A couple weeks after we moved to Florida I noticed a lump on my neck. It’s surprising I hadn’t noticed it earlier because it was really big. We went to the walk-in clinic the next day and had my blood drawn, an ultrasound of my thyroid and was referred to an endocrinologist. The ultrasound showed my thyroid was enlarged with multiple nodules, the largest measuring 4.8 cm. They called that lump a multinodular goiter and it was so large it had it’s own blood supply. By this point I knew it had to come out. It was sometimes difficult to breathe and swallow, so regardless of whether it was cancer or not, it was coming out. The endo still wanted to do a biopsy, the results of which came back as folicular neoplasm, meaning they couldn’t determine whether the nodules were malignant or not, but there was a 30% chance of malignancy. So we met with an ENT surgeon and he agreed I needed a total thyroidectomy.
The surgery took longer than expected. Three lymph nodes that were near the thyroid were enlarged so Dr. O’Hare decided to take them out. And a vocal cord nerve had become attached to the mass (I’m not sure if it was attached to the thyroid or the nodules), so it took extra time and expertise to successfully cut it away. Dr. O’Hare said he’d only seen that one other time and he was glad for his experience or I would be hoarse the rest of my life. The nerve did get stretched and I will be hoarse for at least a month, but it should recover.
Recovery from surgery has gone fairly well. I haven’t had much pain. My throat hurt from the tube they put down it during surgery. My neck is numb, and will take some time to get feeling back, so that’s probably why I haven’t had any pain. I get dizzy and/or light-headed easily. I don’t have much energy. I feel lazy and guilty that I haven’t done much in the last week. Mom flew down and took care of us all for a week, the neighbors have been bringing us meals, and Jason’s been doing the rest. But real life is going to begin again next week when the boys start school again and Jason goes back to work and I have to get out of bed and lift the baby out of the crib. Hopefully we’ll survive.
They sent the thyroid and lymph nodes away for a biopsy and the diagnosis came back as papillary carcinoma (stage I) in both the left and right lobes of the thyroid, but the margins and lymph nodes were clear. They say if a person is going to have cancer, this is the type to have because it is easily dealt with if it hasn’t spread.
So the next step is a radioactive iodine scan. I have to be off my thyroid medicine for 3 weeks and eat a low-iodine diet for the week before the test. From what I understand my body needs to be starved of iodine so when I take the radioactive iodine pill it goes straight to any remaining thyroid tissue. It kills anything left behind, but they also do a full body scan to see if the cancer has spread. This procedure isn’t supposed to make me sick or hurt, but I will be radioactive and can’t be around the kids. We don’t know exactly how or when this procedure will happen. Hopefully we will meet with the nuclear medicine people in the next couple of days so we can make a plan. After this scan (as long as the cancer hasn’t spread) we hope to be through the worst of it (outside of getting my thyroid meds regulated).
We’ve felt blessed, comforted and humbled throughout this ordeal. We will trust in the Lord and accept His will. We appreciate the prayers said and concern felt in our behalf. We love and appreciate our families, friends and neighbors; they’ve been a great support to us.
The surgeon sent us a picture of the thyroid and I can’t decide if I want to post it or not. It’s pretty gross and I’m a little embarrassed. Maybe I’ll post it later.
UPDATE: BELOW IS MY THYROID AND AS I LOOK AT IT NOW, A MONTH LATER, IT MAKES ME WANT TO GAG. SO LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK. I’ll put a picture of what a healthy thyroid looks like and then mine.
