Thy3

I had and ultrasound due to enlarged lymph nodes. They found a goiter so sent me for a fna in aug. Results were hypoechoic and thy2 . Needed a repeat fna which was done Feb and come back thy3. 

They have now said I need to choose to wait and repeat scans and fna every 3-6 months or just take it out. But if there is any changes it will have to come out anyway. Has anyone had similar and what was your experiences please. 

Parents Reply
  • That's good you've heard something. I'm going to find this wait so hard. I really hope I don't have to wait 12 weeks. It's tough mentally not knowing if you have an illness or not. I don't understand how I was a suspected cancer patient but now it's come to surgery I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope they are right and I am not and that I fall into the 70% benign but I just don't understand how all of a sudden I'm not priority

Children
  • I know it's hard, but in a lot of ways, it's a good thing. The time to worry is when you are a priority. I think some forms of cancer need to be treated quickly. Therefore they want to find out as son as possible if somebody has it. That is not true of thyroid cancer. Even if you have it (and you probably don't), it is unlikely to cause you any major problems any time soon.

    I know it's easy to say when I have had the operation.

    It might help to think about what it is you are most worried about. For me, one of my fears was that they might have difficulty getting the medication right. I have a long commute to work and have to get up at 6:30 in the mornings, so lack of energy would be a big problem. Another worry I had was the operation not removing it all and there being persistence or reccurrance. Neither of these things happened (well, I guess recurrance still could, but the odds are against it). What would worry you most about thyroid cancer? Is it just the name cancer? That gave me an awful fright when the doctor said "we found malignancies," but thyroid cancer isn't really very like what you imagine for cancer.

  • My biggest fear is not seeing my baby grow up

  • Even if it is cancer, it's almost certainly not going to prevent you from seeing your baby grow up. The most common form of thyroid cancer has a survival rate of...I think it's over 99% in younger people. And it's probably not cancer. So the chances are even lower. That really isn't something you need to worry about. Even if it is cancer, it really isn't life threatening. 

  • Thank you. To you I must sound crazy. I wish I had your confidence and reassurance. Fear of the unknown. I know I need to try and keep calm and wait for the operation and results. It's so hard.

  • You don't sound crazy at all. It's easy for me to look back after two years and think "hey, it wasn't that big a deal after all." At the time, I was pretty freaked out. I was thinking "what if I am that one in 50 or 100 fpr whom it does spread?" I spent the weeks I was waiting for results chanting to myself, "thyroid nodules are common, thyroid cancer is rare." And of course, having a child makes it even more worrying, because you are thinking of the child as well as yourself.

    But the odds are very high that you either don't have cancer at all (the most likely) or if you do, that removing your thyroid will cure it completely and after that, you'll just need to be monitored every year to be sure it doesn't reoccur.