Hi all,
I am a 30 year old female, was recently diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer following a hemithyroidectomy. I went to the doctor about something totally different and ended up having a lump in my thyroid / enlarged lymph nodes picked up via an MRI. After FNA and core needle biopsies they advised I had thyroiditis, which was muddying the picture in terms of confirming whether I also had thyroid cancer. They advised having a hemithyroidectomy to confirm, which I had done about a month ago. The biopsies from this confirmed thyroid cancer, and that it has spread to the lymph nodes.
I am scheduled to have the rest of my thyroid out with a complete neck dissection, and then radio iodine treatment. Any tips about what is to come would be gratefully received! The piece of information I have found the hardest is this morning I was told that after the radio iodine treatment I will need to isolate from my partner who I live with for at least 13 days, possibly up to 19 days (depending on the dosage I need, once they have confirmed the levels required after they can biopsy the rest of my thyroid / lymph nodes once removed). This is a lot longer than I was expecting - they have said throughout this 13 - 19 day period we can't share a bed and should be in separate rooms as much as possible, and eg can't sit and watch TV together etc unless it is for less than an hour, we sit at opposite ends of the room and only if we do this very sparingly. He has been my rock throughout this process and I am definitely struggling with the thought of not being able to relax with him and cuddle (as silly as that may sound). This seems a lot longer than other people have said on this forum - did anyone else have to isolate from their partner / who they live with for this long?
Best,
Rachel
Hi RB123 Rachel, Can I offer you a warm welcome to the Macmillan Online Community. I’m sorry to read about your diagnosis but I’m glad you’ve found us.
I just dropped by and noticed you've not had a reply and as my cancer is different I can't offer any advice on this but I'm sure someone will be along soon to answer. You could always Ask a Nurse here on the Macmillan forum, just click on the link I've created. You may need to wait a day or two for a reply but I'm sure they'll be able to clarify.
The Macmillan Community is organised into dedicated support hubs. You’ve joined our Thyroid cancer group, this will be a good place to meet up with others making the (support of a family member on the) same type of cancer journey.
It’s always helpful to others if you write a little something (or a lot) about yourself and your journey to date. You can enter it into your profile (click on your username and select “Profile”) It’s helpful to other members with a similar diagnosis who can then hopefully answer your questions. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. You can amend or update it at any time.
Sending you welcoming hugs B xx
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