Thyroid cancer spread :(

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis @Jambo12.  I had a Total Thyroidectomy 3 months ago with central and rh side neck dissection and had 60 lymph nodes removed, with cancer being in 14 of them and also have 2 tiny nodules in my lung.  I have been reassured that RAI treatment will hopefully blast those too and any remaining thyroid from after surgery.  We are told it is the easy cancer but it isn't easy for everyone and a lot to take in when you are first diagnosed.  I was scared too and was dreading the surgery but to be honest it was fine and I haven't felt ill as such.  My scar has healed very well but still have a little numbness in one area and it all takes time to settle down and feel normal but I am getting there.  Have you been given a date for your surgery yet?  The waiting is the worse as I am sure others will agree too.

Hey Jambo12 I was also diagnosed aged 25 and had a total thyroidectomy and left neck dissection with a lot of lymph nodes removed. I possibly didn’t have quite as many as you affected by the cancer but the radioiodine therapy is there to mop up any remaining thyroid cancer cells after surgery. I am now 30 and honestly it barely affects my life now! You will get to the place I am at now and will hardly remember this time and how the worry of it all consumed you. You can message me if you want to hear more about my experience as I wish I had someone back then to talk to who had been through it all xx

Hi thanks for your reply hopefully the rai does get rid of the 2 tiny nodules on your lungs! That’s really good glad surgery wasn’t too bad for you. Yes my surgery is scheduled for 22nd November. I’m just not ready to die and scared of the spread through my neck, sometimes I’m scared it’s all over my body and even the back of my neck it’s really hard and towards the middle it is soft and if I press down in the middle I can little bones moving:( I’m also scared of spread to brain I have headaches sometimes and feeling of nausea. I just hope I can live a long life

Thanks for your positiveness! It’s just so scary for me! Thankyou very much that’s very nice of you? I appreciate it! I don’t really read anywhere of younger people dying of this cancer which is reassuring but I’m afraid of spread and even if the tumor has got out of my thyroid and carried on growing

It's hard not to think the worse when faced with something like this, I am sure we all do and easy to say it will be fine when you are out the other side @Jambo12, but try and stay positive it won't do you any good worrying as you will appreciate.  I had to stop myself worrying because I was getting so stressed out it was affecting my breathing, I have asthma which is well controlled usually, but stress makes me breathless.  So I calmed myself down and tried to think rationally, and listened to other peoples' experiences and the fact that the percentage of people surviving this type of cancer is very high.  Having said that I am 67 and my survival rate percentage is much lower, but you are young and will fight this, so keep thinking that and you will stay strong and get through this.  Best wishes for your operation and let me know how it goes x