At the beginning of June, I met with my endocrinologist, armed with a copy of my blood work and a copy of the ultrasound . I really wasn't sure what to expect. I was a bit nervous. I'd looked over the blood work report, and everything was normal except for my thyroid antibodies, which were slightly elevated. I asked about that, because I'd read about elevated antibodies meaning that your body is starting to attack your thyroid, which is known as Hashimoto's Disease, the most common type of hypothyroidism in the US. My endo explained that while it was slightly elevated, and I may be developing Hashimoto's, it would most likely be a few years (like 10 or more) before my thyroid showed signs of failure.
He looked over the reports that I'd brought with me, felt the nodule, which was large enough to be obvious if it was pointed out (it wasn't a huge goiter or anything, but it was definitely visible). He agreed with the suggestion of the ultrasound to send me for a biopsy, so he wrote a script for a fine needle aspiration (or biopsy), and assured me that it was most likely benign, and that there wasn't much to worry about, and that most nodules (approximately 95%) are benign (non-cancerous).
I went home, made an appointment for the following Wednesday to have my FNA (fine needle aspiration) done, and began reading up on nodules, thyroid diseases, and especially thyroid cancer. For some reason, part of which I'm sure has to do with my pessimistic side, I had this niggling feeling that all was not going to come out "peachy".
Finally, the day of my FNA arrived. I went to work as usual, and then headed over to the hospital. I went into a small room with an ultrasound tech who would be assisting the dr by using ultrasound during the biopsy. She had me lie down with my head tilted back. Then the Dr came in who would be performing the biopsy. He explained that they would do three passes, and hopefully they'd get decent samples. They could do up to 6 passes (each pass is a separate needle used to get a sample). He then introduced me to the cytologist who would prepare each slide from each sample taken, then look to see if it was a viable sample. She was set up in the room as well with a cart containing the equipment needed to make the slides and a microscope to view the slides.
He then started the procedure. First he used a local anesthetic to numb my neck. Then he began with the first three passes. None of those were viable samples, so he had to do another. Of course, passes 4 and 5 also did not produce good samples. Finally, sample number 6 worked out, and so I was bandaged up, and told to sit up and rest there for a couple minutes. Then I was told I could leave.
*I drove myself to the hospital for the biopsy because I was told that I would be able to drive myself home. If you are able to find someone to go with you, I highly recommend it. My neck was sore and stiff, which made driving more difficult. I also developed a headache while driving home. Just something to think about if you ever have to go through an FNA.
June 10th, 2010 will be forever ingrained in my mind. I went to work as usual, and came home after lunch. At about 3PM, my cell phone rang. It was my endocrinologist. He told me he had some bad news. My biopsy showed that I had papillary thyroid carcinoma (cancer). He gave me the number for a surgeon, because I would need a total thyroidectomy (complete removal of my thyroid) due to the size of my nodule. He also wrote a script for a detailed neck ultrasound to look for any other tumors that may be growing, or to see if it has spread elsewhere in my neck (which came back clear, which was a very good sign).
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