Surgery scheduled for Jan. 31

[JerseyGirl88]

Hello all! I just want to introduce myself, I am a 36 y/o female with a 4cm nodule on my left thyroid lobe that was found during a routine exam at the end of September. Ultrasound results showed a complex solitary mass and recommended a biopsy. FNA results suggested a benign nodule, but the surgeon and my newly acquired Endo recommended surgery mainly due to it's size and the small % possibility there is still cancer in it. All blood labs were normal. So, on Jan. 31 I am scheduled for removal of my left lobe, but if frozen section during the procedure shows any cancer then a TT will be done.

I found this forum as I was researching about thyroids and all the possibilities they can represent and I have been reading the questions and posts periodically the last few months. As I get closer to my surgery in two weeks, I have been here almost everyday as I have found this to be the best source of info and encouragement online! So, thanks to all for sharing your stories, they are tremendously helpful. I thought I would add mine to the list.

My biggest (irrational) fear with all of this is going in with the thought that it will just be a partial thyroidectomy and waking up with no thyroid at all. I know it is a manageable condition, but still, that would mean that cancer was found and that in and of itself is scary. I tend to generally think positive and I keep telling myself that the odds are in favor of it being benign as all preliminary results suggest, but then, there is that pesky other %.

Best wishes to all going thru this, past, present and future!

[charley1986]

Hey chick,
I think I need to go shopping with you!!!!  Nothin' better than a good deal and a glass of wine, I always say!  Glad you're getting this week started off right!  Hope you feel like ****!
Peace,
Charley

[MJ13]

Thanks for the "feeling like crapola" wish.  It cracked me up and I needed it after the last 2 days.  I've been on the phone to my endo, the lab, and U of VA trying to get my RAI all set up for next week.  Oh, I forgot...earlier this week had a root canal done and got my oil changed yesterday at the place my ex-boyfriend manages, who acted like he barely knew me much less slept with me for 3 months.  Boy, was I glad to see this week end!!!  -Think I'll go have a glass of white wine and toast myself to "feeling like crapola" ASAP.  BEtween that and all the bargains I found at Belks tonight should start the week-end off right!  I got $446 worth of clothes for only $140!!!  Nothing like a good shopping high to ward off hypohell for a few hours!!!

[JerseyGirl88]

Thank you everyone for your comments, support and prayers. I will continue to read and possibly post as I get closer to surgery on the 31st.

Best wishes to everyone!

[charley1986]

LOLOLOL!  I just had to laugh when I read your comment about praying you feel yucky...I said that to some folks in my church and they looked at me like I was crazy!  I really had explained this whole ordeal so many times that I was ready to type it, print it and hand out copies!!!!  I will keep you in my prayers that you feel like pure all-out-and-out CRAPOLA!!!!!!  This is the worst part of it - so just know that better days are around the corner!  I'm thinkin' of you!
Peace,
Charley

[MJ13]

I scheduled for RAI next Thursday, 25 Jan.  That is if my TSH comes back over 30 on Monday.  I'm having my RAI done at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville and they will send me home and I have to isolate myself to 48 hours.  So, sending my poodle to a dog sitter for 4 days just to make sure I don't make him glow.  I'm starting to feel brain foggy and really tired.  Been of meds since 4 Jan.  Driving to work 55 miles one way in heavy traffic has been challenging.  I told my boss that I may have to take all next week off.  So everyone say a few prayers that I feel REALY, REALLY sucky by Monday morning, so I can go off the LID soon.

[utahmomma]

Hey, a couple of you mentioned going home on RAI and concerns about it.  

Luckily my youngest is 15 so he wasn't an issue but my sister lives in a tiny (800sq ft) home with two dogs and a husband (this was pre-baby) so she opted for a cheap "extended-stay" type hotel (with kitchenette) for her isolation.  She brought paper plates, plastic utensils, cheap sheets, cheap towels, a plastic mattress pad, and sweat pants/shirts - all of which she threw away after she checked out on day #6.  All in all it cost her about $250 but that was cheaper than her co-payment on a hospital stay.  Her cute husband brought her food everyday, gave her a QUICK hug, and left.  She talked to him on the phone with plastic gloves and a mask.  She had a 200mci dose so it was a pretty large.

