Finding lump on thyroid

Sorry you find yourself here, especially at this time. 

Most lumps found are non cancerous. I was diagnosed and treated last year and if I hadn’t had the lump pointed out to me I wouldn’t have known. I had no symptoms at all. I started off with blood tests which proved nothing as my thyroid was still functioning normally. I then went for a scan which showed 2 lumps, this was followed by a fine needle aspiration (FNA) on my thyroid and a lymph node. The results came back as papillary cancer which had spread to my lymph nodes. 6 weeks later and went in and had my thyroid removed along with 32 lymph nodes. I was in hospital for 2 nights and recovered fairly quickly. I waited about 4 weeks for my results which was 2 tumours and it had spread to my lymph nodes. I then went for radioactive iodine therapy [RAI) in August, which was fairly non eventful and painless. I am fully recovered and back leading a normal life.

Thyroid cancer is very slow growing, most of us who have had have had it for years. It’s usually not aggressive and in almost all cases won’t kill you. It’s likely at the moment you won’t be treated as a priority, please don’t worry as it won’t effect the outcome.

xx 

Thank you so much, I'm so worried as you must have been at the time and I really appreciate your reply. 

Like you I am feeling it when I swallow and I'm conscious of it now I know it's there plus I have all these thoughts running around my head and then I've googled it which I have stopped doing and came here for some much needed information.

I'm also feel like it's dry and the start of a sore throat but of course it doesn't come to that it's a very strange feeling. I've taken a week off sick at the moment to try and get my anxiety under control as I work in a very stressful environment.

Again I thank you so much for telling me your journey x

Glad you feel able to take time off work, as this is very stressful and upsetting.

There is quite a detailed description of my situation in my profile(I noticed that some others had done this, and I found it really helpful, so decided to do this myself incase it could help someone else). In brief though, my dentist found a lump in Sept last year. I had blood tests which were all clear, then an ultrasound a month or so later. That came back as indeterminate and so it was decided to remove half my thyroid in case there was a cancer there. I had that done in January 2020 (very quick recovery, hardly any pain apart from the first couple of hours after waking up and I got good pain relief for that, 2 weeks off work, but was feeling almost normal by the end of the first week). Initial biopsy results were, again, not entirely clear but the lump was suspicious for malignancy and sent to a specialist lab in another hospital for further tests. Came back as a hurthle cell carcinoma (very rare, but a good prognosis if caught early which I think mine was). Had a CT scan which showed there had been no spread. I'm to have the other side of my thyroid removed later this year as a precaution, but otherwise I think it will just be regular checks from now on.

I am quite an emotional person with not very good mental health so I've been surprised about how calm I have been able to be about all of this. Even if your situation turns out to be more worrying than you hope, you will probably find reserves of strength you didn't know you had - I certainly did. And all the healthcare professionals I have come across have been just WONDERFUL, and I feel I am in very safe hands.

Do let us know how you get on. (By the way, after I got the results of the ultrasound and knew that there was potentially something serious wrong with me, I became a lot more conscious of my neck and throat, and got some weird symptoms - a kind of burning, and a feeling that i was having difficulty swallowing. These disappeared BEFORE I had the surgery to remove the lump so I can only assume that it was mind playing tricks on me, because I was scared! Prior to that, I hardly even noticed or thought about the lump.

Thank you so much for replying ️

I'm so sorry for the delay in writing back but with covid-19 all about us and myself back working on the frontline nothing much has changed work wise, only how tired I am feeling.

Well all ultrasounds have been suspended with us at the moment unless it's urgent which of course I've been referred as routine so goodness knows when that will be, I have even rang to go private and they are the same! 

My anxiety is through the roof coupled with the tiredness from shifts I'm feeling rather vulnerable, I feel the lump when I'm swallowing and my throat is extremely dry, whether this is all symptomaticwith my anxiety and the worry of everything I don't know. I could just cry some days  

Anyway there's seems little that I can do but wait and try to stop myself from thinking all kinds of things as you can imagine x

Thank you again for being so kind x

Hey there

Sorry to hear your anxiety isn't settling any, and you're still waiting for the ultrasound.

Personally, I'd go back to your GP and ask why you've been referred as routine when it's to rule out thyroid cancer. Why weren't you referred under the 2 week cancer pathway?

If you give them a shout, they should hopefully upgrade you to the correct path, and you'll then be booked in for your scan.

Good luck!

Lass

xx

It's always a worry when you find a lump, as others have said thyroid cancer is a slow growing cancer so they should be able to treat it, my lump was there for a few months before I went to see abouit, I kept brushing it aside and saying it was probably just a cyst. When I went for my ultrasound the doctor said it looked like a cyst aswell, it wasn't until I had the FNA that they realised it w thyroid cancer that had spread to 2 lymph nodes. Turns out it had been there for at least 5 years but had somehow reduced in size by itself. I still had to have thyroidectomy, central and side neckissection, followed by RAI. They wanted to be sure they got it all and reduce the risk of it coming back, and they did because I got my all clear in March 

I didn't meant to do all the smilies, sorry 

You get to put as many smileys as you want! It’s a great result and a great relief! Well done Jay1979!