In Come the White Coats

The first of many big decisions in this process has been where to have treatment. Due to the length of treatment, specifically the hypo-thyroidism and being radioactive, my family and I decided that it would be best to seek treatment in Florida. And so the search for a local endocrinologist and surgeon in Sarasota, Fl began. Luckily, my parents happen to know several individuals who are familiar with local specialists and were able to give lists of suggestions. Over and over again we came across two names, an endocrinologist named Dr. Mark Lupo and a surgeon named Dr. Deems. Being so highly recommended we naturally looked into them. As it turns out, both men are world renowned for their speciality... and they were in my backyard! After speaking with my Insurance case manager, Carla, we found out that they were even within my insurance network!! God is so good!

After running the race that is medical records I finally got all my records sent to both offices and dates of our first meetings. Lupo on June 10th and Deems on June 14th (the very day I was suppose to have my first endocrinologist meeting in Boston!). Last friday was the meeting with Lupo and I must confess, it was probably one the best hours of my life. 

Besides spending over 45 minutes with me, Dr. Lupo came across as a genuine and knowledgable man. He was sharp, attentive, and willing to listen to my story before telling his. And this was what he told me. Contrary to the popular literature, the women I met in Kansas, and what my endocrinologist in Boston told me, my treatment would be very, very different. And this, this is a great thing! Like all cases, a full thyroidectomy is in my future. However, the chance of losing my voice is only 1%. Due to being so familiar with the process, this is pretty much what he does, he has a license to administer the radioactive iodine in smaller doses as an outpatient procedure. The kicker of his method is that my seclusion will be 2-3 days, not weeks! Yet this wasn't the best news of the day. The best news was that he will begin me on replacement thyroid hormones, Synthroid, the day after surgery. That means that I won't have to become Hypo for the two months between my surgery and my full body scan! The reason for this being that instead of starving my body of hormones so my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) level rises to the point that the full body scan will be effective, he will simply give me a shot of Thyrogen which will mimmic the TSH levels in my body. This also means that in the future I won't have to go off of my hormones for check up scans. Due to starting on the Synthroid so soon, Lupo said that it would take him anywhere from 6-12 weeks  to get me regulated. 

6-12 weeks, not 4-6 months! In that one sentence Dr. Lupo had given me back half a year of life. I was ecstatic! 

Two days ago was Dr. Deems. There, again, I was blown away by the caliber of doctor I had found. on average, Dr. Deems performs anywhere from 130-170 thyroidectomies a year. Of all those surgeries, he has never had a patient lose their voice on accident, nor has he had patients have unnecessary nerve damage in their neck due to the removal of lymph nodes like the women I met in Kansas had. As well, the surgery would only take 90 minutes and require an incision only half as big as I had previously been shown. To add to this, instead of stitches he'll use dermabond, a kind of superglue. After the outpatient surgery I'll barely need a tylenol for the pain. Instead of being bedridden I'll simply have to lay low for two to three days and act like I hurt my back for around 10 days. No heavy lifting, exercise, jousting, that kind of thing. Baring complications, the process should be... easy. 

Needless to say, this back to back news has been great! The only thing really left, for now, is a surgery date. For that, we're waiting for pathology results from a national authority on thyroid pathology named Dr. Maslow in Arkansas. 

ETA?? Next Monday or Wednesday. Stay tuned for a final date!