Hi everyone,
My blog today is a rough timeline of events in photos. Selfies and iPhones are wonderful things, this allowed me to document my health and my lump from as soon as my mum noticed it back in February this year. I will post a video tomorrow where I discuss my story from January to surgery, for now I just want to publish the photos and say a bit about how I felt at each stage. I will explain in depth in my next YouTube video.
Have a look and a cheeky stalk at my lovely/gross/graphic photos of my road to diagnosis.
January 2015
I felt very run down at the beginning of the year, but for no particular reason. I felt low and tired and drained (3 words I will use A LOT during my blog posts). I started to notice large swellings and blisters on my fingers- Ignore my horrible bitten nails but this was one of 3 bruised/blisters on my fingers, first thought to be Raynauds, then Rheumatoid Arthiritis, then tendon damage etc etc. I was finally informed I had chilblains. DISCLAIMER- we do not know if this was linked to my Thyroid cancer but it contributed to my low immune system health and my general feelings of 'not right'
February 2015
Again, sounding like a broken record, I was still so tired, and just felt so lifeless and generally horrible. On the 3/2 I felt the beginnings of an ulcer and sore throat. These next 4 photos are GROSS- WARNING- VERY GROSS. From the 3-20th of Febuary this ulcer just grew and grew regardless of antibacterial mouthwash, throat spray and throat lozenges. I could barely eat or swallow, and I became so unwell and unable to take care of myself I went home from university for my parents to assist taking care of me- apologies they are gross.
18th of Feb- My mother first noticed a lump at the base of my neck, appeared to be in my throat as it moved when i swallowed etc. From here, I have to say selfies could have saved my life. From this day I took selfies to document its growth. Vanity at its best.
March 2015
The month of my eldest brothers wedding in America. I was a bridesmaid, everyone said they couldn't see the lump but I was so self-conscious, my make up was great, but just the lump -_-
April 2015
The month I first went to the Head and Neck department at York District Hospital. I had a visual examination, a camera up my nose and a specialist reviewed my ultrasound results and concluded I needed a Fine Needle Aspiration (I will give a full description in my video) where a needle is inserted by guided ultrasound, into the lump and they draw out cells and wiggle the needle around, all whilst your just lying on a doctors table, it was not a comfortable experience. This is me post FNA with a tiny plaster on the needle pinprick.
May 2015
Dissertation hand in month and final exams month. Needless to say it was stressful for all 3rd year students. I was visiting the head and neck department and keeping an eye on my lump with the use of selfies all though May.
June 2015
With the knowledge that I knew I was receiving surgery to remove the lump, I kept an eye on it to document if it grew any larger. I felt when I slept, when I exercised and I felt self-conscious of it at end of university events. It had become such a nuisance to be so obvious in my neck. By this stage I had attempted to get my tiredness under control and I was attempting to be as normal as possible. This photo is the week before my surgery on the 26th of June.
These next photos were taken by my boyfriend after my surgery and by myself during the whole hospital ordeal. Yes they are embarrassing and really graphic and gross but since I am telling my story in depth, I feel it is important to show you the realities of throat surgery remove your thyroid. I will do a video purely about surgery soon- the prep, the experience, the doctors, the nurses, and advice- it can be scary, sharing my surgery story could help put peoples minds at rest, please follow to see that video soon). These next set of photos shows me from pre-op to post op and then my 24 hours in hospital recovering. WARNING- BLOOD- GRAPHIC- GROSS.
July 2015
7 days post surgery you have the metal staples removed. Post surgery is an interesting week, I really can't express in words what it feels like. This was my scar the day my staples got removed.
But wait- there's more
An interesting part of my story I must tell involves my vain self and Facebook stalking... Once I noticed the lump I spent the next couple of months looking back through selfies and photos of myself and I became so distressed to see that the lump was strangely visible in photos dating back to June 2014. Its strange because I look back and go WOW how did NO ONE including myself miss this huge lump in the middle of my throat, but the way it goes, we just didn't even realise. We've all concluded that if you aren't alerted that you need to look for something, you really won't even think to look! Its strange but these next photos are from June 2014 to December 2014.
THANK YOU for your support and thank you for reading my blog. I will update a new video on my YouTube channel tomorrow talking through my stories and explaining in full the explanations to these photos.
