# Thyroid Follicular Carcinoma: - A look Back after getting WBS results



## Icu2020 (Feb 13, 2015)

1yr WBS scan and Ultrasound: Result clean, no sign of spread! May 2016

WBS result came back clean - no evidence of cancer spread!

My perspective for those new to thyroid cancer and the treatment protocol that follows:
• Thyca - Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association: Great site for information about your condition, treatment, etc. ~17,600 member that you can reach out to with questions.
• A Watch-out, and this is true with about any of the health-related forums. You will tend to see more information on the web for when things don't go so well; that is, from people having issues, side-effects, complications, etc. Please do not get discourage or assume this will be true in your case. Just try to find comfort that, in the unlikely event you do have issues, you will get a lot of support to help you navigate through whatever barriers get in your way.
• You will get through this and be stronger than ever!: The odds are extremely high that this will be true for you. In the last 10 years , there are over 600,000 thyca cases in North America alone. The vast majority of these individuals will follow the protocol and move on - well over 90%. You will not find most of them on the web forums.
• My case summary:
o December 2014 - thyroid nodule found by luck. Caused for worry for sure.
o January 2015 - FNA inconclusive - Caused more worry
o February 2015- Diagnostic Lobectomy initially showed benign - excited, relieved, etc. No complications, out of work for three days, felt very well
o February 2015 - Two weeks later I get the bad news, "it's cancer". Worry for sure, took a few days to process, felt much better after getting a plan in place and understanding the treatment protocol
o March - Completion Thyroidectomy, again no complications, missed three days of work, felt very well. Did well on the hormone replacement - felt as good or better, than pre-diagnosis. At this point I'm feeling much better, less worry for sure, all going as planned.
o May- LID: For me this was the most unpleasant part of the treatment protocol - but it's just for 2.5 weeks , not all that bad. Keep in mind I did Thyrogen shots - not hormone withdraw
o June- Thyrogen shots: no side effects, much better than hormone withdraw if your insurance will cover the cost.
o June- RAI: no issues, no side effects
o June- WBS: no spread evident, good take-up in the thyroid bed for the tissue that remained after surgery.
o Monitoring Phase - now I monitor through blood test on Tg and future WBS.
• Was it a battle? When I consider how this compares to other life experiences, no, a battle is not how I would describe it. Distraction? yes, Inconvenient? Yes, Cause for worry? Yes, Time to pause & reflect? Yes, Time to make a change- eat better & exercise more? Yes. This experience did not make my top 10 list for challenges faced in my life. I'm thankful every day that my treatment experience has been very uneventful. Likely yours will go the same! I'll be cheering for you!

June 10, 2015 Update:
10 weeks since Completion Thyroidectomy
Doing very well on Synthroid 150 mcg - energy level, workout routine, sleeping habits, etc all back to normal or better.
Two month blood levels - Endo says results "near perfect" - increase dosage slightly to 7.5 tabets/week (i.e., one day at 225 mcg/wk)
Other changes Noticed:
Blood pressures with Thyroid consistently 120/80. Since removal and Synthroid 100/70 (three data points)
Cholesterol: Historically been on high side ~230 (HDL <40). Blood work last week showed 200 (HDL 46). Could be more linked to diet and exercise, then from thyroid hormone level, but I'll continue to monitor.
Weight changes: No issues with weight gain ... I have actually lost 8lbs on the LID diet
LID: 2.5 weeks - not much fun at all! Thank you to all for the Trader Joe suggestions! I'll stay on the diet for a couple more days of RAI.
Thyrogen Injections: First one on Monday morning, second one same time Tuesday morning. No side effects noticed (no headaches, no nausea)
RAI day 1: 75 mCi dosage at 9am. No nausea and no pain anywhere yet. Told to be isolated for two days, I'll opt for three days. My children are all grown, so not as much of a concern. Drinking plenty of fluids. Told to hold off on sour candy for 24 hours. I'll update this section as RAI period progresses.
WBS: Scheduled for 1 week out, June 17

April 1 Update: Completion Thyroidectomy - Yesterday at 11am I went back in to have the rest of my thyroid removed (right lobe this time). The procedure took about 45 minutes. I woke up with some pain on the right side of my neck, but really not bad at all. Voice was good and overall mobility in the neck was good. No trouble swallowing food. I had a drain tube installed and experienced very little swelling. Drain tube was removed at 6pm and I was released to be driven home. I like my surgeon, 2 for 2. I'm just glad there are only two lobes to take out .. I would rather not push my luck doing this a third time . Overall I felt good today - I actually did taxes LOL.

