"I'm going to die or need an oxygen tank." I tried not to panic, but I immediately thought of The Fault in Our Stars. ![]() Tests revealed that my surgeries had left behind some thyroid cells, and I also had a spot on my chest. As I watched the drip-drip-drip of the IV bag, I wondered if the doctors had gotten all of the cancer. The recovery wasn't terrible: I had a small slit in the center of my neck, it was a little irritating to swallow, and I only had to spend a few days in the hospital. I ended up having two surgeries, one to remove the 4-centimeter tumor and right side of my thyroid and a second procedure to remove the rest of the gland. No one knows why I got thyroid cancer at 33, though getting tons of x-rays as a teenager (I needed a spinal fusion to correct an aggressive case of scoliosis) might have had something to do with it. But this butterfly-shaped gland is actually pretty important, since it produces hormones that help regulate heart rate, body temperature, mood, metabolism, and a zillion other bodily functions. Like many young women, I routinely checked my breasts for lumps but never gave much thought to my thyroid. Up until I heard the word "cancer," the laryngoscopy was the worst part: The spray numbing agent wasn't foolproof, and it felt like a piece of wire feeding slowly into my nose, down my throat. She grabbed my hand and slid it over the suspicious mass it felt like a big, juicy grape.Ī series of tests-including blood work, an ultrasound, a CT, a fine-needle biopsy, and a laryngoscopy-confirmed that the lump really was cancer. I found out that I had cancer in 2014, when my internist felt a lump in my neck at a routine physical. ![]() But taking I-131 was hopefully the last step of treatment for thyroid cancer. I looked at him like he was a crazy person for expecting me to ingest what he was so cautiously avoiding. MORE: 10 Cancer Symptoms Most People Ignore
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