Hi All, I would like to share my recent experience of a thyroid lump.

I am male and in my 30s. A few months ago, I noticed a nodule in my right thyroid gland. No symptom, nor any feeling, and it was barely visible. Ultrasound shown U3 (3.4cm). I was then checked again by a thyroid-specific US doctor. He was inconclusive about the nature of the nodule, so performed FNA, which turned out to be Thy3f (Hurthle cell type). No nodule in my other thyroid and no suspicious lymph node was found. I later met endocrinologist, who started talking about cancer, blahblahblah. I was not too worried before this appointment, but after meeting this doctor, I was much more anxious. Because I have some medical background, I started reading on Hurthle cell thyroid cancer and assigned all the risk factors to myself: male, single nodule…….

I got urgent referral to meet endocrine surgeon after two weeks. As there is about 20-30% chance of cancer in my case, hemithyroidectomy was recommended. I got the surgery done after 4 weeks (basically it was last week). The experience was not too bad. The pain was manageable by paracetamol and ibuprofen (I only used them for two days after surgery). I spent one night in hospital and was discharged the next day. The sore/stiff neck and eating problem were difficult at the beginning, but I tried to do everything slowly.

I am now back at work, about 9 days after surgery. Overall, I feel quite good. Eating is normal now. The back of my neck is still a bit sore, but it could be due to my sleeping at night. I am now waiting for the pathology result. If I was the unlucky 20-30% one, my remaining thyroid would have to go, followed by radio-iodine pills. We will see and fingers-crossed!