Meds: I was given a couple of hydroco/acetamin to keep the pain down (every 6 hrs). I dropped down to one this morning and one at 5pm. No pain at the moment, but I'll take one more tonight and switch to acetaminophen, if needed, tomorrow. I was also given a few days worth of antibiotics (2 per day) and some Tums to make sure my calcium levels are solid (4 tums/day). I'll have my blood drawn on Friday to check Calcium levels.

I was put on Synthroid 150 mcg to start; I'm at 245lb or 111 kg, so I thought he would start me of at 175 instead. I'll see my endo for the first time on April 27, so I'll see how I feel at that point and check my blood levels.

RAI: Not scheduled yet. I've been doing a lot of reading on this site about the standard of going off Synthroid for 6 weeks prior to RAI, but is there a reason, other that cost, that a person would go hypothyroid instead of going with the Thyrogen shots? Are the shots not as effective?

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Feb 24 Update (2 weeks since lobectomy procedure):
Day 14 - back to full work out routine; 20-30 cardio and 45-60 weights, 5-6 days/wk). No pain, no stiffness, no mobility issues. Started low dose of Synthroid 75mcg. Back to normal routine until the end of March when I repeat the surgery on the right side (completion thyroidectomy).

Feb 21 Update:
Overall lobectomy recovery is going well: I started light workouts on Day 4 (stationary bike, treadmill), Day 11 - back to normal workout routine (cardio and weights) minus heavy lifting. No pain, no stiffness, no mobility issues. Also, I never experienced any issues with my voice or swallowing food during recovery.

Now the bad news:
Final Pathology Report Received 2/19/15, Follicular carcinoma, 2.8cm tumor, Unifocal, Totally encapsulated, Capsular invasion minimal, Margins uninvolved. Additional findings: lymphocytic thyroiditis
Completion thyroidectomy scheduled for Mar 2015
RAI timing TBD
More updates to come.

Feb 13, 2015 Update:
Background: About a month ago I went in to see an ENT specialist to investigate a weird popping sensation that would occur when swallowing food. This was higher in the neck area and on the right side. After not finding much to explain the reason why, I went ahead and scheduled a CT scan of the neck area. The CT result did not show anything related to my original issue, but it did find ~4.5cm nodule in the left thyroid lobe.

FNA: A few weeks ago, I had a needle biopsy done that was inconclusive. Because of the size of the nodule I agreed to go the next step and do a diagnostic lobectomy. In my case the plan was to remove the left thyroid lobe and nodule.

Left-side Thyroid Lobectomy: On Tuesday morning of this week (11am) I had the procedure done. The procedure took about an hour. I came out of anesthesia at about 90 minutes. I stayed in the surgical center over night for observations. I did have a drain tube installed until I left for home on Wednesday morning a 6am. Pain meds for the first two days (hydroco/acetamin); pain was never bad and I had fairly good mobility in the neck region. I also have an antibiotic that I take 2x day; this will be the last that I take these.

Second preliminary biopsy: the biopsy that was done while I was on the table also showed benign. I will have to wait for a few days to get the full results from the lab to confirm this.

Overall; No issues and I was pleased with the care I received. My surgeon was experienced with doing this procedure and does about 2-4 per week in the KC metro area.
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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Welcome to the board!

I am so sorry that you are going through this but what good fortune that you had a popping that alerted you and that you personally followed through w/the CT scan!

Good for you! Seriously! One day you will sit back and be amazed at your stroke of luck!!

We have many here who have gone through similar and I know that if they are not buried in Pandora's snow, they will respond to you.

Even though I personally did not have thyroid cancer, I wanted to welcome you and reassure you that even though this is something we all could do w/o, you will ultimately come out a winner! The prognosis is good with proper medical intervention!


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