Darrell had his first appointment today with Dr. Elizabeth Falkenberg, who is a radiation oncologist with Clearview Cancer Institute in Huntsville. It was a good visit. All these visits to cancer clinics have made us appreciate Darrell's condition. There are so many others out there who are in really bad health and their cancer is causing such pain to them. God has been so good to Darrell.
Darrell had to tell the story a couple of times today about all the surgeries and other doctor visits, how they found the cancer, how he lost his voice, etc. Each time that he tells the story about how they found the cancer, the doctors and nurses seem amazed at how they found the cancer, since thyroid cancer is so hard to detect and there are not really any symptoms associated with it. We know that God allowed the doctors to find it in this early stage.
Dr. Falkenberg scheduled Darrell's radioactove iodine (RAI) treatment for Monday, March 17th. He'll have to check into Huntsville Hospital and stay there for about 48 hours. They'll give him an "internal" treatment rather than external treatment. He'll swallow a pill and then he will be considered radioactive for awhile and will have to be in the hospital room by himself. We've teased him about being one of those "glow worm" dolls that were popular when Amy was a child and that he'll be like a "glow in the dark" figure.
He'll be able to go home after 48 hours, but will need to be at home for about a week after that, but kinda hang out by himself (sleep in a room by himself, eat out of paper products, etc.). The next week, he can hang out with folks, but not for more than 8 hours at a time. The state of Alabama still requires that he do this. The doctors say that most of the other states don't have as stringent standards as Alabama still has on the effects of this radiactive iodine on the others around whoever has taken the RAI.
After about 10 days, Darrell will have to go back to the hospital and they will do a full body scan to see that all the cancer is gone (or if any had made its way to other parts of his body). This will determine if he will have to have another RAI treatment. If all goes as expected, ALL cancer will be gone from his body and they will continue to just do checkups every few months to see how he's doing.
He will have to take Synthrol (not sure of the spelling--have ya'll noticed I'm not the best speller in the world--especially medical terms?), which is a thyroid hormone--it will make Darrell's body think it still has a thyroid.
Darrell's doing pretty good. Today was a really good day. His medication is not making him feel so "funny" anymore and he didn't have as many "numb" feelings today. One good thing from today was the nurse that checked him in at the cancer institute had similar surgery, lost her voice, was a singer at church, and now her voice is back, good as new. She was able to share things with Darrell that he had wondered about, and that no one else could really understand (one of those "had to be there" situations).
We just thank the Lord that he's doing so well.
We found out tonight that one of our very dear friends found out she had a "mass" in her brain and will need to see a neurosurgeon about what's going on. Please pray for Annalie. She's a "very" special person in our lives--more on that later. Also, remember her husband, Gordon, who will be having some neck surgery very soon. They both need our prayers!
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