My wife had the lump and had her thyroid removed..That was 3 years ago and pills regulate her body that the thyroid did. The lump was not cancerous..
Hoping for the best for you, Ken. Thirty some years ago, my wife had thyroid cancer and had it removed. A few doses of radiation and everything is fine. She does have to take medications and getting the right dose was a little touchy.
I'll be going in for the ultrasound and some more tests day after tomorrow. Other than a vague irritation in my throat and a cough, I didn't have a clue that there was anything wrong there until my doctor found the mass on examination. My neck has to be in just the right position in order to palpate it. There was no pain. Now I am feeling some pain; not where the mass is, but on the other side. It is also quite possible that I am simply being hyper-aware of problems in that area since I am aware of the mass. I am not as concerned as I was initially but still, cancer scares me.
I have seen this thread many times, read the posts, but I dare not comment because cancer is such a terrible ailment. A colleague was diagnosed to have prostate cancer and he underwent treatment. It's not clear to me because he would only talk of details to the men. From what I gathered, the treatment costs him an arm and a leg but there was no assurance that the cancer is gone. As what @Ken Anderson had said, there is the probability of re-occurring. Generally speaking, cancer is scary because it is like a life sentence. However, there are cases where cancer recovery was successful especially in breast cancer. What's not good are the numbers in colon cancer. With prostate, there are lots of survivors I know.
Yes Corie cancer is a terrible ailment, but thankfully is being talked about more these days, I have lost several friends and family to it. Regarding prostate cancer if diagnosed early enough it can be treated successfully, if it has spread then like your colleague it may mean treatment involves other parts of the body. I have had several checks and am OK so far, but if a man lives long enough he will more than likely develop prostate cancer, though evidently it will not usually be the ultimate cause of his death. About 80 % of men who reach age 80 have prostate cancer cells in their prostate. In men over the age of 75, the question of whether or not to look for prostate cancer and then whether or not to treat it if it is found is a little more complicated. This is because the current life expectancy for a 75-year-old man in the U.S. is about 10 years — he is expected to live to age 85. A man’s life may not be extended by finding and treating prostate cancer unless he is already expected to live at least another 10 years from the time of diagnosis. So, in a 75-year-old man, the dilemma is whether to find and treat a cancer such as prostate cancer, which is not very likely to affect how long he lives, even if the cancer is found and treated. Link here
I have a small growth in my left thyroid and a larger one on the right side, neither of which are particularly noticeable. Even on palpation, I have to place my neck in just the right position to feel the larger one and I can't feel the smaller one at all. I had some more tests today, and will be going in for still another tomorrow. At some point, they'll be checking to see if they are malignant but, either way, the one on the right is going to have to be removed since it's causing some problems. I really don't know where we're going with this. No one seems particularly concerned, other than me.
My mom had thyroid cancer in 1997 and she is still alive. Most thyroid cancer are treatable. Good luck, Ken! If nobody else is concerned, it's probably a good sign.
That's a scary condition if the mass had to be removed because an operation in the thyroid poses many risks. And you are right, no one knows exactly what would happen that's why the only option left is to pray fervently that somehow the findings would not be in the worst case. Thyroid is somewhat alien to me but I understand that a growth, be it a mass or a cyst, is something to be worried about. Let's pray that the findings will give you a relief.
Tomorrow, I am scheduled for a biopsy on my right thyroid. Guided by ultrasound, they will be taking several samples of the nodule that is there in order to determine whether it is cancerous. Even if it is not cancerous, they will be removing my right thyroid because the nodule is beginning to interfere with swallowing and talking to some extent. The biopsy is necessary because if the samples they take are found to be cancerous, they will be removing the entire thyroid as there is a very small nodule on the left side as well, although it is undetectable by palpation. If the biopsy does not find signs of cancer, that does not necessarily mean that the right nodule is not cancerous, since they will be testing only a few cells from different parts of the nodule. So if they don't find cancer on biopsy, there is a chance that, after removing the right thyroid, the more complete testing might find signs of malignancy, so that I would have go back in within a week of the first surgery to have the rest of the thyroid removed. I am not so concerned about the thyroid, since the operation does not have very high chance of difficulties. My concern is that if I have had two different cancers within five years, where else in my body might I have cancer? The facts are that most people who get cancer eventually die from cancer, although the time intervals may vary greatly.
@Ken Anderson , Chrissy is right, and it sound like you have been watching for signing for sometime, so if it is malignant it has to be in the early stages. I know saying not to worry doesn't help, but I do know that a positive attitude can help your recovery. I take meds for my thyroid, but how will you deal with no thyroid if they remove all of it?
@Ina I. Wonder , my mom had thyroid cancer in 1997 and had hers removed and she takes thyroid meds. In fact she takes the same dose I take for my low thyroid. .88mcg.
The biopsy itself was nearly painless, and I didn't opt for the anesthetic. It was a little weird having someone stick needles in my neck and digging around but it wasn't too bad. I should find out sometime next week what the results are.