Kathleen Donahue’s PTC Treatment Updates

Well, yesterday I went to the doctor to check in on the swelling. No significant improvement was noticed. After discussing the severity of chyle leak/fistula, my mom and I were both relieved after my doctor explained that it is not a serious condition. Despite this, it does need to be closely observed. I complained about the awkward pressure dressing and my doctor told me we could try and get away without that. I told him my low-fat diet has been going well, so he was content with a continued monitoring approach. He did ask if I would be okay with him aspirating it (basically a needle pulling fluid out of the area) again, as this is what he did my last visit. Even though he does not use a numbing agent, I can barley feel it as my neck is already numb on its own! So, I agreed and he left the room to get the supplies. When he returned, he brought back the senior partner of the practice, whom I kind of met — he was in and out for parts of my surgery. My doctor had the needle drawn when the other doctor intercepted and asked if it is really necessary. I really think he was trying to save me the agony. However, he really doesn’t know it doesn’t hurt me that much!!! After some chit chat and small talk as he reviewed my neck, it was apparent my doctor had just gone and vented to him that he is kind of stumped on what to do next. The two agreed that putting a drain back in would be best, as it would not only relieve swelling but it might take the pressure off the “faulty valve” and let it heal quicker. How the drain was to get in wasn’t clear….my doctor said he would talk to a radiologist at the hospital. Radiologist? That just seems odd! Regardless, the two were headed to the hospital that afternoon, so they were going to investigate possible avenues to get a drain put in. I have not heard back, but I expect that I will have one put in on Friday 9/26 or Monday.

Of course a drain is not desirable, but I really just want to get back to normalcy the fastest way possible. Maybe it will be small and I can hide it well! Other than that, I am feeling well. Therapy is going great; I sense significant improvement in my arm, and my neck movement is coming along. I am back in my office and driving. Driving could be better…I catch myself turning my whole body to look for oncoming traffic, and I have to hold my seatbelt off my neck!

I hope for a relaxing weekend! I am thinking of spending a day/night in Arlington. April, who is a mom-to-be for her second child (have you heard if it is a boy or girl yet?? I have!!), will be in town. Perhaps a Bear-a-Hue meeting is in order! Of course, this is also the weekend of the annual picnic at St. V’s, as well. I heard they have some fabulous gift baskets to auction this year, lol! Maybe I’ll see ya there!

Kathleen

Happy 61st Birthday to my mom today!

The dogs are home! Thanks to my mom for bringing them over on Saturday!

Overall, things are good. I went to physical therapy last Thursday and that was good. I think it will really help with my left arm flexibility and next movement. I go back Tuesday, 9/23.

Here is a picture of what everything looked like on Friday. I actually think the scar won’t be that horrible after some time. I still have swelling and a little bit of numbness on my left side of my cheekbone.

When I went to the doctor on Friday, my swelling in the general area was still a concern. He called it a chyle leak…. I was just now able to figure out how to spell chyle right and read up on it online. Here is a good page if you are interested.

Editorial: Complications of Neck Dissection for Thyroid Cancer

It appears to be an uncommon complication with neck dissection, but if property managed, it can be cleared up with pressure dressing and an altered diet. The flow of chyle through the thoracic duct is tied to triglycerides. My doctor actually pulled some fluid from my neck via needle. It looked like milk. He then set me up in a very barbaric pressure dressing. It is basically a wad of gauze bunched up at the site, with a sling setup that crosses over my chest and under my arm (over the wad to cause downward pressure). This is all in efforts to keep the leakage down. I am also supposed to be avoiding fatty foods, so lots of fruit plates going on here!

Hopefully this will start to go down soon, because the pressure dressing is annoying…it kind of strains the neck and I feel like I look really stupid! I go back for a check-in on Thursday, so hopefully things will have started to turn around by then.

Kathleen

Well, my birthday wish came true….I am now drain free. Yeeeaahh! I feel a lot better already! I went to the doctor today and he took the drain out and also pulled off all my taping on my incision. I have dissolving stitches. The scar is long and strange looking, but I think it will be very thin and not very noticeable in some time.

