You know what - this IS the year that you will build confidence and get new friends.

Nothing bonds people like a shared experience, even a bad one. Get yourself to a cancer support group yesterday. A friend of mine (well...friend of the family, she's a lot younger than I am) had Thyroid cancer. Not only did she survive - her career is boosted (she was an oncology nurse of all things), she now has two daughters and she made new friends locally and nationally through the LiveStrong network (yeah, I know...it's fallen on dark days...but that truly was a good thing Lance Armstrong did).

Although I'm sure she would have preferred to never have had the cancer in the first place and I wish she hadn't either, her journey has made her a stronger, better connected and more rounded person.

Like you, I sometimes have trouble letting people in. But this year I've made great new friends through rugby. And a lot of that has been through standing with girls in freezing rain and covered in mud and blood and losing a lot. I don't want to be flip or compare voluntarily playing an insane sport to cancer - but just to say that if you can share adversity and experience and allow people to come into your life - they will.

And also to say, I'm really sorry you've had this diagnosis and will have to go through this. I'm also really sorry to hear about your eye, that is scary - and I hope that gets better soon!!!

Kitty,

I want to give you my support. I can't imagine how you feel right now but I send you a big

I think cancer is very scary, it runs in my family, and I am fortunate that some of the members of my family are survivors. I will say a prayer for you and I hope for all the best for you.

I have had never had cancer, but I have had scary diagnoses and I know the feeling of fear and I want to give you some support.

Take good care of yourself!

I hope kitty comes back to update us. The first week or 2 after getting the diagnosis was the scariest for me. And meeting with the oncologists in 3 different hospitals and gathering all of the information they needed plus just dealing with life in general was pretty overwhelming. Looking back, most of it is a blur.

kittykatfan, how are you doing??

I feel for you! The C-word is so scary!!
My DH was diagnosed with thyroid cancer 1 1/2 years ago (his primary doctor kept screwing up and he had actually had it for along time). Message me if you want to talk or wonder what to expect.

Just saw this thread!
Kitty- I'm glad transportation was figured out. I just wanted to drop by and let you know that there are lots of cancer resources for transportation.

In fact- I'm the Road to Recovery coordinator for the Pikes Peak Region in Colorado. I help coordinate rides between patients and volunteer drivers everyday. Road to Recovery is a national prorgram with the American Cancer Society.

http://www.cancer.org/treatment/supp...ad-to-recovery

Feel free to use them at anytime! I even help patients with daily ride needs!

I know you've been off the boards for awhile and you have a lot going on, but I just joined the boards a few weeks ago. I just wanted to check in because I had thyroid cancer in 2000 nine months after my youngest was born. I received my treatment at MD Anderson in Houston. I can tell you after having anal cancer in 2006, thyroid cancer is an easier cancer simply because of the treatment, minimal side effects and cure rate. My scar has faded, I had to 2 rounds of radioactive iodine treatment and will be on meds for life, but my doctors never for one minute let me be afraid. You can beat it, it is curable, and your normal life will resume. My doctor told me "You will dance at your son's wedding". You didn't mention your age. I was 35 when I had it. My weight was manageable afterwards and not having my thyroid didn't affect my weight afterwards.

Feel free to message me and I'm happy to discuss any of your steps through this challenging time. I am not trying to minimize what you are experiencing or saying it isn't scary, it is, but compared to my other cancer in 2006 I would have traded the treatment and long term complications in a heart beat. You'll beat this. I hope based on your last posts that you have assembled a good support system.

I hope your eye is okay now. We'd love to hear an update. Sending you very warm wishes and positive thoughts.

Hi everyone,

I am so thankful for all the kind posts wishing me well. I had two wonderful friends volunteer to take turns helping me: taking me to the hospital, staying in the waiting room during the surgery, coming up during visiting hours, then getting me back home.

I just got home from a total thyroidectomy. I'm tired and have a massive sore throat but am otherwise feeling surprisingly well. Must be the Vicodin. Those pills are tough to swallow though, when your throat is swollen! They gave me solid food for breakfast, but I think I will stick with soup, scrambled eggs, yogurt and pudding for a day or two.

