I had thyroid cancer two years ago and I can give you some reassurance on two counts. Firstly, as I kept chanting to myself while awaiting my results, "thyroid nodules are common, thyroid cancer is (comparatively) rare". The vast majority of nodules are benign, over 90%, I think. 

Secondly, even in the case that you do have cancer, and you probably don't, thyroid cancer is not what you are probably imagining when you hear the word cancer and this may well be why the consultant wasn't so careful about pointing out he thought it was nothing. Because it's not anywhere near as serious a diagnosis as say breast cancer. The consultant who diagnosed me was quite casual: "we did find malignancies. Ah, it's not the worst news in the world." Leaning back, utterly relaxed, he could have been telling me I had the flu.

The most common form of thyroid cancer has a near 100% survival rate and they don't usually use chemotherapy or radiotherapy to treat it. They basically just remove your thyroid and if there is a high chance of recurrance, they do radioiodine treatment, which basically just means you swallow a capsule. The radioiodine treatment is annoying, because you are radioactive after it and that means you have to remain in hospital for a few days to protect others, but it's not like I felt anything after taking it. Physically, it was no different than swallowing say a vitamin capsule. 

This was my experience: Like you, I had an ultrasound. I wasn't told anything specific either, except that there was nothing on it particularly suspicious of cancer but that it was recommended I have a biopsy. The biopsy was done in November 2019 and a week later, I got the results. I told you how the consultant gave those. He also said it wasn't going to do anything in the immediate future (by which he meant there was no great risk of it spreading or threatening my health in any way anytime soon) but that psychologically, it was better to get it done as soon as possible.

So I had my thyroid removed in January 2020. I was in hospital for a week. The tumour in my case was 6.7cm and they also removed all the lymph nodes on the left-hand side, so this was on the more severe side of thyroid operations. I took a month off work, mainly because I am a teacher and really need to be able to turn my head quickly and to speak for long periods of time. Then went back to work, pretty much fine. My voice still got weak for a few weeks when I was talking too much and I still have some tingling in my chin, but nothing at all serious.

I was supposed to have radioiodine treatment at Easter, as they did find cancer in 8 lymph nodes but coronavirus hit and it was the end of May before I had my treatment. As mentioned above, that was just annoying.

I now have to take tablets to make up for my lack of a thyroid but all that means is that I swallow a tablet each morning. I feel no different than beforehand or if there is a very slight difference, it's for the good. I have lost about a stone since the operation (was and am overweight and only thinking now that I was finding it a bit difficult to lose weight in the years before the operation) and I seem to possibly have slightly more energy. Not that I ever lacked energy or anything but I would get tired say after a 40 minute walk whereas now I don't seem to so often. Probably imagination though.

I will add that that nodule on my thyroid was probably there for 5 years or more before it was noticed and it did no harm in all that time.

Again, the odds are none of this will apply to you as you probably don't have cancer, but just to let you know, even the worst case scenario is unlikely to be all that bad. I don't think my experience was any worse than say having your appendix removed.

Hi Pompeyperson,

A very warm welcome to our forum. I honestly cannot add much to MargaretMary's excellent summation. You are doing the right thing in getting this investigated. You are likely to get your US results at the same time as your biopsy results. With your experience of breast cancer, you will probably already know that, the consultant cannot really tell you whether or not there is any cancer present until he see the results of these tests. 

The MRI is quite often used as a diagnostic tool, so please don't fret over this. It sounds as if your consultant is just being thorough, possibly following your early experience with breast cancer?

I sincerely hope that all turns out well for you. When you have your mammogram, don't forget to ask when you are likely to get ypour results?

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi MargaretMary

Thanks so much for your reply.

A lot of my worry is for my 10 year old son. I want to see him grow up. I dont want to have an aggressive form of thyroid cancer (does anyone?!). I have just changed companies and am really starting to enjoy life and I just don't want to STOP for cancer.

And my head tells me that it is more unlikely than likely  that I have cancer again. But my emotional self hasn't caught up with my logical self.

You said that your nodule had likely been there for 5 years prior to it being operated on. Did you notice it yourself? Is there a size of nodule at which they say, it's not very big and so we'll leave it alone. Or does it depend on spread to lymph nodes. 

Thank you - your response has gone some way to reassuring me. I have my MRI on Friday and see the consultant on the 5th. I'll let you know how I get on. 

Thanks Jolamine for your kind welcome.

My emotions are a little less panicky. I usually don't worry unecessarily until I have something concrete to worry about. But the possibility of cancer is different. I have been through cancer before. And if this is cancer, I will get through it again. 

I will update in here when I have seen the consultant. 

Even if you do have thyroid cancer, it is unlikely to be an aggressive form. The most aggressive form mostly affects older people.

Like I said, I had thyroid cancer and my life didn't really stop because of it at all. OK, it paused for a month and even that was because a) I had spread to the lymph nodes and a very large tumour and b) my job is specifically one that meant I needed to be able to speak easily and look around. Had I worked say in an office, I'd probably have been back at work a week earlier. And I would have been fine to look after a ten year old as soon as I got out of hospital, which was a week after my operation. 

Even in the worst case scenario, in which you have thyroid cancer, it is very, very unlikely to be life-threatening. Like my brother, who is a science teacher, joked that if I died of it, I'd at least have the consolation of knowing my death would make national news because it would be so unheard of for a 39 year old to die of thyroid cancer. 

It's less about the size of the nodule and more about whether or not it is cancerous. If it is cancerous, they will probably want to remove it. If it's not, which it probably isn't, they probably won't unless there is a risk of it pressing on something like your windpipe or voicebox. But nodules are common and I don't think most are removed.

And nope, I didn't notice it. Looking back now, I can see it on this photo a friend took of me back in 2016 and if it is big enough to be seen in a photo then, I'm guessing it was there a few years at that point. My mum also says my grandmother commented on it at some point and she died in 2015, but I did not notice it myself. I guess it grew so slowly that I got used to it. A colleague too said she only noticed it when I told her I had to have my thyroid removed and she was presumably looking at my neck.

Best of luck with your MRI. I hope it turns out to be completely benign. 

Hi

I saw the consultant this morning following bloods, US and biopsy and MRI over the last couple of weeks.

Unfortunately they have found cancer in the node that was biopsied. (The radiologist could see from the US that the issue wasn't the thyroid and so only biopsied a node).

The consultant said the tests on the sample haven't been completed yet and that this may show where the cancer originated from. He said at this stage he didnt think it was lymphoma or the thyroid. 

He has referred me to his NHS practice and will see me again on Monday when he should be able to give me more information. In the meantime he wants me to have a PET/CT scan to find the cancer source.

I am struggling to process this. Really want to stay positive but am in pieces. Not sure how I'm going to tell my 10 year old son.