I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a year and a half ago and can definitely offer some reassurance. 

Firstly, most thyroid nodules are not cancerous. I think it is about 5% that are confirmed to be cancerous by the biopsy, another maybe 10%-15% require further investigation and the remaining 80% are totally benign and harmless. The likelihood is that you do not have cancer. Right at the start, when a doctor first noticed the nodule, his explanation was that nodules are common and many things can cause them, so we should find out the cause of this." 

And even if you do, thyroid cancer has one of the highest survival rates of all types of cancer and the treatment is not as long or intensive as you might associate with cancer. If you are under about 45 and you have papillary thyroid cancer (the most common type), the survival rate is close to 100%.

When I was diagnosed, the endocinologist told me, "ah, it's not the worst thing in the world." He was pretty laid back about it all.

I was diagnosed November or 2019, had an operation in January 2020 (the endocrinologist's words were that the nodule was "not going to do anything in the immediate future but psychologically, it's better to get it done quickly." The tumour in my case was extremely large (6.7cm) and there was spread to 8 lymph nodes. For this reason, I was in hospital for nearly a week after the operation. I was pretty much OK though. 

I took about another 3-4 weeks off work after coming out of hospital, then pretty much got back to my normal life. Yes, I take thryoid medication now as I do not have a thryoid, but it hasn't had any affect on me or any impact on my life beyond having to take a tablet every morning. I also had radioiodine treatment to reduce the risk of recurrence, but that is only a nuisance, as there are restrictions afterwards. It's just taking a tablet and the only effect that had on me was that I had a nosebleed a week or so later.

Like I said originally, the odds are that you don't have cancer; most nodules are completely benign and yours probably falls into that category (I spent the week between my biopsy and getting the results, chanting to myself "thyroid nodules are common, thyroid cancer is rare" and while my case didn't fit that category that is still true and will likely be the case for you), but even if you DO, my experience of cancer was maybe three days of feeling tired and unwell after the operation, a few more weeks of a sore neck and weak voice and a bit of worry that I might be one of the few cases when it has spread. The last was probably exacerbated by the pandemic, as there are less distractions. 

I am now 100% fine, got the all clear about a month ago, but the endocrinologist said right after the operation that he thought they'd got it all. So really, I was diagnosed in November and was probably fine by the end of January/early February, when I returned to work. 

Thank you so much for this, I'm 28, so hopefully that's on my side. 
I'm really happy that you have had the all clear, I can't imagine how. Worried you must have been at the time. It's deffinatly reassured me to hear your story. So thank you so very much for sharing it with me! 
I'm hoping I get an appointment this week for the biopsy just to know where I stand. 
but it's made me feel a whole lot better to know it's not the worst even if it has spread to lymph nodes too 

thank you