I am a guinea pig.

I spoke with Dr. F. The first thing that she said is, I bet Dr. Jerk didn't explain things very well...he is a surgeon after all! Haha! Yup...surgeons have big heads!

So, apparently she made a powerpoint presentation for that big meeting with the Big guy, Dr. Tuttle from Memorial Sloan Kettering. Wow....I guess I should be honored?? A powerpoint presentation all about me and my cancer...maybe I'll be made into a movie??

At the meeting, he concurred with no surgery at this time. As long as my Thyroglobulin antibodies are coming down, that is as good a sign as any right now. Dr. F could not give me any solid answers with research backing her about the fact that I can have thyroid papillary cancer in my neck for years without doing anything...that is what I want. She said that she would email Dr. Tuttle and see if he could give me any papers with statistics, but that it was unlikely he would respond. Nice.

Then she threw out the term 'Insignificant Microscopic Metastasis'. Wow - is that an oxymoron or what. How can metastasis of cancer EVER be considered insignificant. In my scientific mind, it just can't. I have been mulling that term over for 2 weeks now, and can not fathom it. I guess I am going to have to get used to it. I do understand that Papillary Thyroid Cancer is slow growing....that is awesome (remember, it's the 'good' cancer to get!) but how long do I live with it? How do we know it will not metastasize (significantly) to elsewhere. Again, where is my research based evidence....lacking.

I guess I am ultimately a guinea pig in this....5-10 years ago they would have removed this 'insignificant microscopic metastasis'. Now I sit and live with it in me.

The plan: Ultrasound again in 3 months - I will do this in January. Then I will do another nuclear scan in February (another iodine free diet for 2 weeks - woohoo!) And of course blood work to watch the antibodies and hope they continue to come down.

And of course the ultimate plan: Stay healthy, Eat clean, and Train! I have a race in 7 months, 2 days and 15 hours - but who's counting!!