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How will I die with Untreated Thyroid Cancer-Steps
I have a 4.8cm goiter on the right side of my thyroid along with a few others (1.9CM) . The FNA results were suspicious for Foculliure Neoplasm(sp?) . My doctor and another doctor says that my only option is to cut it out . Well, for me that is not an option. I do not have medical insurance and this has already put me in dept for $3200.00. I refuse to put my family in debt over this. My question is this. I have already started having headaches all the time, I get sick to my stomach, and this goiter just keeps growing. It has grown ½ inch in the last month which make me feel like someone is trying to strangle me but just not enough pressure to do the job. Will the goiter itself kill me or what? I just want to know how this will play out.
I was diagnosed with Melanoma 6 very short months after my Thyroid Cancer. I also have had atypical colon polyp removed and I suffer from a kidney anomoly that causes me to contantly make kidney stones called MSK .. I also suffer from documented gallstones. I share this in reply to your history .. nothing stands out in your history or FNA that sounds like you don't have an EXCELLENT chance of moving on with your life 100% cancer free after treatment! I don't understand how a $ value can even play into a decision for life? I understand, don't get me wrong, but isn't life worth any amount of money?
I am a very strong believer that we are very strong .. all of us here on thryoid .. we may be on different levels of strength but we are never, ever weak.
Yes, we all die, but every day we breath and wake up to the morning air and sun, is a gift ..... there are people out there who will and can help you, if you let them.
Please please think this through very carefully.
Dr. Lupo's site is very popular as he's extremely good .. He helped me make my decision to have my thyroid surgery and you know what .. it may have saved my life vs. the alternatives.
I am a very strong believer that we are very strong .. all of us here on thryoid .. we may be on different levels of strength but we are never, ever weak.
Yes, we all die, but every day we breath and wake up to the morning air and sun, is a gift ..... there are people out there who will and can help you, if you let them.
Please please think this through very carefully.
Dr. Lupo's site is very popular as he's extremely good .. He helped me make my decision to have my thyroid surgery and you know what .. it may have saved my life vs. the alternatives.
I watched my brother-in-law die of head and neck cancer.
It was not pretty.
My sister is in serious debt and narrowly avoided filing bankruptcy.
We would all rather have him back and take on more debt just to share life with him.
Everyone above has said so many great things to help you find help. Don't give up like this. You are way too young. I am about to start treatment for Lyme disease that will be very expensive due to the fact that we have no prescription insurance and our insurance has a high deductable. We are willing to go into debt for this and it isn't even a fatal disease (usually). We are doing it to get my quality of life back. So should you.
It was not pretty.
My sister is in serious debt and narrowly avoided filing bankruptcy.
We would all rather have him back and take on more debt just to share life with him.
Everyone above has said so many great things to help you find help. Don't give up like this. You are way too young. I am about to start treatment for Lyme disease that will be very expensive due to the fact that we have no prescription insurance and our insurance has a high deductable. We are willing to go into debt for this and it isn't even a fatal disease (usually). We are doing it to get my quality of life back. So should you.
Since I found out you're in Washington (you don't say where...and I live in Seattle), I googled "indigent care - Seattle", and this is the link I found. seattle.gov/html/citizen/pacificpda.htm Maybe this is not close for you but there are wa.gov sites too. Use your fingers, you obviously have access to a computer... There is help out there. DON'T GIVE UP!
I have a older friend who has thyroid cancer who can not get treatment because of life long blood thinner use. The surgery will kill him. He was told he has about 10 good symptom free years left. He was perfectly content with this as he is in his late 70's and was glad at least to know what it was.
It sounds like you are not so sure they will cure you after all this. My cancer was papillary but Follicular variant (more aggressive than ordinary papillary). Even so they managed to completely cure me in the first go round. My whole thyroid gland was engorged with cancer and the nodule tho small was attached to my trachea. The surgery to save my life, only $3,000. The RAI pill itself was not that expensive either. The WBS was a few thousand dollars though. Maybe you can put this part off and just go with labs to determine the progress?