I am going to get signed up for some physical therapy to ensure my left arm and neck movement don’t fall behind. Also, I am going to go back to my doctor on Friday. He noticed that I do have some swelling in the general area. He thinks it could be a hematoma – like internal bruising. He said it usually corrects itself and he was not too concerned. He did prescribe antibiotics to avoid any infection, and he wants to review the area again on Friday to see if there is any increased swelling.

Today is my 28th birthday. It has been kind of hard because my condition is kind of buzz kill. However, I remind myself I am very lucky to have found the cancer when I did and the successful treatment thus far…all which is reason to celebrate another year of life! However, I hope to be able to do some traditional celebrating with friends sometime soon:) Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Kathleen

I am hijacking the blog today to wish Kathleen a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday Kathleen!!

Christine

It is Monday afternoon and I am feeling good. Amy and Vicki from my office stopped by earlier and brought me lunch – what a nice treat! I have been working from home since last Thursday and I am cautiously ramping back up to full speed. I love to work, so it has not been easy for me! I can’t wait to be back at my office!

This weekend was relaxing. Christine came in from work on Thursday and stayed until this morning. We both caught up on our sleep on Saturday after watching a lot of Ike coverage on Friday night. Yesterday, my parents came over and brought my dogs. It was nice to see my puppies; I wanted them to stay!!! However, my parents insisted on keeping them a few more days…probably a good idea after all. By way of watching the Dog Whisperer, my mom is convinced she has Bentley better trained. Time will tell on that one! When my dad got to my house, he asked me what wanted me to have him cook. He said he wanted to make meatballs. The day prior, Christine and I watched a Bobby Flay Throwdown on Lasagna (where Bobby Flay challenges someone well known for a particular dish). So, I mentioned lasagna. My dad’s eyes lit up and he was very happy to make a pan “better than Bobby Flay’s!” The lasagna turned out great and my Dad enjoyed cooking it in between watching parts of the Redksins game.

I go for a doctor visit tomorrow. Hopefully I will get this last drain out! (This picture is from last night.) I might also inquire about some physical therapy. Although improved, I want to make sure I am getting the full range of motion on my left arm and head/neck.

P.S. – the Bearden family found out some incredible news, Mrs. Bearden’s latest CT Scan revealed her tumor has shrunk. Wonderful news!!! www.shanabeaden.com

I met with my surgeon today and his overall assessment of my recovery was good. Only one drain was ready to come out, though. You would never expect what is on the other side of the drain hole. When he pulled the one out, it looked like a flimsy piece of plastic about the size of a plastic knife with perforations all down it. It didn’t really hurt coming out, just a little burn. Right now, I have another appointment scheduled next Tuesday. Next Tuesday is my 28th bday. Hopefully my present is to be drain-free! But trust me, if the other drain seems more than ready to come out before then, I will really try to get in before that. Until then, my “body fluid” pendant necklace will remain!

My doctor suggested more practicing on turning my head and lifting my left arm. Both are slow moving. He tried to look at my vocal cords, but my gag reflex put that to bed quickly and he didn’t want to scope me today. I should not drive, and returning to work is up to how I feel. I plan on starting to work from home on Thursday.

As far as the pathology report, the tests indicated that the cancer was Stage II. The mass was 2-4cm of tumor in the left lymphatic lobes and a trace amount of cancerous matter was in the right lobe of the thyroid. Out of the total nodes taken out, 15 of the 18 came back with cancer. In the neck dissection, only 3 of the 41 samples were cancer. So, my doctor thinks that is indicative that it was largely contained in the thyroid gland, but it was very close to moving out. With that said, he said I am a good candidate for the iodine treatment. In mid October, I will get some dates finalized, but I am scheduled to do the iodine treatment in late October. It will be a 1-pill treatment followed by a body scan. It does not seem to be anything that will knock me out. After this, I should be clear!

My mom, who took me to my appointment today, is staying with me tonight. My friend Bree stayed over last night. Although I would be comfortable staying by myself, it is nice to have someone there just in case—-and to make sure all of my 75 pillows are perfectly in place!

