Hello friends!
I'm writing this 3 weeks after my thryoid surgery. I'll get to that in a moment but first some background.
Back in November, I had a regular appt with my oncologist in San Antonio. They ran the usual tests to see how I'm doing. Toward the end of the meeting, I was told that there was a small nodule in my thyroid, 1.7cm in size, that they were watching. It was said in an off-hand kind of way and the nurse practitioner indicated that if it increased to about 4cm, they'd need to take proactive steps to find out what might be going on. Okay, sounded good to me.
In retrospect, I don't know why I didn't question that decision. My stage 2A breast cancer back in 2012 was 2cm in size!
Anyway, fast forward to April 2025 when I saw my new PCM in Myrtle Beach for the 1st time since moving back to SC. Dr. Carr was actually my PCM when we lived here from 2013 to 2017 (she was also a neighbor back then). She's fabulous and so proactive!!! We sat down to discuss what had been happening with me health-wise the 7 years that I had been gone. I told her about my 2nd breast cancer in 2021 (stage 0, DCIS) and I mentioned the thryoid nodule and what I had been told.
When I said that additional steps would need to be taken if and when the nodule increased to 4cm, her jaw dropped. "4cm is really big," she said. Then she asked me, "What did the thyroid ultrasound show?" "What thyroid ultrasound," was my response.
She was like, no no no, we need an ultrasound right now to find out what's going on.
So I set up an appt for the ultrasound. The ultrasound showed 2 nodules actually, one was 1.8cm and the other was 1.6cm. Thyroid nodules are rated for risk of cancer by a system called TI-RADS (thyroid imaging reporting and data system).
For my 1.8cm nodule, it had a Ti-RAD score of 3 (probably benign, <5% risk of malignancy); Recommendation was to watch it and do a biopsy if it increased in size to 2.5cm.
For my 1.6cm nodule, it had a higher score or 4 (suspicious, 5-80% risk of malignancy); Recommendation was to do a biopsy if the size was 1.5cm or larger). Mine was 1.6cm so a biopsy was ordered.
The biopsy was inconclusive. It indicated a suspicion of follicular neoplasms...basically it could be cancer but they couldn't tell. So additional molecular testing was ordered, also inconclusive but it did show that there was a 75% chance of being cancer.
We met with an ENT surgeon (ear-nose-throat) and he said the only way to know was to remove it. Now, the thyroid is shaped like a butterfly. Both nodules were located on the right 'wing'. So the question became, do we remove half or the entire thryoid? The thyroid does multiple things for the body. It regulates metabolism and it also regulates calcium. If the entire thyroid is removed there is a risk of the calcium in the body being reduced. I have osteopenia (the pre-cursor to osteoperosis) so that didn't sound good to me. If the half of the thyroid that remained inside worked, that would be a good thing. :)
We decided on a partial thryoidectomy. The surgery was fast. I went in at 6am, they started just after 7am, and I was released by 11am. It felt like a slight sore throat. I only took a couple of Tylenol for the 1st 2 nights to make sure I could sleep fairly well.
I got a call the next day that it was indeed cancer, stage 1 follicular carcinoma. They got everything and it was minimally invasive so we're holding off on the other side of the thyroid until we know from the blood work whether or not it's still functioning. I'm also seeing the endocrinologist in October and we'll get her thoughts on how to move forward.
So all is good! I'm extremely grateful to Dr. Carr, first and foremost, for jumping right on this and for my ENT surgeon. He was great.
My stepmom, Russelle, flew in for the week to help and we loved having her with us. You'll see her in some of the pictures below. My surgery was on 8/14 and we took her to the Alabama Theater on 8/15 to watch the Iconic show (we love it). We also went to our favorite cafe in Conway on the 17th for breakfast with her. Fun times! Thank you Russelle! I'm so grateful to you for taking time to come help.
Jose, as always, has been my rock and supporter and I'm so blessed to have him in my life. Thank you, my dear hubby, for looking after me. I love you!
I guess the point of this, and I've said it before when discussing my breast cancer in other posts, is that you have to be your own advocate and ask questions. Research and then ask more questions. When you're sitting with a doctor and he/she tells you something, ask questions if and when you have them. :) And if someone wants to lend a helping hand, let them.
One other thing...gratitude is the attitude every single day! There is always something for which to be grateful.
Take care and God bless!
Coming home from the hospital. A nice bruise is developing. :)
Breakfast at the Trestle Cafe and a pic by a beautiful crepe myrtle in Conway.
Looking better every day.
Pic taken today.
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