There I am sitting in on my husbands consultation with an ENT surgeon, minding my own business when life changes forever...
Can I look at your neck, the surgeon asks, who me??? He had noticed a lump in my neck. He did a quick examination and stated it felt as though I had a little nodule on my thyroid, probably nothing but worth checking out.
Nodule?? I gazed in the mirror that night looking at the lump that I had noticed but dismissed as my adams apple ( very foolish as in females they should not be visible) but it sat so perfectly central it just looked like it should be there.
So i was sent for a scan where I was told I would need a biopsy on the lump and one of my glands looked alittle dark. My needle test came back as a 3 - suspicious so i was advised to have the lump removed.
Op number 1 - lump removal, I was very scared but the op went well. I was very uncomfortable for a few days but ok. 3 weeks later I was told it was papilliary thyroid cancer, the lump was nearly 2 cm.
I then had another scan to neck, 2 of my glands were biopsyed and then I had a CT scan. Thankfully there was no sign that it had spread which was a huge relief. I can see the lump in photos going back at least three years so I had been convinced it would be elsewhere, especially as I now seem to have changed into this anxious person who feels that every little ache and pain is a sign of something major.
Op number 2 - thyroid removal. Again I was very scared, not of the op but of what they might find. After a night in hospital I was sent home with my liothyronnine ( thyroid hormone replacement) and told to watch out for pins and needles.
I felt awful, I was very uncomfortable but slept for days. 3 weeks on I am feeling better and the scar on my neck is healing well. I am now waiting to hear if i need radioactive iodine.
Thats a run down of whats happened but how do I explain the emotions? theres been so many. Also for the past few months everything has revolved around this intrusion, this interuption to my life. Everything on hold.
I had never heard of this type of cancer and I do not know anyone who has had it.
Is there anyone out there???????????
