On April 27th, my ENT told me that my biopsy came back suspicious for cancer, and that I would be fine, but that I'd need surgery to remove the left half of the thyroid and then they would test the lobe they removed. If it came back as cancerous, they would remove the other half and I would need radioactive iodine treatment to ensure there would be no trace of the cancer in my body. So she scheduled me for surgery on June 9th with her, which was concerning to have something like this pushed out so far from the diagnosis date. This doctor was very vague in her explanation and not helpful at all. She seemed rude to be honest, like she was trying to get through my appointment so quickly even though my family and I had so many questions. My parents felt uncomfortable and suggested I get a second opinion, so I did.
The new doctors I began seeing were very efficient and thorough. They told me my biopsy was suspicious for papillary cancer, which my last doctor failed to mention, and they performed their own tests on the samples from my biopsy, so I didn't have to go through another one. Their result came back suspicious for papillary carcinoma, with a 65-85% chance of malignancy. The surgeon weighed my options with me and we decided to go through with a lobectomy instead of a total thyroidectomy. During surgery, they will remove the left side of my thyroid containing the nodule and a sample of my lymph nodes, then have a pathologist test on the spot right away, so that I may not have to have a second surgery to remove the other half of my thyroid and my lymph nodes if the cancer has spread; that way they can remove everything in one shot. In the meantime, I will be going through some standard tests like blood work, a chest x ray, and an EKG. My surgery is scheduled for the 24th of June and let me tell you, I am so ready to get this over with.
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