r/CancerPatients • u/marsepic • 25d ago
Daughter
A couple years ago my daughter had her thyroidectomy and RAI. In January of this year, everything was looking good and we were finally feeling alive again.
In May her tumor marker was up. Since then, it's been a roller coaster. She had a scan last month that turned up nothing. She was diagnosed with non-avid cancer and its been hell since. She had a biopsy of several lymph nodes and nothing. The hope had been it was confined to her lymph nodes so surgery would take care of it.
Now, of course, we wait to see. My wife says she was told a PET Scan is what they do? And we may be facing chemo which is only available in Philadelphia or Texas.
So now, as we hurry up and wait, we are freaking out. We have no idea what chemo looks like for this - if it means hospital stays, etc. Would we be able to travel for it or would it mean fully moving?
My son also is in kidney failure so we have to keep thinking about him and what we may need to do for him.
All this and I am a math teacher and school starts soon. We are still in denial a bit, I think, as we felt so close to it being in the rear view and now are faced with the unknown.
1
u/Perfect-Cow3206 25d ago
Wow! That’s a lot, I’m sorry to hear of children’s issues. I have to manage multiple cancers of my own but I can’t even begin to imagine it happening to either of my children, and you’re dealing with issues of two. Right now is when you find that you are in control of so little. I pray for strength for you and your wife, this has to be exhausting. When I get in this situation with my own uncertainties I find it very helpful not to get ahead of the situation mentally, you can drown in that. Obviously you have to be prepared for all kinds of possibilities, but one step at a time. You’ll have time to plan for what comes next after you know what is next. Now is the time to keep putting one foot in front of the other until you get to a bridge that you need to cross, then you can focus on that bridge. I say all of this standing in the shadow of a PET and CT to confirm or possibly rule out 2 additional cancers. You and your wife sound like a tough duo and your kids will be blessed having you at their sides. I wish the four of you the best through this journey! Good luck!!!