"The Best Cancer"

Apparently, if you're gonna have cancer, this is the best one to have. Nothing but the best for me!

I was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma which is just a fancy way of saying thyroid cancer.

It's funny all the advanced terminology doctors have to use... It started as just a "lump" then was referred to as a "nodule" then became a "tumor" then was found to be "malignant" before I knew it, my doctor was telling me I had "cancer." My little "lump" was having a full on identity crisis.

I didn't know what to think. People hear cancer and think they're going to die. I didn't think that. Or at least not until my doctor said to me, "it's not like you're going to DIE. People don't DIE from thyroid cancer." Well, that's comforting.

My doctor explained that thyroid cancer is not like most cancers and is the most curable. "If you're going to have cancer, this is the one to get." Thanks, but I'd rather not have it at all, if that's okay with you. But he did his best to make it seem like no big deal. And I believed him. I figured it was just going to be one operation to take the stupid stinker out and that'll be all. Go back to work in a couple days, have a small scar, no biggie. I didn't even refer to it as cancer. Just this "thing" that needed to come out.

But he suggested I bring in the family to discuss matters further. I had told my family in the same manner that he told me. Light and breezy, nothing too serious. To my surprise, with my family crammed into a small examination room waiting on pins and needles, he had a completely different tone. Serious, calcuating, cautious... where was light and breezy? He recited statistics and percentages, measurements and ratios, risks and precautions. My family and I walked out of the room slightly less confident than when we walked in.

The no biggie scenario turned into at least 3-4 weeks out of work, potentially losing my voice, radioactive iodine therapy, isolation for at least a couple days during therapy, 5 years of constant check ups and blood tests, and hormone pill to be taken every day for the rest of my life.

Crazy how things can turn on a dime. But it is what it is and before I knew it, it was surgery day. Anxiously, I packed an overnight bag for the hospital. My family was eagerly trying to help me with anything and everything. I could feel the sense of helplessness from my father. He didn't know what to do so he "helped" by demanding everyone eat something. In true Korean family fashion, force feed to show you care.

Once at the hospital, I changed into my very stylish hospital gown and waited for my turn to be wheeled away into surgery. Finally, my time came... They brought me into the OR. It was very different than what I saw on TV. The last thing I remember was a mask coming towards my face. I woke up to my family around me. It's all hazy now but I remember faces, flowers, commotion. I tried to speak and sound came out! I no longer had a thyroid but I still had my voice!

So now I sit here, thyroid-less but also cancer-less.... truly the best cancer.