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I’m one of “those people”...and go, go Gayla!

Today was another interesting visit with Dr. Pun, my endocrincologist. Apparently, I’m one of “those people” in his practice, as he says, the ones he has to monitor very closely for recurrence of thyroid cancer because the tests either disagree or won't move into a "normal" range. He says there are only about 10 of us in his practice.

After many tests and scans this spring, he’s not comfortable with my status in terms of everything being “all clear.” Blood tests clearly show something is not right yet the scans and tests don’t point to any changes. There’s something concerning in my neck lymph nodes. However, it is not an amazingly unusual size and has not changed over the past year much at all.

So I’ll have more blood drawn, more doctors’ appointments, more scans in the coming months. And continue to be one of “those people” in Dr. Pun’s practice, knowing that thyroid cancer will not define me but will continue to be a part of me, at least for a while.

Somehow, I’m a cancer fighter and survivor at the same time. I’ll accept that for now.

On a really great note, I'm celebrating this weekend that my high school friend Gayla is NOT one of "those people" with cancer anymore. She is a Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer survivor and participating in a big way in the Relay for Life in Guthrie, OK. Congratuations Gayla! You are AWESOME! Please support her if you can!

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