Newly diagnosed and just… sad :(

Hello,  My 30 years old cusion sister had the same cancer and she had 2 years old daughter at this time.She was told that her cance in not treatable and she would die. They took her into different hospital where her vital organs were removed, followed by chemotherapy and now it's been 17 years and she has been enjoying her life.

It was done I Pakistan and they paid a lot of money but it is so fortunate to be in this country to have the best treatment.Please don't worry,  stay strong.Counselling doesn't always work.

Loads of love Gha 

Please stay strong my young daughter was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer not long ago she has had a full thyroidectomy at the beginning of the month we aren’t through the whole treatment yet but we are trying to stay optometrist and the prognosis for this type of cancer is so positive people live normal lives without their thyroid. We went through all this stress and sadness as her parent wondering why and what life will be like for her. 

and remember thyroid cancer responds to radioactive iodine which many others don’t. 

Im sure you will find a lot of positive people to speak to on here. 

I'm sorry...it is hard and coming to terms with the diagnosis takes time....if anyone knows a quick fix here, they would be rich.

Waiting is also really really hard. I think it's the hardest part.

My children were 6 and 10 when I was diagnosed and we chose to tell only my older child after all the treatment was done and I was already feeling better - he could see that too and that helped when he heard the 'C' word. 

Sending strength to you.

BarbaraL is on holiday in Morocco and for some strange reason can’t get the Mac site to let her log on so she asked me to post this for you:

Firstly I want to say that I’m very sceptical that Ghaz’s sister had ‘the same cancer’ and was told that she’d die, partly because you’ve not even had surgery yet and so don’t know precisely what you’ve got (so frankly, it’s hard for somebody to say they know somebody who had the same) and without lots more details, it’s just misleading to imply that this is a highly dangerous and potentially fatal condition and mostly because the vast majority of thyroid cancers have excellent prognosis and are for the most part treatable and often curable. Thyroid cancer is rarely treated with chemotherapy and anybody having all their vital organs removes is unlikely to be alive 17 years later. I’m sorry, but I think that post is very misleading.

Feeling anxious and depressed after any kind of cancer is completely understandable. Reaching out for help is a great way to approach it. Please don’t try to sort it all out for yourself. Even when your treatment is successful, it’s natural to find your head starts spinning with lots of “What if’s” and “Why me’s”. Please talk to your GP if you didn’t already, or give the Macmillan helpline a call. The people on the helpline are completely used to patients going through the kinds of self doubt and anxiety that you describe.

The good news is, you will most likely have a full and remarkably normal life – it just might not feel like that right now.

Thank you Lass and BarbaraL. Reading that reply was the last thing I needed so I stopped checking this forum until your response. 

I tried to call MacMillan but I also didn’t have the best experience there. The nurse told me he was 60 and had never faced a cancer diagnosis so he can’t imagine what it’s like for me in my 30s and he can’t take that pain away. I understand his sentiment, but it was just another dig that I’m the unlucky one. 

I just hate this :( but appreciate you! 

BarbaraL asked me to let you know that you might do better calling Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust - http://www.butterfly.org.uk/ - as they are much more familiar with thyroid cancer and its impact than the generalists on the Mac helpline. Sorry, I should have suggested that before.

And from me personally....

I think the thing to remember at the moment is that you're allowed to feel all of those feelings. You're allowed to be angry, sad, disappointed, at a loss, desperate, despair, etc etc. Whatever is going through you at the moment is normal. We've all been there in one form or another, hearing those words and wondering 'what next' and 'what does the future look like'.

I was 30 when I found my lump, and I'm now 40 and a foster carer. BarbaraL is even older than that and still going strong too! (Don't tell her I said that! ;) ) The way thyroid cancer normally goes is that it's a bit of a rubbish year from diagnosis, but after that first year, life goes back to normal again for most people. So if you never had a gap year after High School, think of it as you're having it now. Life gets paused, do lots of fun things, then get back to the 'norm' after that year.

If there'sever anything you're unsure of, just shout on here and BarbaraL will undoubtedly be watching and offering up help and advice where she can! <3

Hi Hoping22, Its a huge thing to try and get your head around so be gentle on yourself. Im  now 16 months since my TT and neck dissection. Looking back I'd say just try and face one stage at a time. They will check if there's any spread and discuss options if there is, mine had spread to 2 lymph nodes, they removed them and quite a few others at the same time as the TT, you will have tests and scans to check how you are responding to any treatment. It's natural to have lots of fears and questions. I found it really hard at the beginning because I didn't know who to ask about all those questions too. It gradually becomes less scary as you understand it and you have more opportunity to discuss things with the professionals. You will find you are alot stronger than you realise and there are places like this where you can chat with others that understand how you are feeling x