The eye has been worrisome. The infection got better, but today it is red and swollen again. It was hurting but not right now. I have an appointment later this week at the eye doctor.

If everything goes well with the thyroid, I will have to go on thyroid hormone replacement, get on a low-iodine diet for a few weeks, then have radioactive iodine treatments.

I have so much to look forward to: another friend just took pics so I can post on an online dating site and hopefully find some male companionship. I wanted the pics taken before the scars . And a friend I met in South America is going to Spain and France later this year on a hiking trip and it looks like I am going too! Not to mention a trip to my old stomping grounds in CA during July.

Hopefully I will beat this cancer and eye issue so I can start living the life I have always wanted. I will find work/life balance in 2013!

I am glad your surgery is done and I hope your eye issue turns out to be a fluke with no serious long-term repercussions.

You do have a lot on the horizon - I'm excited for you to get out there and enjoy those things.

Thanks so much for the update, we have all been thinking about you!! Now take care of yourself and get better soon.

Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, so glad things worked out for you with your friends at the hospital.

I am so happy your friends stepped in to help you out. Rest assured: You've got this. Hang in there. The worst of it is over. My doctor teased me when I went through radioactive treatment because I made a "spa visit" out of it. Those were his words. You will be isolated for 2 days or until you flush all the radioactive out of your system. I brought books, journals and watched chick flicks. I was a mom of a 1 year old and 4 year old at the time, so it was bliss to have 2 days completely undisturbed with just nurses checking on me. Keep us updated. Glad you are on the mend.

A couple days after I got home from surgery, I was readmitted to the hospital because my calcium levels dropped to dangerously low levels. I was hooked up to IV's for days and had to take lots of pills.

Fortunately I am ok now. I have to take calcium, vitamin D and magnesium supplements, possibly for life, but that is ok. I feel pretty good now; not as tired as I used to get, surprisingly. And strangely, the cold feeling I always used to have is gone. In fact, a few days ago, I felt all sweaty. I wondered if maybe I was now hyperthyroid and over medicated, in fact. Now I feel comfortable most of the time.

I have apparently gained a lot of weight (not sure how much; didn't want the scale to depress me), but I don't know if that is due to low thyroid hormone levels, the terrible binges I went through last week, or both. I hope to find out for certain within the next few weeks.

I will be so depressed if I am no longer able to lose weight due to my thyroid issues

Your current situation is not permanent. It took the doctors time to get all my meds straight for my personal needs after my thyroid cancer surgery. I don't like taking the calcium, Vitamin D and synthroid every day but it is necessary and a small price to pay for not having cancer any more. Your weight loss will happen again, your body just needs to time to adjust to major surgery. I know it is hard to be patient, but you did lose a great deal of weight already so I'm sure you'll be back on track soon. Having my thyroid removed 12 years ago was not the contributing factor in my weight gain now. You'll be on the right track again soon. So hang in there and try to be easy on yourself.

I just want to give you a gentle

You are so BRAVE!! Take good care...

I wish you all the best with your prognosis! You will do great, keep the faith.

Just an update.

Knock on wood, but I'm feeling so much better physically. Not nearly as tired as I used to be. I still get tired but it's when I should be tired, like when I get limited sleep. I still am cold most of the time, but maybe that's just due to losing 150+ lbs?

The surgeon says he did not remove my parathyroids so hopefully I will be able to stop or reduce all these pills I'm taking for calcium absorption.

I had a big relapse with my binge eating when I got out of the hospital the second time but am back on track. I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to lose the binge weight but I did! In fact, after worrying that the Synthroid (hormone replacement) would lead to weight gain, I am now wondering whether my dosage will be reduced since I seem to be losing weight easier than I have ever lost it before...

I still have to go through radioactive iodine treatment to kill any remaining cancer cells, but I hope that won't be too bad.

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts

I'm so sorry to hear this, but happy to hear you've had surgery. I know what its like to endure life's crisis with no support system

Gentle hugs ::::