Hellobee Boards

Last June I looked in the mirror and noticed a lump in my neck. I was pregnant at the time and my doctors decided it could wait until after I had the baby. In September I had a fine needle aspiration. The results were inconclusive. The endocrinologist I was seeing referred me to a surgeon. He did an ultrasound and told me that we could wait and see, but based on the size we could also go ahead and do surgery. I opted for the surgery. In early November I had a partial thyroidectomy. The growth was biopsied and I ended being diagnosed with follicular thyroid cancer. I was diagnosed at a very early stage, so I haven’t needed any more treatment. I’m on a low dose of levothyroxin to make up for the loss of half of my thyroid. I go back to my oncologist next month for a follow up. I’ll be closely monitored for a few years and if they ever see any more growths or anything suspicious I’ll have a total thyroidectomy and a radioactive iodine treatment. Every step of the way the doctors told me that it was probably nothing. Most of the time it isn’t. They also told me that thyroid cancer is very treatable and a “good” cancer. That part is true... but it’s still pretty crappy to get a cancer diagnosis!

My surgery recovery wasn’t terrible. My neck was stiff for a few weeks. My pain level wasn’t bad at all. I’m almost 6 months post op and I’m still numb around my incision. It can be uncomfortable. I had family come help out for a week after surgery because I wasn’t supposed to lift anything.

Just for another really simple experience.... I was diagnosed with nodules after the doctor ordered a scan after he thought my neck looked a bit bulged. It’s actually just my long skinny neck, I think. Anyway, I went and also had other blood tests and my thryoid was fine numbers-wise. They just found a few sub-centimeter modules that looked regular, but they wanted to monitor them. I’ve done scans about every 6-12 months since then and they have decreased in number since that time. I’ve also had my levels checked a few times since. Basically they aren’t really concerned but want to keep an eye on things. I’ve heard that benign nodules are very common and many people probably have, but just don’t know it. Hope your situation is equally uneventful!

@cake2017: I believe I was in surgery for 2 hours. I did have to stay overnight in the hospital. I was away from home for 30 hours. You can take levo during pregnancy and nursing. I have a nursing baby now. My endo told me levo has been around a really long time (40ish years) and there has been a lot of research done on it. It’s a really common medication. No need to apologize for the questions!

I’m kind of assuming you are debating having surgery? I will say that I decided not to wait and see because I never would have been able to shake the what ifs. Also my module was fairly large and noticeable from the outside, so vanity played a role. I traded my weird shaped neck for a scar. People do look and some are bold enough to ask questions. It doesn’t bother me though.