I kept saying to myself before the surgery (about 3 mos worth) "just get the surgery over with so I can deal with whatever is on my plate and move fwd!" .. the what if's of the not knowing was actually harder than dealing with healing from surgery and all that ensues.
BTW, mine were atypical for Follicular Cancer .. so much so that the pathologist said no need to FNA the 2nd nodule bcz I MUST HAVE at least 1/2 the thyroid removed, etc. AND THEY CAME BACK BENIGN .. they did, however, find two small areas of papillary cancer elsewhere in the gland that were small, fully encapsulated and no lymph node involvement.
I sometimes believe it was an omen to have the benign nodules found .. this way the cancer is gone, too.
C~
I didn't get a second opinion, because I trusted my PCP who referred me to a great endo and my endo referred me to a surgeon who was awesome. Normally a TT takes about 1 1/1 hrs. My surgeon was so meticulous, he took over 3 hrs to do mine. After surgery, I had a problem with hypocalcium. My surgeon came to visit me a few days after TT and told me he went over the surgery in his mind over and over trying to figure out what he could have done to cause the hypercalcium. Turns out, Graves patients are more prone to hypocalcium that other people with thyroid disorders. Besides he was rather easy on the eyes and gave me something to look forward to every morning the 6 days I was in the hospital.
I had RAI about 5 wks post TT. Was without thyroid meds for 3 wks and felt the "hypohell" for about the last 2 wks of that timeframe. The LID was a pain to be on, but knowing if I ate anything with iodine in it would hamper my thyca recovery, made it easier to stick to. Since RAI, my hair got extremely dry, no body and began to thin at a rapid rate. Thank God, I had a lot of hair. It's been a little over 3 months since RAI and my hair is finally starting to look better.
To me the worst part of this whole ordeal with my thyroid was the not knowing. Once I got my FNA results back (which in the back of my mind I felt it would come back suspicious...though I can't tell you why I felt that way...call it a premonition), it was like a huge boulder was lifted off my shoulders. Knowing what I had to deal with...thyca....was a lot easier than dealing with the unknown.
Just keep posting here and keep us up to date with what's going on and we will all help you through this. BTW....5 months post TT and my incision scar is barely noticable!!!
Thanks for you input. My endo read something about some cells in smears have nuclear grooves and said he didn't like that. The fact that is said "highly suspicious" is a reason to not play around I think. It basically said "atypical proliferation, highly suspicious for papillary carcinoma." I have an appt. with the surgeon on Monday. Did you get a second opinion? Did you have RAI afterward? Thanks for your support.
My FNA also came back as suspicious for papillary cancer. Because I had Graves Disease also, my endo and surgeon highly recommended that I have a TT, which I did on 13 Dec 06. My endo told me that there were grooves present in the nuclei of the thyroid cells which are indicative of thyca. Sure enough, after TT, one of my four cold nodules came back positive for thyca. However, there are people on this board that had a suspcious FNA and after surgery, they found out they did not have thyca.
Did you get a copy of you biopsy. If not, ask for a copy and let us here know what it says. In case you didn't know, it's very hard for a pathologist to determine 100% from a FNA if it's cancer. My endo told me that a lot a pathologists are reluctant to say it's cancer from a biopsy.
A lot of people opt for a TT with a suspicious FNA. If you choose the TT route, there are a lot of people here who have "been there, done that" and we are more that willing to help you through the process. So if you have any questions, ask away...We're here for ya!!
My FNA also came back as suspicious for papillary cancer. Because I had Graves Disease also, my endo and surgeon highly recommended that I have a TT, which I did on 13 Dec 06. My endo told me that there were grooves present in the nuclei of the thyroid cells which are indicative of thyca. Sure enough, after TT, one of my four cold nodules came back positive for thyca. However, there are people on this board that had a suspcious FNA and after surgery, they found out they did not have thyca.
Did you get a copy of you biopsy. If not, ask for a copy and let us here know what it says. In case you didn't know, it's very hard for a pathologist to determine 100% from a FNA if it's cancer. My endo told me that a lot a pathologists are reluctant to say it's cancer from a biopsy.
A lot of people opt for a TT with a suspicious FNA. If you choose the TT route, there are a lot of people here who have "been there, done that" and we are more that willing to help you through the process. So if you have any questions, ask away...We're here for ya!!