Just an idea.

[charley1986]

Hey,
Just wanted to let you know that NC makes you go home as well during RAI.  I live almost 2 hrs from the hospital where I was treated and I had to drive back and forth for five days...it really sucked because my tsh was 58 and I felt like pure hell.  I had 175 milicures of the 131, and they told me to stay in isolation at home.  I sent my cat, Max and my son, to stay with my parents.  It was so lonely.  I was worried about contaminating my house as well - but they gave me strict guidelines and I followed them all.  Some of them were that you flush the toilet two or three times each time you go - that you use plastic forks and paper plates, etc.  Any trash should be separated from the others - and I think it said to use two trash bags.  There were lots of other things too, and I was really upset that they didn't keep me too.  My son is 13, so i know that it is easier for me than it is for someone who has a toddler....but still it kind of made things more difficult. I had a TT on August 31 for papillary cancer with follicular variants.  I took cytomel for a while and then came off it for my tsh to rise and get ready for RAI.  My tsh was 58 on day one and I felt like ****.  It's good that you are here - sorry for the reason - but this is a good place to be for information and support.  Please keep posting and let us know how it goes with you!  Take care - keeping you in prayers!
Peace,
Charley

[JerseyGirl88]

I will keep you posted as I go along. I am currently not on any meds and my Endo thinks that if only half is removed as planned (pending surgical findings) that I "should" be OK without meds, but will monitor me after to make sure. I don't like the idea of lifelong thyroid meds, especially after reading about all the trial and error it takes to get the dose right. I feel fine now, as I have all along so the thought of messing around with that is unnerving, but I guess it is better to know that this is nothing (except a temporary annoyance) if it is benign, or if it is cancer to have it over and done with. My right lobe looks perfectly fine on the ultrasound, so if I can keep it, I may be in good shape.

The other thing that bugs me in the back of my mind is if it is cancer, is the whole RAI thing.I am not afraid of taking it, but I wish Ohio (yes, I know my name is JerseyGirl, but I live in Ohio right now) made you stay in the hospital while you were radioactive, but no, instead you get to go home and glow. I have a three year old and I just don't want that stuff in my house. I am sure it is perfectly fine if you follow the precautions, but still, I don't like the idea of contaminating my place.

[hollyloxx]

i am totally with you on that feeling.
i had some found in a routine exam also.
i am only 25. its crappy. i have a cousin who had thyroid cancer.
they said that its benign but still want it removed because i have 3 onone side. the biggst is 2 cm but the others ar not that far behind it.
also my whole thyroid is 2 times the normal side

please let me know how the surgery goes. my dr said that he wants the whole thyroid rmoved because the other sid elooks like it has the beginngs of lumps on it also.

scar about the cancer thing still even if its only 3%.

i will keep u in my prayers, but please let me know about recovery time and meds. i ahev not been on any. i ahev normal levles but only one side is functioning. so when i have it removed i am nervous about taking pills forever.

[ChitChatNine]

Hey there!  I'm a "JerseyGirl" too!  I am only 9 days post-op so I can really feel how you are feeling.  Every single scenario of my fears of waking up and wondering if 1/2 or whole, etc. did NOT play out!  Actually, it took me a good 15mins to ask somebody what they found and how much they took out .. in my case, I guess I was relieved to have woken up as my first words were, "THANK GOODNESS I WOKE UP!" .... then they had me repeat the vowels and then I fell back asleep and rewoke in the recovery room and it was then I asked the outcome.

Cheryl

[worried]

Just went thru this- 6.3 cm complex & multi, FNA said okay but I choose surgery. Was going to take 3/4- Woke up to it ALL gone. Found cancer in cross section. Honestly, I am relieved, wouldn't want to go thru life always wondering if they got all the cancer, if it will come back to that side, etc. PLUS, even if they don't find it in the cross section, they send it off and might find it then. If that is the case, guess what... get to do surgery all over again :-( In my case they only found a bit in cross section but then when they sent it out they found a bunch.