And it isn't the best. This week, I was just diagnosed with metastatic papillary thyroid cancer. I have not had any symptoms whatsoever, so it was actually an incredibly lucky coincidence that it was found. As many of you know, I am currently in my 4th year of medical school. I just started a new clinical rotation in the endocrinology department on Monday. One of the attending physicians was teaching another medical student and me how to do a thyroid exam and was using me to demonstrate when he found an enlarged supraclavicular lymph node. For those that don't know, enlarged supraclavicular lymph nodes are rarely good and shouldn't really be ignored. So, he did an ultrasound of the node and my thyroid later in the day and found that it was indeed a solid and cystic mass. He did three fine needle aspirations (biopsies) of it and the pathology came back as metastatic papillary thyroid cancer. I met with a very well-known surgeon today and am scheduled to have him remove my thyroid and neck lymph nodes on 9/27. A month after that, I will have a whole body scan to look for any remaining thyroid tissue and will have a treatment of iodine radiation to kill any more remaining thyroid cells. After that I will start daily thyroid replacement and hopefully that'll be the end of it.
The good news is that I am 24 (turn 25 on 9/29 - what a great birthday present/ huh?), so if I have to have a type of cancer, this is the one to have. There is a >95% chance that what I eventually die from will NOT be thyroid cancer.
Just wanted to let you guys know.
The good news is that I am 24 (turn 25 on 9/29 - what a great birthday present/ huh?), so if I have to have a type of cancer, this is the one to have. There is a >95% chance that what I eventually die from will NOT be thyroid cancer.
Just wanted to let you guys know.
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