Back in January, I went to the doctor for the first time in a long time, and she felt a lump on my thyroid. So she sent me to get an ultra sound and they found a 2.4cm mass and a 4mm mass. She didn't think I had anything to worry about. I had some bills to pay off in June, so I put it off.
Then my brother realized he had a huge mass in his neck in June, so I followed up with an endocrinologist.
I went in for a needle biopsy, 3 into each mass. He ALMOST didn't biopsy the tiny one, but since my son is a 3 year thyroid cancer survivor, he did.
The big mass was benign, the little one has papillary thyroid cancer.
They found hurtle cells in my brothers mass, which was the size of a fist, and he had that removed, along with his thyroid, this past Friday. He has a 60% of it not being cancer. (they can't tell with this type like they can with mine from a biopsy) The doctors are pretty optimistic, but he won't find out his final results in a week.
I will be having a thyroidectomy 9/27. They will take my thyroid, and the central trunk lymph nodes. I am
that it hasn't metastasized.
This is a very slow growing cancer, by the size though I've had it 4 YEARS which wigged me the fuck out.
I am very optimistic, this cancer has a high survival rate, and if I am stage 2 - 3, it still has almost 100% survival rate. (I am too old to be even classed at stage I, even if it hasn't spread outside my thyroid).
Sorry for the book, but that is what is going on lately. All I can say is, tell those you love daily how you feel. You never know how you life can change in an instant.