Anna Vs. Her Thyroid, Round 2

[annathepiper]

Those of you who have been on my Friends list since before last summer may recollect that I had to have thyroid surgery last August--just after last year's Writer's Weekend, in fact. The short form of the story was that my thyroid had wigged out and made five, count 'em, five nodes in my neck. The biggest one was about 6cm in diameter, and when we had it biopsied, Swedish Medical Center said "intermediate possibility of cancer".

My doctor said, "Er, let's have that out then," and I went in and had half of my thyroid removed, along with the nearly baseball-sized lump. That left three little ones on the left side, with the remaining half of the gland.

Today I went in for a followup appointment with my endocrinologist, to discuss the results of a recent followup ultrasound we had done. Turns out that one of the three remaining nodes, all of which had been under 1cm at the time of my surgery, has now doubled in size and is up to 2.1cm or so. This seems to be a matter of my thyroid freaking out when half of it was removed, going, "AAAAH CAN'T! MAKE! ENOUGH! HORMONE!", and then deciding that the solution to this problem is to make bigger nodes.

So we're going to have the new big one biopsied. We'll have to see what happens next--but I really wanted to make it through this summer without any further medical adventures. >:|

Comments

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Eeesh. Hopefully it's nothing major.

[annathepiper]

Based on what's gone on with my previous thyroid history, this seems like more of the same--but we'll see once we get this biopsied and whether Swedish says the same thing about this node that they said about the last one.

The only real major annoyance involved with this would be the expense--Dara and I have only just recently climbed out from under all the medical expenses from the first round of thyroid foo. What with the hits our rental income is taking this summer, this ain't exactly going to be convenient.

Of course, surgery never IS, but hey!

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

ScheiBe.

*hugs as needed*

[annathepiper]

*snugs* Thanks. So far it's only at the 'let's have this biopsied' stage, but considering how the last biopsy went, I'm just a trifle nervous about the whole thing. Bleah.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

bleh indeed *hugs you*

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thanks. Sigh.

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Oh dear - positive vibes headed your way!

[annathepiper]

Thanks--the surgery last summer went okay, but I'd rather not go through another one!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, yarg. *hugs* Good luck with it all.

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thanks, hon--hopefully it'll go smoothly and this node'll stabilize and I won't have to have my neck cut open again. Yarg, indeed.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

{{{hugs}}} Good luck.

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thanks, hon!

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

The thyroid, prankster of the human body!

Hope you don't have to do anything at all about it.

[annathepiper]

Thanks--yeah, I'm hoping not as well, though I strongly suspect that it'll be a question of whether this node gets any bigger or whether we can stabilize it somehow. It's not as worrisome as the other big one was, but enough that the endoc is just a trifle concerned about it.

[caligogreywings.livejournal.com]

Erf. I sympathize. I'm lucky mine's just a lazy bastard, and not trying to put softball sized foreign objects on itself. Good luck.

[annathepiper]

Thanks! Yeah, I know you're absolutely in a position to understand the annoyance of funky thyroids. Did I induct you into the Funky Thyroid Sisterhood yet?

[caligogreywings.livejournal.com]

Heh! No, I don't think you have!

Yeah, I was a bad girl in december and didn't take my meds for a month. and then not too long ago, I missed two weeks. My thyroid didn't like that.

[annathepiper]

Erk. I hope it didn't mess you up too badly. O.o

But hey, consider yourself inducted! (Bonus points if you have a cat with a funky thyroid!)

[caligogreywings.livejournal.com]

My thyroid hormone levels doubled, and it was close to shutting down.

And I haven't had her checked (because I don't have the money) but I actually think my cat may have thyroid problems. I described some of her issues to someone once and they suggested it.

[annathepiper]

*winces* STUPID THYROIDS! Sympathies, indeed.

And heh, then you'd have the full Sisterhood thing in common with me, as my cat does in fact have thyroid issues! I have to get her more meds for it once we have extra bucks again.

[caligogreywings.livejournal.com]

I'd notice a while back that she had a hitch in her breathing, and she's a fatty. Person I talked to had a cat with the problem, he said the hitch could actually be a slightly too large thyroid. It'd make sense, but she seems fine, so I haven't worried about it.

[annathepiper]

As long as the kitty is happy, hey. :) Polly seems pretty happy as long as I keep giving her the cosequin for her joints--which bugs her a lot more than any thyroid issues she might have, I think.

But she's been losing weight noticeably lately, so I can't let this go too much longer. I'll need to get her more meds soon.

[annathepiper]

Thank you! So do I.

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

agh. *hugs* best wishes!

