FNA, I had my biopsy almost three weeks ago, I have only now gotten my voice back to sound normal again, they could not get the regular fine needle into the nodule/goiter because it was to hard, so they had to lidocaine me up again and use a bigger needle, he said it was so hard, it did feel like a shooter marble. He at last was able to get fluid or whatever out of it, and he said it didn't look like cancer. I have not received a letter saying I need to come in as I already have an appointment on Monday. He said I had thyroiditis, when I asked him what that meant the jerk said you have been reading you should know. I brought papers with me, info about NDT, told him my mother is dying of cancer and sent me her thyroid pills. My father died of brain cancer, so I was a bit worried, he is in Brentwood and is Dr k, if you need a nice doctor do not go to him. He was an arrogant pig. Have you heard of losing your voice after a FNA? Then after that two days later they said I had a vitriol throat infection and then I got a bladder infection and an accessed tooth the flu and it was almost impossible to speak because I had to use my chest muscles to push out the sound. So what do you think about that?? I didn't think I would lose my voice. Help girls, then all the other stuff, guess my body freeked. X
Fine needle aspiration: FNA, I had my biopsy... - Thyroid UK
Fine needle aspiration
Rita, The FNA will bruise and probably make your thyroid gland swell a little but isn't it more likely the throat infection made you lose your voice? Sounds like you've had a rough time with the procedure and the infections and I hope you're feeling better now.
Thyroiditis means autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's).
I hope you get the result on Monday and it is benign.
Thanks Clutter. Yes it has been a heck of a time. My throat didn't hurt or anything tho. And since huge needle aspiration, I feel I never have any saliva and have to have a bottle of water at hand constantly. Maybe that will fade too.i am not worried that it is cancer. But now I am done with them, I will get those blood tests from that place and see how I am. Been on NDT for ages now and it works great. They will probably flip when they look at my bloods but for ten years they did nothing, now I am back at my fighting weight and boy that can make a girl happy to fit into clothes that were doomed to oxfam. X x
Hi Rita,
I too had a bad experience with FNA to biopsy a calcified nodule on the right thyroid gland in January 2013. The doctor you saw probably didn't know what he was doing because calcified nodules have a high risk of being cancerous. Mine was! What else did he do? You should have your bloods taken for the presence of thyroblogulin and other markers for under active thyroid, such as Hashimoto's, plus an endoscope (I cannot remember the exact name for it) fed down through your nose to look at your thyroid. You will also need an ultrasound of your neck to look for nodules and such like.
As regards your FNA treatment you were lucky! My procedure was undertaken by the registrar in the ENT department of a south Yorkshire hospital and he was cocky to say the least. He would not give me a local aneasthetic because, in his words "He was giving me an injection anyway and that would hurt", and when I told him the risks of it being cancerous he said, "That is what we are going to find out". I explained that I had done my research and what he had to do and that I wasn't prepared to wait weeks for an ultrasound scan when I'd had a CT scan that had found the calcified nodule in the first place. I told him what to do and explained to him that I was a Science Teacher and knew my facts and that calcified nodules had a 65% chance of being cancerous. He didn't like it but I made sure the ball was in my court and that I got treated swiftly.
Anyway, how would he know if your calcified nodule was cancerous? Is he a pathologist? Is he able to see cancer cells with the naked eye? I saw what was extracted from my nodule and it was a bit of fluid with streaks of blood in it, I certainly couldn't tell if it was cancerous without mounting the fluid onto a slide and looking at it under a microscope. I think he was trying to ease your worries so that he had an easy time treating you.
You mention that your mum has cancer, what cancer is it? You also mention that she is taking thyroid medication, do you know what it is and whether this is because of her cancer? If you think you might need to some info before tomorrow then please PM me and I'll do my best to reply by tonight. I'm just heading out to meet my brother but I will check my messages this evening.
Take care and good luck x.
I too have read that hard nodules had a higher rate of cancer. I am going to wait till tomorrow and then they will say it is or isn't. I know what you mean tho, they know nothing and care less. I will let you know tomorrow. Really I self medicate with NDT, and he won't like that but my mother has cancer all over her face, my father recently died of brain cancer. I do not talk to my mother but she looks like a monster, I saw a photo, also her para thyroid is dodgy, she is in her eighths and since my father died she just wants to die. She has some other disease like cancer of the bones , I can't be sure but defrost cancer ridden. Thank you for your response Rita x. X
Oh Rita,
I'm really sorry that you and your family are really going through it at the moment. I'm not sure how I can help you but you are welcome to keep messaging me. It just helps to have someone to tell your woes to, especially someone that's not family because sometimes they don't want to face up to things. I cannot talk to my family about my cancer because they'd rather not know and worry so much. But, I prefer to know as much information as possible so that I can manage my health and not rely on medics that don't know as much as me telling me how I am. After all, I'm the one walking the thyroid cancer journey!!!
