Hey, I had thyroid cancer two and a half years ago and I can give you quite a lot of reassurance.

Firstly, they have to check for cancer. Doesn't mean it's likely; it's not. Thyroid nodules are extremely common and most are benign, but as they told me, "most are benign, but obviously, we have to check for cancer." That's all they are doing.

The chest tightness and so on is unlikely to be relevant. Thyroid cancer rarely has symptoms and it also moves extremely slowly. Like years or decades. It is highly unlikely you would start having symptoms within weeks of seeing a doctor about it. Symptoms developing the same year would be a massive coincidence. I know when I was awaiting the biopsy, I started feeling a sensation in my neck, that disappeared again after I'd seen the specialist. It was just because I was thinking "do I have a pain in my neck?" Covid is far more likely to be the explanation for that than thyroid cancer.

And even if you do have thyroid cancer, well, in the words of my specialist, "it's not the worst scenario in the world." To be honest, the stress is nearly the worst part.

I was diagnosed in November of 2019, had my thyroid removed on the 6th of January, was sick from the anaesthetic for a couple of days and then was just bored and wanted to get out of hospital - just waiting for the drain to be removed. I went home after 6 days, was back at work a month after the operation and that was that. Really not much worse than an operation for something like say, having your appendix or gallbladder removed.

The only times I felt unwell in the entire process were those two to three days after the operation. That's all.

Most thyroid nodules get biopsied to check for cancer and thyroid nodules are extremely common, like maybe a quarter of the population has them. In contrast, thryoid cancer is pretty uncommon.