Kathleen

It is Monday morning and Christine left around 7AM for her project in St. Louis. I want to thank her for all the help she has been over the past week. She has been here 24/7. Her help did not start on surgery day either; she has been over to my house in weeks prior helping me with things. I know I joke around a lot that maybe she is sometime A LITTLE TOO MUCH HELP but she has been the best big sister anyone could ask for the last several days. Yesterday, she was even helping my dad trim trees and installing a new light fixture! Thanks to my parents too – they both have spent a lot of time over here the last few days and have helped keep things moving at my house. My parents also have taken on the tall order of watching my dogs Basil and Bentley at their house!!! My brothers have both been in touch too. Jon was just in Cleveland for the Cowboys game; Rachel has been great on checking-in and making sure everything is going well. I got to talk to Jed for a few minutes on Saturday; he and Erica are in Hong Kong and will travel to Vietnam when the airline ticket price is right (they are about one month into their year-long trip oversees).

Recovery was evident this weekend, although it seems slow moving. I am able to move around by myself, but supporting my upper body is straining. My chest and neck all feel like dead weight. So, I have to be propped up to be comfortable. I now know why this wireless keyboard and mouse were such as good idea!

I had a few neighbors and friends drop by this weekend. I think I only scared a few with my scar and hospital garb!!

I called the doctor this morning and I will go in to see him tomorrow at 1pm to hopefully get these drains out and get a passing grade on recovery progress. Besides a general tightness across my chest and neck, I have a little bit of numbness on my left ear, cheekbone, and back of neck. This is not abnormal and is probably from the way I was positioned during surgery and the touching certain nerves, Although losing my voice would probably been more devastating, it is still is annoying and will all hopefully improve over time. I am also popping calcium to help deter this.

Well, that is about it! I will update after I meet with the surgeon tomorrow.

I can’t say it enough, but it is very heartwarming to hear about and from all the people thinking about me. Thank you all!

Kathleen

We finally made it home! Kathleen had a restful morning and her surgeon came to check on her again early this morning. He was encouraged by the progress and thought she could make it home today…he made another round in the afternoon and approved her discharge from the hospital. Kathleen was up and about all day and was basically managing the pain of the soreness.

We had a brief discharge debriefing with the nurse on prescriptions and cleaning her drains. Her battle wounds include about a 6-inch scar from the middle of her lower throat to about her earlobe as well as two drainage holes. The scar has dissolving stitches and the drains will be removed in the surgeon’s office next week.

We made it home around 7….she rode home with Mom and felt every bump in the road! They were greeted by the dogs and it was pretty quickly determined that the dogs had to go to Camp Waterview with Grandma and Grandpa. Basil and Bentley really wanted to jump on Kathleen to say hello. Mom just left with the dogs and the house seems really quiet – no dogs or beeping machines!

Thanks for all your messages, thoughts, and prayers! It’s been a pretty smooth process thus far….it has been great to see the support from all the different circles we are in.

Kathleen will be updating soon!

Activity definitely picked up this afternoon! I went to Kathleen’s house for a break while Mom hung out with Kathleen. They accomplished alot this afternoon….the surgeon did another check-in and continues to be pleased with her progress, especially the strength of her voice. Kathleen got out of the bed for the first time….she had some dizziness, so her adventure was short lived. However, she did walk around and sit in a chair per the doctors instruction. Mr. and Mrs. Bearden came to visit this afternoon and was around at that time…their medical experience came in handy as Mr. Bearden helped Kathleen get hooked back up to the machines as well as helped her scoot back to the bed from the chair (the response time of the nurses has been hit or miss). As always, Mom and Kathleen enjoyed their visit and help today. Kathleen did a few other trips out of bed later today and those were more successful; progress will be slow but surely. The new Endocrinologist also came by to meet Kathleen and discussed follow-up care. Mom had a favorable impression of him….so the doctors all seem to be working out.

Kathleen continues to do well. Her throat is feeling better and her voice continues to be really strong. She is feeling pretty sore in the neck / chest area and has had some difficultly in moving her upper body (due to stiches). However, they introduced Loritab which has made her comfortable and helped with her mobility.

Things are looking good for being discharged tomorrow. She is mainly working through soreness and building her strength back up now….all seem typical and expected.

I am again very hopeful for some restful sleep tonight…she has been taken off most machines and we have figured out how to stop the beeping on the others.

Good night!
Christine