NATHAN'S THYROID BIOPSY

Never did I ever think that Nathan would be the one to go in for a biopsy of any kind. He has no family history of cancer...Unlike me. My mom got breast cancer at 40 and then colon cancer at 52, so I've been expecting the inevitable for the last 18 years. It's suppose to be me going through this stuff, not him. But he's a strong guy and whatever the results are, I know he'll deal with it and make it look just as easy as my mom did.

We didn't realize that Nathan would actually have to register at the hospital to have the ultrasound and biopsy done, so we should have planned to be there at least 30 minutes before the actual appointment time. We know better now.

The biopsy process:
Nathan went in, laid down, had some cold gel squirted on his neck, the ultrasound tech used the imaging thing to show the nodule on a screen, took 15-20 pictures from several different angles, measured it, and said it was fairly large at 5 cm. Everything was pretty much done the same as they do for a baby sonogram (but on the neck instead of the belly, of course).

The ultrasound tech finished, told him to switch his shirt with a hospital gown (and put it on backwards), and came back in with the doctor to start the actual biopsy. He first got a shot directly in the center of the nodule to deaden and numb it all up. Three more needle pokes and some prodding, digging, wiggling, and sucking some matter out for test samples. He didn't feel any of that stuff, just noticed the doctor's hand going back and forth and up and down. The wittle boo-boo was topped off with a normal sized band-aid to cover up a less than normal activity.
He was back there about 25 minutes total. It took more time figuring out where to go, getting registered, and waiting to be seen than it did to have the whole procedure done. We did actually get to have a lunch date together without any jibber jabber from the kids. That was nice. Then it was off to get them from school and do an extremely technical band-aid extraction. To remove the band-aid, a gentle touch with pretty, hot pink nail polish is not required...But it sure is sweet.

Just a small mark from the needles. I could have made that same mark with a well placed pencil thump. We expected it to bruise up, but it never did. His neck was sore for a few days...Just as if he'd slept wrong and had a crick in his neck. But not just on one side...In every direction.You really only notice the lump when he swallows. It's more noticeable in these pictures than those I posted the other day.The waiting game and questioning the unknown continues.