It sounds like you are not so sure they will cure you after all this. My cancer was papillary but Follicular variant (more aggressive than ordinary papillary). Even so they managed to completely cure me in the first go round. My whole thyroid gland was engorged with cancer and the nodule tho small was attached to my trachea. The surgery to save my life, only $3,000. The RAI pill itself was not that expensive either. The WBS was a few thousand dollars though. Maybe you can put this part off and just go with labs to determine the progress?
Hello... My name is Mitch but I am in fact a girl. I am going to post some information below, but I need to say some things to you first.
I understand why you are afraid. I actually lost my insurance just before I found I had cancer so I was "pre-existing" making it impossible to get insurance. Finally someone led me to state aided medical care (Acces). I don't know if you are eligible or not or what your state offers. I was a single mother. I had to lose income to be eligible. I don't know anything about your financial status but being without insurance indicates to me that you do not have alot of money. Maybe you could move in with a friend, have a church or community of friends that would do a fund raiser. I believe there are ways to handle this.
You say it is suspected that you have Follicular cancer. Your goiter is 4.8cm. I have to point out that while your goiter is 4.8, "if" you have cancer, the part of the goiter that is malignant could be much smaller. I had a large goiter but the cancer was of a minimal size. It is not like having a tumor somewhere else. A goiter is caused by the thyroid hormone. Many people have goiters that have no cancer. Thyroid cancer can be very curable. You mustn't wait however. It just makes sense to get working on finding a solution.
I am not going to talk about death because you've not told me anything that sounds bleak as of yet. The real sadness would not be your family having financial distress because of your care, but rather having a parent that thought finances were so important that she put herself second. It gives your family a message that money is happiness, not love and family, and it would also say you do not value yourself or them. I understand why this is confusing for you right now. YOu are scared, but trust me, if they lost you because of your fear of wrecking them financially, they would never forgive themselves or you.
Get yourself in shape. Eat right. Read and listen to positive things. Find out what life message is in this for you.
The fact that you would rather die then possibly burden your family with financial stresses tells me you most definately have a life message in this.
Don't take my message the wrong way. I had all the same questions and concerns you did. It was however a learning process.
As far as surgery. Don't be afraid of it. It really is not so bad. In fact, after they remove the tyroid, you will probably
feel better then you have in years. A thyroid out of balance can cause all sorts of physical, emotional and phychological problems. I spent a great deal of time crying, confused, lack of memory, tired, and then wound up, etc. I literally felt like I was going crazy. I kept calling my sister to tell her something was wrong but I just couldn't figure it out. It had nothing to do with knowing I had cancer. It was much before I knew I had it. It was about my thyroid being out of wack. Also on a cellular level my body was a mess trying to fight it. The thyroid affects everything in your system.
Since my surgery I have had people tell me they had hypothyroidism that Dr's had been trying to balance for years with medication but it kept fluctuating, so finally they had their Dr's just take the thyroid out and now they felt better then they had in years. So you see, this may be a blessing. I might reccommend that that you talk to your Dr. about doing his best to leave in your Parathyroid. Ask him about it.
Even if you have something advanced, don't stop there. Have chemo, (ususally for thyroid it is radio-active iodine (a breeze to get through)), radiation and whatever they reccommend. But also pull up information on "Intraveneous Vitamin C". Put it in Google Advanced search.
I understand why you are afraid. I actually lost my insurance just before I found I had cancer so I was "pre-existing" making it impossible to get insurance. Finally someone led me to state aided medical care (Acces). I don't know if you are eligible or not or what your state offers. I was a single mother. I had to lose income to be eligible. I don't know anything about your financial status but being without insurance indicates to me that you do not have alot of money. Maybe you could move in with a friend, have a church or community of friends that would do a fund raiser. I believe there are ways to handle this.
You say it is suspected that you have Follicular cancer. Your goiter is 4.8cm. I have to point out that while your goiter is 4.8, "if" you have cancer, the part of the goiter that is malignant could be much smaller. I had a large goiter but the cancer was of a minimal size. It is not like having a tumor somewhere else. A goiter is caused by the thyroid hormone. Many people have goiters that have no cancer. Thyroid cancer can be very curable. You mustn't wait however. It just makes sense to get working on finding a solution.
