my body, I will still be living with a lifelong, chronic illness. This illness has already kept me from doing my job as a mom this week, and I know there will be more days ahead of me when I won't be able to be there for my kids as much as I would like. I'm going to continue to fight to make sure that those bad days are kept to a minimum so I can live the most normal life possible for the two best things that ever happened to me.