During an extended deployment? Of course, when else would a military spouse get cancer? I'm the third in our unit, as far as I know. Eesh.

C&P from Facebook:

Yesterday I received the results from a biopsy of two large nodules on my thyroid, and the largest one is suspicious for Papillary Carcinoma of the thyroid, while the second largest has abnormal and likely pre-cancerous cells. I will go back next week to have a biopsy of the nearby lymph nodes to see if it has spread to those (it does in about 50% of the cases). The good news is that it's apparently the most common form of thyroid cancer and also the most treatable.

The standard treatment is to simply remove the thyroid as well as any affected lymph nodes and possibly treat it with radiation to kill the remaining thyroid tissue, depending on how the surgery goes and the pathology report afterward. That's it. No chemo, no long treatment regimen as long as it hasn't spread. I'll just be on a thyroid hormone replacement medication for the rest of my life. In the grand scheme of things, it's more of a big hill than a mountain. I guess if you're going to get cancer, this is the kind you want to get!

I'm doing fine for now with no symptoms at all, life is mostly going on as normal. I'm going to wrap up my existing clients and then probably take the month of September off for the surgery and give myself some time to get adjusted to the meds and be fully recovered before I start taking on clients again. My husband has been in touch several times through the diagnostic process and we're just doing what we can to support one another, I know it has to be hard for him to be so far away right now. We appreciate the support and positive thoughts and prayers that have already been expressed, we're blessed with many fabulous friends and a wonderfully supportive family. We'll get through this and come out stronger on the other side, I'm sure of it.