Life
Todd H. Overcomes Cancer
The following is excerpted from a message Todd H. posted on MySpace on Feb. 19 that I just recovered Saturday:
Back in December, I had a lump on my neck that they performed surgery to get biopsy results. It came back that I had papillary metastatic thyroid cancer. They then did a full CT scan of my body to check to see if it had spread. Luckily, the cancer did NOT spread outside of my neck region. They then did an ultrasound of my neck to get the very detailed images for my next surgery. My neck was extremely polluted with cancer. I had my surgery on February 12th at 8:30am, at the OSU James Cancer Hospital. It was a little over a 6 hour surgery. They did a semi-circle cut from one ear to sternum and back up to the other ear. They completely removed my thyroid gland, all the lymph nodes on the right and left side of my neck, and any other scattered tumors they encountered, the worst of those being a golf ball sized tumor on the nerves to my vocal chords. He also removed the jugular vein on my right side. Despite all the cutting, I had a VERY good surgeon, he was able to save my voice
and is hopeful of the surgical margins that were used, so things are looking hopeful.
In a few weeks, I have to get dosed with radioactive iodine. The thyroid absorbs all of the iodine in our system, so this treatment will kill any remaining thyroid tissue. All and all the prognosis for my future looks good. Since the procedure, I’ve just been really sore, numb, and groggy. I have to take all kinds of different pills ranging from antibiotics to calcium and pain pills , it’s crazy. I have to take a total of like 38 pills a day!! I also have 2 sets of hemovac, drain tubes in my neck to help drain any excess fluids to help prevent infection. So for the most part, I’ve just been resting a lot and taking it easy. I’m tired and sore all the time, but I’m still here and that’s what is important!!
Any Pikes or friends of Todd that would like to contact him, shoot me an e-mail. And if you see this Todd, I wish you the best. Hang in there.
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