More About My Hip Than You'd Ever Care to Know

Well, after much back and forth, which is a story in and of itself, I finally got my hip tests all scheduled. BTW, this wouldn't have been possible if not a big assist from the Mistress of Schedulers, Ms. April Solomon. If I had to describe her in one word, it would have to be "tenacious".

Anyway, the tests are scheduled for this coming Tuesday, early in the am.

For all of you unfamiliar with this part of my story, here's the background on my hip. When I had my first scan in September, days before the big dose of radiation, it showed a "hot spot" on my hip, which was utterly mystifying. My endo thought it was an anomoly, so he had we wait for three days and then come back in for yet another CT scan, and there it was again, as clear as day.

Thyroid cancer mets(metastatic disease)are fairly rare, and when then they do occur, it's generally in the lungs (his isn't quite as bad as it sounds, because it's not classified as lung cancer and it's highly treatable). But moving somewhere such as the hip is very, very rare. Anyway, after my hip lit up the second time the doctor had me go in for a PET scan to make sure that the cancer hadn't invaded the bone.

I will admit this made me nervous (very nervous, actually); if it was in the bone, to put it mildly, I would have been f*&#ed. In all likelihood it would have been treatable but would have been a colossal pain in the ass, as it would have necessitated complicated surgery.

However, the PET scan came back clean, which was good news (finally). This meant we were only looking at a lymph node that somehow made its way downstream. Certainly not a great outcome, but in the grand scheme of things it was much better than bone.

Then more good news: when my April 30th scan came back, the hip was entirely clean.

However, when Dr. Clark, my superstar surgeon read my report, he was befuddled. He said that in his experience (and he's been focused almost exclusively on thyroid cancer for 30 years), if in fact there was something in my hip, in his estimation it would HAVE to be in the bone.

Gulp.

So, he's ordered more PET and CT scans as insurance. Normally, I wouldn't be too worried by this all, but I do have a confession to make: for the past few months, my hip has been hurting. Not a terrible pain, mind you; more like a a 5 on a scale of
1-10. You might think it's psychosomatic (spelling?) but trust me, it's not the case. Plus, the damn thing (my hip, that is) clicks every time I take a step.

All this being the case, I think/hope that it probably has far more to do with all the running I've done over the past decade plus, than cancer; it's logical that at age 41, all these ultras and triathlons have finally taken a toll.

All that being said, it's a tad disconcerting to feel hip pain when you know you've had a spot of cancer in said region. Know what I'm saying?

So, send out some good vibes for a clean scan(s) this Tuesday. These will be followed by extensive testing on my neck, as we go in search of evil, bad lymph nodes.