Diagnosed thyroid and bowel cancer

Hi Nej2021, 

my goodness that is a lot for you to be taking on board. I haven't heard of this myself but I am very new to the thyroid cancer community too. Finally got diagnosed in December.

Hopefully someone will be able to let you know about dual tumours in different locations.

I can tell you my thyroidectomy was extremely straightforward. Went into hospital the morning of the operation - it was a Tuesday, surgery was completed in around 3 hours I think. Sore enough straight after but nurses will keep you right with pain meds if you make it known. I had two nights in the hospital to recover and they check your calcium levels every 6 hours to make sure they haven't been knocked. If they are fine then you get to go home. I was back doing the school run by the Monday. Less than a week later....I'm 42. 

It's good news they are both removable though. 

Sending you good wishes and let us know how you get on. 

Caroline

HI

Ive recently had a similar experience as whilst I was being treated for NHL a tumour in my thyroid was diagnosed. I was told that I was unlucky to have two different cancers at the same time and that they were probably separate rather than one being secondary.

I completed 7 sessions of chemo for NHL in November and then had by thyroid tumour removed at the end of December and now waiting to see if I need any further treatment such as radiotherapy. The thyroid operation was very straightforward and I’m now telling very much like my ‘normal’ self.

Hope your operations go well.

The thyroid gland can be a sensitive little thing and I believe it can suffer when its owner is treated for other types of cancer, subsequently leading to the thyroid becoming a problem - underactive, overactive or even cancerous.

his can particularly happen if a person had radiation treatment on a tumour that's not too far from the neck (breast or head/neck cancer for example) and thyroid doesn't like radiation. For a long time, people proposed that a lot of thyroid cancers could have been caused by stray radiation from X-rays on teeth or the head and neck. 

The two cancers are often not related, especially when the thyroid cancer comes later. It's more a case of the latter being a consequence rather than a secondary.

When thyroid cancers do spread, depending on the type, they have typical destinations that they head to, and I'm not aware that bowels are very high on that list. 

The good news - if you have an ability to see such things as good, and it's not something we should assume - is that for the most part, thyroid cancers are very treatable.