Good luck tomorrow and I look forward to hearing from you.
TT xx.
Me too throidthora, agree completely, see my post re same issue
I'm concerned, perhaps a second opinion? My endo had problems getting the needle in, it was due to calcification, a sign of possible cancer. I told him to jam it in there, turned out to be cancer, hoarse voice was because cancer had spread to my vocal chords, saw my prior endo 4 years before I got the second opinion, Cancer had mets, stage 4, don't stop until you feel comfortable with the answers you get, wish I had trusted myself. Not trying to scare you.
Oh dear, you've had a rough ride too!
When the registrar did my FNA, without aneasthetic, it was the worst pain I'd ever experienced. The "It's a little scratch" comment they make is an absolute farce and every time they say that to me when they take bloods I feel like giving them a punch in the face and saying, "That's just a tickle". My nodule was so hard that they couldn't even biopsy it during surgery so they only removed the right thyroid gland that contained the cancer. Still having the left lobe causes me some concern cos I know that it could return at any time, and quite possibly return as anaplastic cancer and kill me within a year.
Which thyroid cancer did you have? Are you on the mend now?
TT xx.
I have Papillary. I am much better but they couldn't get it all. They shaved it off my recurrent laryngeal nerve and 22 lymph nodes were malignant, I had RAI but am now radio resistant, so we'll see. .. did u have Anaplastic??
What a terrible time you ve both been having. I know how confusing it is having these FNA s for a hard, "cold" nodule. I had one a year or so ago, after being fast tracked, that proved inconclusive. ( It was painful afterwards.) There was a swollen gland above it too, and it was very suspicious for cancer. They left me for months after that and then an appointment with a different doctor really freaked me out. He said I`d better have my thyroid removed as it all looked sinister and you couldn't trust these FNA results. I said well give me another FNA first, and they did. It turned out to be a T3, possible follicular thyroid cancer. OR a follicular adenoma. So they removed half of my thyroid gland and it was a benign hurthle cell tumour. So really the lobe does often need to come out to be sure of an exact diagnosis. That's what I learned in the whole sorry anxious affair! Good luck!
I have decided maybe to go back but mostly not. I read you will die with this type do cancer not because of it. I self medicate, he sai I was hyper, but I feel fine, might cut down half a pill but I fell like I did when I was younger. I am almost 60 who the heck want to live to be old a suffering. I have no children, husband left, so when I feel my time is near I will go back to the USA get my brother to build a granny flat a die with his family. And hey I would have no income so I guess Obama care would see me or not. I don't care anymore. I have been treated like dog poo on your shoe by NHS. I am going to do the RSO. Rick Simpson oil treatment to get rid of cancer and the calcified goiter and will let you know. I lost weight on NDT, he gave me 5mg of carbinaxol, I am not taking it. Get fat again, itch, be nauseous 24/7 no way. What ever years I have left I am gonna boogie away, after this bleeding cold goes. No surgeon in the UK will go near me with a knife. When most are not even cancer. I know the facts and I have made my choice. My tests were inconclusive and they set up appointments for all kinds of stuff, and a surgeon ....... I do not feel hyper tho my THS is suppressed, but you girls know,that some of us have to be to feel well. I am not going back to,those horrible days of scratching and sickness and being a fat cow!!!!!! So they might cut it out and it isn't cancer then I am at the mercy of the stupid doc' stat will never give you enough mess to make you well. Hell no!!!! But that you for telling me all the things you have I am well armed. He would not even let me have my reading, I told him I spent 1.500 hours studying the human body and was not a dummie, then he turned the screen around and let me copy the reading. Bit hyper, but I know what to do. X
I went and he said it was inconclusive. I do self medicate and he said I was hyper, he would not let me have my papers but I copied the numbers off the screen,
Ths 0.01. 0.35-5-5
T4 18.3. 10-19.8
T3 6.3. 3.55 5.44
They could not get enough cells and he has given me carbinozol something like,that and want me to see a surgeon as they only way to tell is for it to be removed. But perhaps I might be suppressed but I feel good, lost weight, and I do not want to go hypo again as I would rather be dead than live the life of suffering I have for so many years. So maybe I should reduce my NDT by half a pill, but I know he says the only way to tell is surgery. And that is not gonna happen and then be on thyroxin for the rest of my life. One dr said I had thyroiditus which Clutter says in hashi's. I really cannot go thru the stress of this, now that he has pressed on my throat it is very sore. I am sick to death of all this. To go thru what I have and it is inconclusive. To me that means he want to cut it out. Not gonna happen. I am American living in the UK for twenty years, they had plenty of time to catch all this the the incompetent doc's wait till they wanna cut you open. I know that some people have to be suppressed to feel well. Help x please. I have appoints with bloods and medicine and surgeons. It,s all too complicated
Hi Rita,
How are you feeling since your consultancy with the specialist? Have you thought anymore about surgery? I know the NHS is not the best and I can empathise with your concerns because my thyroid cancer went undiagnosed for many years because my GP was insistant that I only had diabetes, and yet, I kept saying I think it's something worse causing the diabetes because I'm not a typical type 2 diabetic. It was only after I insisted that the pain in my left side was investigated that a CT scan found a calcified nodule on my right thyroid lobe that turned out to be follicular variant of papillary thyroid cancer.