I am not going to talk about death because you've not told me anything that sounds bleak as of yet. The real sadness would not be your family having financial distress because of your care, but rather having a parent that thought finances were so important that she put herself second. It gives your family a message that money is happiness, not love and family, and it would also say you do not value yourself or them. I understand why this is confusing for you right now. YOu are scared, but trust me, if they lost you because of your fear of wrecking them financially, they would never forgive themselves or you.
Get yourself in shape. Eat right. Read and listen to positive things. Find out what life message is in this for you.
The fact that you would rather die then possibly burden your family with financial stresses tells me you most definately have a life message in this.
Don't take my message the wrong way. I had all the same questions and concerns you did. It was however a learning process.
As far as surgery. Don't be afraid of it. It really is not so bad. In fact, after they remove the tyroid, you will probably
feel better then you have in years. A thyroid out of balance can cause all sorts of physical, emotional and phychological problems. I spent a great deal of time crying, confused, lack of memory, tired, and then wound up, etc. I literally felt like I was going crazy. I kept calling my sister to tell her something was wrong but I just couldn't figure it out. It had nothing to do with knowing I had cancer. It was much before I knew I had it. It was about my thyroid being out of wack. Also on a cellular level my body was a mess trying to fight it. The thyroid affects everything in your system.
Since my surgery I have had people tell me they had hypothyroidism that Dr's had been trying to balance for years with medication but it kept fluctuating, so finally they had their Dr's just take the thyroid out and now they felt better then they had in years. So you see, this may be a blessing. I might reccommend that that you talk to your Dr. about doing his best to leave in your Parathyroid. Ask him about it.
Even if you have something advanced, don't stop there. Have chemo, (ususally for thyroid it is radio-active iodine (a breeze to get through)), radiation and whatever they reccommend. But also pull up information on "Intraveneous Vitamin C". Put it in Google Advanced search.
Thank you for all the feedback. I have been reading them and trying to look at from each point of view. Just to answer a few of the questions;
1. My family does know what it is going on. Although they respect my choice they are also concerned about it. I think that so many people are so scarred with the thought of death yet I am not sure why. To me, people die ever day without warning. What a blessing to know ahead of time.
2. I live in WA State where they just past the "Death with Dignity Law". So I plan to look into this ahead of time.
3. I have looked at some clinical trials at WA State University but they said that these trials were only for people who have gone through surgey and do not respond to Radiation treatment.
4. As far as the cancer issues I had before. When I was around eight I had to have a cancerous mole along with three inches around it removed from my lower back. Then when I was 18 I had cervic cancer.
I did not know about the disablity comment posted above. I will check into this option. I worked all of my life and only stopped working in 2003 to stay at home while my then teenage son started high school. He was accepted at Jesuit High School which was a 45 minute drive from our home at the time so I needed to drive him.
I had thought when I posted my question that it was in the area where doctors respond. I found that section today but they had already reached the limit. I do appriciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions.
1. My family does know what it is going on. Although they respect my choice they are also concerned about it. I think that so many people are so scarred with the thought of death yet I am not sure why. To me, people die ever day without warning. What a blessing to know ahead of time.
2. I live in WA State where they just past the "Death with Dignity Law". So I plan to look into this ahead of time.
3. I have looked at some clinical trials at WA State University but they said that these trials were only for people who have gone through surgey and do not respond to Radiation treatment.
4. As far as the cancer issues I had before. When I was around eight I had to have a cancerous mole along with three inches around it removed from my lower back. Then when I was 18 I had cervic cancer.
I did not know about the disablity comment posted above. I will check into this option. I worked all of my life and only stopped working in 2003 to stay at home while my then teenage son started high school. He was accepted at Jesuit High School which was a 45 minute drive from our home at the time so I needed to drive him.
I had thought when I posted my question that it was in the area where doctors respond. I found that section today but they had already reached the limit. I do appriciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions.
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