having half my thyroid removed on Tuesday after nodule came back as an FNA3

[ShellNPride]

I am going into hospital on Tuesday to have half my thyroid removed after a nodule came back two weeks ago as a FNA3 my doctor has said this means it is not cancerous but could turn that way and they will do a biopsy to see if their are any signs of it changing I feel fine in myself and my thyroid works perfectly fine, im only 33 years old...so really my question is is there anyone else out there that has been in a similar situation and is fine now? I am worried that it will be cancer or showing signs of being cancer or that I will get another nodule in the other half of my thyroid at some point in the future.

[Clutter]

Hi,

Many people on here have had FNA3 which when tested after removal proved to be benign. Mine wasn't so the other half was removed 3 months later but was benign, so happily, the cancer hadn't spread.

My surgery/ies were uncomplicated and minimally painful afterwards. I needed very little of the generous pain relief offered in hospital and none after 3 or 4 days.

Make sure you drink plenty of fluids after surgery to increase hydration and flush the general anaesthetic from your system. If you experience tingling/numbness in your hands and feet this may because your calcium has dropped temporarily. The hospital will monitor this prior to your discharge.

Your remaining lobe should be able to produce sufficient FT4 for conversion to FT3 so you probably won't be prescribed Levothyroxine unless blood tests indicate it's required.

Ask for your ferritin, vitaminD, B12 and folate to be tested after your surgery or at next TFTs as these need to be high in range in order to feel well. Nitrous oxide in GA can deplete you of B12. Make sure to get printouts of your results with lab reference ranges every time so you can monitor any fluctuations.

Good luck on Tuesday and I hope the result is benign.

[Need2loseweight]

Hi, my friend had the op 4 years ago..with her it was cancerous..she is fine now and really enjoying life...stay positive

[wysewoman]

Hello,

Clutter gave an excellent answer.

I had a Thy3a result which indicates a 15-20% chance of malignancy. I couldn't handle the not-knowing so decided on a hemithyroidectomy. Full biopsy revealed Papilliary Thyroid Cancer. I had the other half of my thyroid removed two weeks ago and getting the results for that this wednesday...

If you are in the UK I think these are the FNA guidelines most places follow: rcpath.org/Resources/RCPath...

Unfortunately, these differentiated Thyroid Cancers seem to quite like women in their 30s and 40s - although it does occur in a much wider age range than that. I am 41.

What size is your nodule?

All the best and try not to worry - The common thyroid cancers are very slow growing and have an excellent prognosis.

Melissa

[Grundy77 in reply to wysewoman]

I had the same diagnosis, I am 58 yr old male though. FNA was performed but gave a negative result. It was recommended to perform hemithyroidectomy. Turned out to be cancerous after all (follicular differentiated, 5 cm dia) so after 3 months the other side was removed as well where no tumor was found. Now waiting for further decisions (I am seeing the oncologist tomorrow). Not sure if radio iodine is de rigeur or an option. Also wondered in what time frame I should have blood tests done. I am not feeling great on the drugs (100 mcgT4, after starting on T3 which gave me bouts of atrial fibrillation).

Thanks for the link to the FNA guidelines which state that it can 'provide definite diagnosis of malignancy' and the prospect of cost effective triage. In my case this led to a waiting game in which I was pushed down the waiting list since my FNA was negative. The consultant knew there was a chance of this being a false negative, and it turned out to be.

"Thyroid cytology can provide a definite diagnosis of malignancy, with tumour type, enabling

appropriate therapeutic surgery in one stage. It can triage the remaining patients into those

who potentially require surgical as opposed to medical/endocrinological management. Since

the incidence of thyroid malignancy is relatively low, and only 1 in 20 clinically identified

nodules are malignant, 16 thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA) can help reduce the rate of

surgery for benign thyroid disease."

Note the frequent use of the word "can".

[tavy]

Good luck and best wishes.