Hey. I had thyroid cancer two and a half years ago.

It is very common to have no symptoms whatsoever. And when they say thyroid cancer is treatable, it means that is virtually unheard of for people, especially those under about 50, to die of it. I went on a mad researching spree when I was diagnosed and honestly, found tstudies that ended with a version of "and we also intended to compare (whatever it was they were studying)'s effect on death rates, but we couldn't find enough people who died of it to make accurate stats!" I'm paraphrasing, but...that definitely gave me confidence.

Also, the treatment is not what you imagine when you hear "cancer". It's very unlikely that you will have to have chemotherapy or radiotherapy or anything like that. Generally, removing the thyroid and possibly some lymph nodes, if it has spread to those, pretty much treats it.

You may also need radioiodine treatment to reduce the risk of reccurrance, but that is basically just swallowing a capsule. It's annoying because you have to get injections beforehand (and you may have to go on a diet for two weeks before it) and then afterwards, you are radioactive, so you have to spend time in isolation to avoid contaminating people, but it doesn't hurt or make you feel sick or anything. It's just a hassle and nothing more.

How it went for me was I was diagnosed in November 2019. I had my surgery to remove my thyroid on the 6th of January, 2020, went back to work about the 6th or 7th of February and that was basically that. I do have to take tablets now to do what my thyroid previously did and I had radioiodine treatment the following May. It should have been over the Easter holidays (I'm a teacher so that would mean I didn't have to miss work), but as you know, the world shut down.

One thing is after the radioiodine treatment, if you get it, they will probably do a full body scan. Waiting for the results of this is a little scary, although the consultant pretty much told me she wasn't expecting to find anything, you always worry you will be the one in a hundred where it's spread or something.

Apart from the inconveniences, it really wasn't much more of a deal than say getting your appendix or gallbladder or something removed. If it's any consolation, there was absolutely no issue about my going back to work during covid.

Thank you very much for the comment! As you probably know, in this situation even a message from a "stranger" can make a whole lot of a difference. It actually made me promise myself that I will keep monitoring the website to try and be supportive for other people too.

Hearing the stats that you mention and your overall process made me feel a little better. I'm just a little stressed about the lymph nodes being involved too. I really can't wait for next test and have a full picture of the situation. If I may, how did you find out about the cancer? Did you have enlarged lymph nodes too? How old were you?

Once again, thank you so much, this really means a lot to me

I was 39 and went to the doctor about irregular periods. They pretty much brushed that off but the doctor noticed a cyst on my thyroid that he said should be checked out. No noticeably enlarged lymph nodes but the surgeon took a load out anyway and they found spread to 8, I think. With papillary thyroid cancer, spread to lymph nodes is common and doesn't massively affect prognosis. It is a factor in raising the risk of recurrence, but seems to have little impact on survival, though like I said, some of the studies I read seemed to have difficulty making comparisons as overall deaths were so low.

I mean, nobody wants any form of cancer but I have read that it's about the least worst option where cancer is concerned.

Hello,

I just wanted to update this thread in case someone else in a similar situation sees it in the future. The biopsy confirmed it's papillary thyroid cancer. I'm undergoing surgery tomorrow to remove the thyroid and some lymph nodes from the left side of my neck.

The "good news" is that the doctor is very optimistic (given the cancer type, the age and the test results) and says that this type of cancer is very treatable and after the surgery and iodine treatment I can go on with my life. He also does not expect any long-term effects on my health nor sees this event affecting my lifespan. It seems that it is pretty much unheard of young patients dying of this type of cancer.

Hopefully everything will go well tomorrow and I will be able to go back to my life in about a month

Best of luck with your operation. I was in the same situation in January 2020 and yup, was back at work and back to normal after about a month. 

Best of luck with your operation. I was in the same situation in January 2020 and yup, was back at work and back to normal after about a month.