i had my yearly check up with my gynecologist this week. things were fine- just routine stuff. he gave me sort of a "mini- physical". the doctor listened to my chest, blood pressure check,etc. and all was fine until he said, " well, now, let me check your thyroid." as his hands encircled my neck, i said, " oh, well, i had thyroid cancer, remember?, so i do not have a thyroid." and then he said those awful words. those words that make every thyroid cancer patient's ( well almost every) blood boil. " well, if you have to have cancer, that is the good one to have! easily treatable, high cure rate,etc." at this point, i sort of tuned him out. i wish that i had said more, but what i did say was, " well, i would not say that to someone who has anaplastic thyroid cancer." FYI, there are at least five different types of thyroid cancer, with anaplastic being the most serious. a person can have one, or a combo like i had.
i had stage three papillary, with an aggressive area of follicular variant. two of my parathyroids were also cancerous and had to be removed. i had 11 lymph nodes removed. because of the stage and aggressive nature of one of the types of thyroid cancer that i had, i have to still be monitored with blood tests, ultrasounds, and office visits every six months. and it will be 8 years on may 19th. it is a real challenge to keep my thyroid levels at the point where my TSH is suppressed enough to hopefully prevent a recurrence of the disease, while still maintaining a good quality of life.
i am a member of several thyroid cancer websites. i am constantly reading posts that state that someone has told a thyroid cancer patient they have the " good cancer". good and cancer do not belong in the same sentence, in my opinion. i used to say nothing when someone said this to me. i know people are trying to be nice, but i had hoped that this misconception about the " good cancer"was going away. the symptoms of a hypothyroid patient, with a thyroid that functions somewhat, are many. the thyroid is the " master gland" in the body and controls just about everything. being hypo after having the thyroid removed puts patients into a whole new level of hypo. thank goodness for thyroid hormone supplements, but they are no where near as good as the hormones produced by a happy, healthy thyroid gland.
and we should not forget that if you have had thyroid cancer, you are at about a 30% risk of having another primary cancer. i know all about that,too. that is why this is a 2Fer blog. so, although my gynecologist meant well, i believe, i expected more understanding from a health care professional. i do feel like thyroid cancer patients are very misunderstood. it is not a five year and you are done kind of cancer. thyroid cancer requires lifelong monitoring and testing. thyroid cancer is the fastest growing cancer now in the country. perhaps as more people have to deal with this, there will be more understanding of the challenges facing those with thyroid cancer. i sure hope so...
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