Ok it seems blood tests need to be repeated again and thyroid antibodies better be where they belong, i.e. undetectable. Who needs antibodies in their lives?
August 24, 2009
24 hours of sleep
Incredible tiredness, all I want to do is to sleep. Endo told me to increase Synthroid dose, and at first I felt it actually made a difference. But now, I could sleep 24 hours a day. I am off to vacation late September, by then I'd love to be able to do something else than just sleep.
Ok it seems blood tests need to be repeated again and thyroid antibodies better be where they belong, i.e. undetectable. Who needs antibodies in their lives?
Ok it seems blood tests need to be repeated again and thyroid antibodies better be where they belong, i.e. undetectable. Who needs antibodies in their lives?
August 23, 2009
Emergency Wars Part 1
Not mafia, vampire or dragon wars. Not star wars either.
Here's the scenario: two people, one of them a mafia wars hero on level 343. The other one, possibly an ordinary warrior, who is about to lose the fight, because the mafia hero has brought with her a powerful army of weapons, soldiers, armor, vehicles- just like in the very real mafia wars in facebook: machine guns, rifles, cannons, flak jackets. Excellent results, proven results in everyday mafia fights.
The ordinary warrior alone against "El Capitan" will certainly lose, El Capitan with or without her army.
Only this time it is a verbal attack, even though El Capitan feels like few muskets and body armor would not go to waste in this case. Verbal attacks becomes unbearably violent, words and sentences flying across the room, and it is clear none of the fighters are ready to lose. You ain't got the last word here. The warrior thinks she has won, but no, it is too early to come into any conclusions. El Capitan has the right words in her head, she writes them down and deciphers an accusatory note, defending herself and her invisible army, tells it like it is, there are no innocent parties in this war. The war is not over yet, El Capitan knows it, the Warrior knows it too.
Words are powerful, they can cut the heart open, they can heal, they can cure, they can be formed into mightiest insult. At times one may be a master of words, at another time it is a real challenge to find the right words. Sometimes thoughts form into words and without thinking, they just slip out and there is no way of taking them back.
El Capitan may still win, but 50-50 result would not be too bad either, not in this case.
A lot is at stake here. Whole life, house, job, fiancee, travel, pets. Win or lose that is the question.
Here's the scenario: two people, one of them a mafia wars hero on level 343. The other one, possibly an ordinary warrior, who is about to lose the fight, because the mafia hero has brought with her a powerful army of weapons, soldiers, armor, vehicles- just like in the very real mafia wars in facebook: machine guns, rifles, cannons, flak jackets. Excellent results, proven results in everyday mafia fights.
The ordinary warrior alone against "El Capitan" will certainly lose, El Capitan with or without her army.
Only this time it is a verbal attack, even though El Capitan feels like few muskets and body armor would not go to waste in this case. Verbal attacks becomes unbearably violent, words and sentences flying across the room, and it is clear none of the fighters are ready to lose. You ain't got the last word here. The warrior thinks she has won, but no, it is too early to come into any conclusions. El Capitan has the right words in her head, she writes them down and deciphers an accusatory note, defending herself and her invisible army, tells it like it is, there are no innocent parties in this war. The war is not over yet, El Capitan knows it, the Warrior knows it too.
Words are powerful, they can cut the heart open, they can heal, they can cure, they can be formed into mightiest insult. At times one may be a master of words, at another time it is a real challenge to find the right words. Sometimes thoughts form into words and without thinking, they just slip out and there is no way of taking them back.
El Capitan may still win, but 50-50 result would not be too bad either, not in this case.
A lot is at stake here. Whole life, house, job, fiancee, travel, pets. Win or lose that is the question.
August 13, 2009
There is always hope!
| "Factors | Score |
|---|---|
| distant Metastasis: Did the tumor spread to other parts of the body outside of the region of the neck? | yes = 3 no = 0 |
| Age at the time the tumor was found | Less than 39 years = 3.1 over 40 = 0.08 x age |
| Invasion: Did the surgeon see that the tumor had extended beyond the thyroid into other regions of the neck? | yes = 1 no = 0 |
| Completeness of resection: Were there parts of the tumor that the surgeon was unable to remove (for example a part that was attached to the windpipe)? | yes = 1 no = 0 |
| Size of tumor (measured by the pathologist) | 0.3 x size in cm |
Once the score for each factor is calculated, they are added up to get a total MAICS score and this total predicts the likelihood that the patient will live 20 years from the time the tumor was discovered. Fortunately most patients fall into the low risk category (MAICS score less than 6.0) and are cured of the cancer at the time of surgery.
| 20-year survival rate according to MAICS score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAICS Score | <> | 6.0 - 6.99 | 7.0 - 7.99 | > 8.0 |
| 20 yr Survival | 99% | 89% | 56% | 24%" |
Recently I found this extraordinarily fine website by Columbia University Medical Center, NY- and I am not saying this just because it is by far the only website giving me the exact answer I have been looking for. Do I Have Any Hope Left? I knew the answer all along, of course there is hope, but part me wanted to see it as numerical information, which in a way makes it easier to comprehend. Numbers are numbers 123456789 and so on, and one of may just bypass all statistics, live longer, much longer than anyone could predict, and when I hear of such an event, I say thanks be to God- doctors were wrong with their prediction
I have not heard or seen doctors here using MAICS score, but it probably is not something brand new?
Another question is thyroglobulin; and the following website:
http://www.doctorslounge.com/endocrinology/articles/thyroid/thyroglobulin_cancer/index.htm
clarified this somewhat.
My endocrine doc does not really give clear answers regarding thyroglobulin and I have stopped asking. Instead I am on a hunt to find a new endocrine doc, who can actually concentrate on one task at the time. Answer questions, admitting it if he/she does not know the answer. The present one knows me, but not well enough hehee :-)
Cancer issue pops up each day at work, most of the time they are my clients, but they remind me of how fragile life really is.
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