Please try not to worry. I had thyroid cancer two years ago - in fact, this time two years ago, I was just where you are now, awaiting a biopsy. And I can give you quite a bit of reassurance.

For one thing, most nodules are benign. The odds are still that you do not have thyroid cancer. Even though mine turned out to be cancerous, to be honest, I got the impression that all the doctors were a bit surprised at that. They told me I needed a biopsy but were basically saying they would not be worried.

And in the worst case scenario, if it does turn out to be cancer, it's still...well, to quote my surgeon, "not the worst case in the world." Having thyroid cancer has made very little difference to my life. I had an operation to remove my thyroid and all the lymph nodes on one side of my neck. I was in hospital for about a week, so you might have to find somebody to care for your boys for that time, but that is if it turns out to be cancerous (which it probably won't) and if they think it may have spread to the lymph nodes. If they don't and just remove the thyroid, you would only be a couple of days in hospital. Though you aren't allowed to lift anything heavy for a few weeks, so you might still need some help with your boys for a short while.

After that, I was pretty much back to normal. I took a month off work in total because my neck was a bit stiff, my voice was a bit weak and I couldn't carry anything heavy, but mostly, I felt fine. Just minor things.

I did have radioiodine treatment a few months later. This is just a matter of taking a tablet, but it could create some problems for you, as you are radioactive after it and have to avoid close contact with small children for two or three weeks, but again, this is only if you both have thyroid cancer and they consider you at high risk of reccurrence, so that really is a worst case scenario. 

I felt absolutely fine the whole time with this. A nose bleed was the biggest effect it had.

The most common form of thyroid cancer has a near 100% survival rate, at least among younger people (those under about 50) and has a very high survival rate among older people too and they don't really use chemotherapy or radiotherapy, so it isn't a case of having ongoing treatment. You basically just have your thyroid out and go on about your life as normal.

If they remove the full thyroid, you do need to take tablets for the rest of your life. Some people apparently have trouble with these until they get the dose right but most people do not. I felt absolutely no different on them. May have lost a little bit of weight - well, I did but it may just be coincidence as it was a stone or less in the space of a year and it was weight I needed to lose anyway, so all good.

Even if you do have thyroid cancer, it is unlikely to prevent you caring for your boys for long. There may be a period when you will have to be apart from them if you need radioiodine treatment, but that would probably be the biggest issue as regards caring for them and that is far from certain even if you do have cancer.

Thank you so much for the reply. This means a lot and really helps x

Hi, did you get results? I have a 9 month old baby. U4 nodule, first fna inconclusive and awaiting results of second. So scared. Blood test picked up hypothyroidism