Diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer

It all started with a lump in my throat. I'm speaking literally, not figuratively. It was a lump that felt sort of like I had swallowed an egg whole when I rubbed my throat. It seemed to just sort of show up one day. I went to my regular doctor and he said it was a goiter, nothing to worry about. They would run some tests. The results came back and they said it was nothing to worry about so I figured I would just live with it.

A few months later, I went to my OB-GYN for my yearly check-up. Right away he asked me about the goiter. Had I had it checked out? Did anyone run a scan or do a biopsy? Whoa. He was talking about pretty serious stuff. When I told him my regular doctor said it was nothing to worry about, he immediately said he was referring me to an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) doc in the same practice. THAT DAY. He said it was something that shouldn't wait any longer.

I went home that afternoon with the referral to the ENT in my hand wondering if he was just over-reacting. I waited a few days before I called the ENT and made an appointment. I was so sure it wasn't going to be a big deal that I took my preschooler to the appointment with me. Big mistake.

When the ENT took a look at the goiter, he right away said he would need to do a fine needle biopsy. He pulled out the biggest needed and syringe I have ever seen in my life! He swabbed my neck to clean it then swabbed it with something to numb it. In went the gigantic needle. It was surreal. I could see as he pulled back on the syringe that the fluid draining out was totally red. Even I knew that wasn't normal.

A few days later I got the call. The ENT said the fine needle biopsy showed abnormal cells so part of my thyroid would need to come out. He also assured me that it probably wasn't cancer and I would recover in no time.

He was only partly right. I did recover from that surgery quickly but the day before I was scheduled to go in to have my stitches removed, the ENT called me to say the biopsy they did in the surgery had come back. He said those words no one wants to hear: you have cancer.

So began my journey. My "new normal." Seven years later, I am still alive and kicking. But the journey has been a long one.