Hi to all friends and family…

Jeremy and I are joining the Relay for Life walk with the American Cancer Society.  We understand if you can’t donate financially however you can walk on our team or if you are far away from our city you could join one in your town.  Just ask me how and I’ll get you going.  If you know of others that can support the cause please feel free to share this with them. This is my cancer story…

In August 2009 I was complaining of not feeling well to the doctor, he was sure it was from Fibromyalgia that I have suffered from for years.  After convincing him after an ER visit that ran a CT scan from unrelated issues found several nodules on my Thyroid, he finally sent me to an Endocrinologist.  The Endocrinologist proceeded over the next 2 months to order an ultrasound, uptake exam, and an FNA (biopsy).  On October 15^th 2009 the endo broke the news to me that I had Papillary Carcinoma, and only surgery could help due to the tumors were so large.  Following that visit I drove home to pack for a trip (spare of the moment) to Tennessee to deal with what I was just told.  I knew that I had to make decisions and I was in no shape to make them correctly.  While in Tennessee I found a carcinoma surgeon that specialized in thyroid cancer removal.  We Scheduled the Surgery for November 3^rd 2009.  Unfortunately my body had a few surprises for everyone in the operating room.  The Surgeon went to scrub in and the anesthesiologist tried to intubate me and my bronchial tubes collapsed.  There they worked on me for 2 hours, surgery never happened.  I woke up in ICU on life support for 3 days and 2 more days in the hospital.  They ran every test possible and narrowed it to I was a heavy smoker (needless to say I haven’t smoked since November 2^nd 2009). We rescheduled everything for December 1^st 2009 and long and behold I had a second surprise my bronchial tubes collapsed again.  I was in ICU again on life support.  Then the doctors decided to do the thyroidectomy, lymphectomy, and remove some of my muscle due to the cancer spreading, while on Life Support.  I stayed on Life support for 5 days then 3 additional days in the hospital.  I then had to start all of the test to see if the cancer spread anywhere else.  During this time you have to be medicine free and on a special diet.  By the end of this waiting period I was 40 lbs heavier and experiencing muscle loss.  I went in the hospital for my RAI treatment then the PET scan 10 days later which showed the cancer spread to my Liver, Lungs and Abdominal Cavity.  The endo spoke to me and stated that the RAI treatment will hopefully respond to the spread of the cancer and to go home and wait for 8 weeks.  I came home and waited on March 23^rd 2010 I was told that I was CANCER FREE.  Now today I am building back the pieces of life Cancer affected with my husband children and family. 

Please share this with anyone and everyone you know.  The link to financially support Sandra is http://main.acsevents.org/goto/sandraperez  or for Jeremy http://main.acsevents.org/goto/jeremyperez

Thank You

Sandra Perez