The Making Of A NO Non-sense Kind of Gal

Ready for a no non-sense kind of post?

Visited with my surgeon today. Path report tells of more cancer and am scheduled for September surgery to remove left lobe of thyroid along with some lymph nodes.

Found out that the little kernel in the middle of my neck that I pointed out to Doctors for the last TWENTY YEARS was indeed cancer. TWENTY YEARS. Disgusted and not very happy about the run around I was given.

20 years.

Anytime a lump shows up on the neck and stays...no matter if it's in the thyroid area or not otta be scanned and biopsied. THAT'S MY PERSONAL OPINION!!!!!!!

Gently tilt neck back and feel around for lumps and bumps especially around the collar bone area. When you're looking straight forward with head level lumps can be hiding beneath the collar bone area and you may not detect these hidden lumps.

I read today that women should start having the thyroid gland and lymph nodes examined beginning at age 20.

I grew up in southwest Kansas where we were told as children not to eat the snow after there was radioactive fallout nuclear test in Mexico. I remember it like it were yesterday. I didn't eat the snow...remember how great snow ice cream tasted???

I didn't eat the snow...but guess who played in it making snow angels? Me. The Government has not been real keen about telling the citizens of the United States that when atomic bombs were tested that there was radioactive fallout across the States. The American Cancer Society is now informing the public about this and what states were hit the hardest with fallout. Atmospheric Nuclear Bomb Test......have you heard of it?

Study Estimating Thyroid Doses Of I-131 Received By AMERICANS From Nevada Atmospheric Nuclear Bomb Test, National Cancer Institute (1997)
www.rex.nci.nih.gov/massmedia/fallout/contents.html
www.rex.nci.nih.gov/massmedia/fig1.html

87 airburst nuclear test were done between 1949 and 1961.

I grew up in Liberal, Kansas and would have been about 6 years old in 1961. Radioactivity and young children's thyroids don't go together very well. There were significant radioactive iodine in the fallout. This is harmful to people's thyroids. AND CANCER HAPPENS.

There's talk about those that were treated with radiation to their faces for treating acne and tonsils that would develope thyroid cancer years later. I didn't have either, but at age 6 when I was stricken with Rheumatic Fever there would be full chest x-rays. This was in the day that the full chest x-rays covered the neck as well.

Soooooo...it makes me think with the x-rays plus playing in radioactive snow as a young child I am a good candidate to develope Thyroid Cancer.

WHAM. Here I izzzzz. It can happen to anyone. Anyone.
~Deanna~