I know entirely too many people going through health woes right now -- shall keep my fingers crossed that all goes well for you so we can BREAK THIS DAMN PATTERN, for the good of all. :)

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much--I can use all the good karma I can get to make this not be a problem. Ideally this new node could stabilize and I wouldn't have to have anything else done. At the very least I'd like to see it grow very slowly so I don't have to have surgery again this summer, just to let Dara and I get some rental income again as of September so surgery won't be so very financially ANNOYING!

(Not that surgery ever isn't financially annoying, but hey, some times are worse than others, and it could be worse. I could have having BRAIN SURGERY, for example...)

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Oh, hugs. Hope it's nothing serious. Stoopid thyroid.

[annathepiper]

As long as it's "not cancer" and possibly "something that lets me put off surgery till our finances don't suck so hard", that'll do. If this node is behaving the same way the big one did, though, I expect another surgery in my not-too-distant future. Sigh. Stupid thyroid, indeed.

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

Jaysus. That sucks. Here are some vibes to help you through this:

{{{ HUGS }}}

{{{ HEALING }}}

Good thoughts are headed your way.

EK

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much! *hugs* Going to need those vibes.

Anna-vs-thyroid

[(Anonymous)]

I hope all turns out well..what's the cause of all your thyroid troubles?..Scott

Re: Anna-vs-thyroid

[annathepiper]

Thank you!

As for what's causing my thyroid troubles, uh.... my thyroid? Thyroids just apparently sometimes get screwed up this way; I'm told it's not at all uncommon among women. I'm also not the only person in my family with a history of thyroid problems. My cousin Laura also had to have a thyroidectomy.

Now, what actually causes the thyroid to go wrong, I don't know. I wondered about that once on the LexFA list, not long ago, after starfallz announced that she had to have her surgery. But I didn't have an answer then, either.

Re: Anna-vs-thyroid

[(Anonymous)]

It does seem to be a Girl Thing..of the four people I know with thyroid problems,all are female...but that's a small sample to go by.
I've heard long term exposure to some petrochemicals can cause thyroid and liver problems.I had some sort of liver enzyme go out of sync a few years ago(I turned a light Simpsons Yellow),and one of the questions the doctor asked was what sort of petroleum products was I around..at the time,quite a variety-he said some had been linked to liver and thyroid problems....the liver condition is not really anything to be concerned about(probably genetic),so long as I don't start drinking,and avoid some medications..I'm not on any at all now. The so-called "safe" alternative to lead in gasoline is supposedly wicked stuff...IIRC, it had been linked to thyroid problems,among others..Scott

Re: Anna-vs-thyroid

[annathepiper]

Actually, I don't think thyroid issues are specifically linked to women--it's just that they are a lot more common among women than men. Of the various folks that told me about friends or loved ones with thyroid issues, men did occasionally come up (e.g., firni's grandfather).

I doubt exposure to any given thing caused my thyroid issues; I'm rather more inclined to believe that it's genetic. As I mentioned, I have a cousin who's also had thyroid issues. My mother also had a serious brain tumor which eventually killed her--so my family has a history of organs and glands just getting screwed up. It's the family history of cancer, as well as the biopsy results which said "intermediate possibility of cancer", which led to the decision to go ahead and have half of my thyroid out last time.

Re: Anna-vs-thyroid

[(Anonymous)]

I *think* I've done fairly well in the genetics department..no real unpleasant inherited stuff-ancestors who lived into their 90s or early 100s are common...both my Dad and one uncle were dusted by several above-ground atomic-bomb tests in the '50's(all got a "nuclear sunburn" from the blasts,the uncle got "beta burns" from very radioactive particles touching skin)..my Dad died of a heart attack in the '70's,unrelated,I suppose,to the tests,but the uncle has just turned 76 with no ill effects..I think I inherited good chemical/radiological resistance..Scott

Re: Anna-vs-thyroid

[annathepiper]

I would expect it would be difficult to make a judgement call on how good your radiological resistance is without exposing you to radiation.

But then, I wouldn't recommend that you go stand under any exploding nuclear warheads just to test that out.

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

GAaaaah. Biopsies suck. And they should put you on Synthroid after this fiasco plays out.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I was wondering if I'm going to have to start going on the stuff to make my stupid thyroid stabilize. Guess we'll see what happens after this biopsy gets done, and what my endoc has to say about it.

[kissare.livejournal.com]

Aw, Anna! Bummer! Sorry to hear that. :( I hope it's nothing that can't wait a bit, so you don't have to do surgery again so soon. Stupid thyroids!

[annathepiper]

If I have to have any surgery, "after October" might be nice, since that's when my contract expires. At least that way I won't miss any work.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Gads, good luck!
Cathy

[annathepiper]

Thank you! Going to need it.