Hi, I'm a Brit living in Chicago and on my annual health check my Dr felt my thyroid was enlarged, so sent me off for an ultrasound, my TSH came back within the normal ranges, but my ultrasound showed a nodule on the right side being lager than 2cm, so I was referred for a fine needle biopsy with a surgeon, this I had and normally the results would come back as benign or cancerous, however some peoples results come back in neither of those categories - which is where I am, in these cases there is still a 5-15% chance of the nodule being cancerous.
My options - to have the nodule removed for further inspection to rule out or confirm cancer or to leave it 3-6 months and have it retested
I'm in a dilemma as too what to do - just wondered if anyone else had been through this and has any advice for me
I am seeing my dr on Monday and I am going to ask him to do blood tests for T3, T4 and TPO - Should I ask for any others?
Also my paternal grandmother died of Thyroid cancer when she was 49 (that generation that never went to the dr's) and my dad has an underactive thyroid and it on medication for it
I'm also debating whether I should come home to be treated for this too
thanks for reading
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LittlePud
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It's not uncommon to get an inconclusive FNA result. Some members have had 2 x repeat FNAs still come back inconclusive and the tumour was benign after hemilobectomy.
Thyroid cancer grows very slowly so delaying surgery for six months to have repeat FNAs isn't likely to be a problem.
Ask your doctor to test for thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) too. Some patients have negative TPOab but positive TgAb.
thank you so much for your advice, this is great to know
Please don't worry too much. in the UK my GP also found a lump and I went for an ultrasound I didn't have a FNA but when I moved to France a year later I saw a GP who sent me straight to hospital to see a Thyroid surgeon. He removed my Thyroid they do that here.
I had a 4cm right hand nodule and one fifth of it was papillary cancer. I am fine now.
I also have a family who nearly all have thryoid problems. Good Luck.
I had a very large nodule which made me hyperthyroid and 2 smaller nodules. the large was was shrunk with radioactive treatment. This eventually led to me now being hypothyroid. I still have a very small one and another one that is 2.4cm. it started to grow slightly and I had fine needle aspiration twice but could not draw any conclusion. they wanted to remove the nodule with surgery but i did not want that and I asked to wait a further 6 months and when I went back it was just the same and we decided to leave it for a year - I go back in January. it does not bother me and as another reader has said they grow very slowly. there is a history of hypothyroidism in my family as well but no one has ever had cancer. do some research and look at healthy diets and supplements - that is what I did and it has not grown any bigger. good luck
thanks for your reply - you've made me feel so much better about my nodule (it's 2.4cm and doesn't bother me)
My dad has hypothyroidism and his mum died of thyroid cancer when she was 49 (I'm 43) but my dad said in those days (early 70's) you never went to the Dr's so he thinks she just left it too late and the treatments are better these days too
I do eat a very healthy diet, no diary, grains, wheat etc, but I do drink a lot of homemade almonds and I have since read almonds are a food to avoid with thyroid issues
I am currently on 1 3/4 grains of thiroyd but my tsh has reached 6 on it and I have stillnot lost any weight. am a more tired as well. I am trying to source nature thyroid to see if that helps or was thinking of trying armour if I can get some
I don't think I do - I'm not excessively cold and I'm not tired all the time, but I have been back to the Dr's to have the T3, T4 etc tests, however I will check out the symptoms - thank you
I have just received my blood tests results (they are quick here in the US) and my TSH, free T3, free T4 are all normal yay
however my TPO was 138.9 (normal 0.0 - 34.0) which is positive for autoimmune thyroiditis - which increases the risk for thyroid dysfunction in the future, so now I will look on here and see what it is and what I can do to get these levels down, my Dr sent me an email, he doesn't seem concerned about it just said we'd need to check my levels annually
Hi I have a nodule on RHS my of thyroid which came back inconclusive and 10% risk of cancer. No cancer on family history but gran underactive thyroid since age 30yrs.
I'm wondering what you have decided to do following your last post - did you opt for removal or monitoring?
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