As regards the US being better than the NHS, I'm not sure. I've a pen pal on the Inspire thyca website who was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer at the same time as me. Plus, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's at the same time. It transpires that she was ill for about 12 years before she finally got her diagnosis and she was fobbed off by various doctors. Nobody believed she was ill and they said it was all in her head.
The thyca road is a horrid road to walk but try to keep your pecker up. If you need someone to rant at you're welcome to PM me.
Take care,
TT xx.
Thanks honey, I have decided not to go back. American reports that you will die WITH this type of cancer not of it. So until I feel very unwell I might go back but, they are not cutting me open for it not to be cancer and I would lose my income as I could not work for awhile. I live on my own and am a hairdresser, I had a friend they cut her open and after that she was never the same then she got cancer and then brain cancer. I know the odds and I will be better off as I am. The biospy was so invasive I am not having another one it knocked me off my feet for two weeks, and once they tell you that you have cancer seems like you go down hill. Thanks for your kindness honey. The doc would not even talk to my face he would only talk to my husband who doesn't even live with me. I am almost over the biospy, and I don't want to do it again. Time will tell and I pray allot and take my vits and am actually feeling better than I have in years. This week anyway ha ha. Thank you again honey. X x
You're welcome.
I know exactly what you mean because I lost my job following surgery to remove my thyroid cancer. I was rushed into it, probably because of government rules and statistics, and my health has never recovered. I was told by my surgeon that they couldn't be sure it was a malignant cancer until biopsy during surgery but, even so, he expected the left thyroid lobe to take up the slack and I wouldn't need any medication. Nearly 2 years on the meds don't work, I don't have a job and I'm not getting better. I now know that the cancer could have remained inside me for more years, my surgeon said I'd had it 4 years and more than likely longer, and if I'd known then what I know now then it wouldn't have been no hard shakes to keep it. The reason is that the cancer I had tends to return when the person is in their 60's as a more aggressive cancer called anaplastic and it kills within a year. My surgeon said that my prognosis was 10 years the time when anaplastic is likely to surface. So, my thoughts are live your life while you can and try not to worry about it.
TT xx.
I so agree, I am 59 and was a ballerina then a stripper (lol) then a ballet teacher and the body does not forget that. So I so agree. Now each day is gonna be a good one to hell with the endos, I take NDT and it changed my life. I have a waist again!!!! Disease will deffo change your life and I am gonna have some fun now. I have two kinds but prefer thyroid-s and you can get it at the same place you get kindle books to read!!!! Thank you so much, I cannot afford to lose any time or money since my husband slung his hook. The stress was killing me or making me want to kill myself. Better off with out him tho it is difficult. You mail has really really helped me. Thank you ever so much love ha!!!! X x x
I so agree, I am 59 and was a ballerina then a stripper (lol) then a ballet teacher and the body does not forget that. So I so agree. Now each day is gonna be a good one to hell with the endos, I take NDT and it changed my life. I have a waist again!!!! Disease will deffo change your life and I am gonna have some fun now. I have two kinds but prefer thyroid-s and you can get it at the same place you get kindle books to read!!!! Thank you so much, I cannot afford to lose any time or money since my husband slung his hook. The stress was killing me or making me want to kill myself. Better off with out him tho it is difficult. You mail has really really helped me. Thank you ever so much love ha!!!! X x x
You're welcome, Rita. I'm glad I was of help, now you've just got to keep your TSH suppressed to 1 or slightly below to prevent the cancer (if you have thyroid cancer) from growing further. You also need to keep your weight in check because insulin resistance can make the cancer grow too. Insulin is a natural growth hormone and the cancer cells can feed off it.
If you want to PM at any time do so as your messages have cheered me up today and I do like helping people. MacMillan asked me to set up a thyroid cancer support group but I'm not really well enough at the moment, maybe one day I will.
Bye for now,
TT xx
My weight is good now, back to my fighting weight. Wish I hadn't thrown out all those clothes, but hey good reason to buy more, even cuter one. Thank you again. I am here for you as well honey. X x x x x x x
I'm so pleased for you Rita and yes, it's a good excuse to hit those sales and get yourself some party clothes and lovely winter woolies.
Thanks for being there for me too!
TT xx.
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