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How will I die with Untreated Thyroid Cancer-Steps
I have a 4.8cm goiter on the right side of my thyroid along with a few others (1.9CM) . The FNA results were suspicious for Foculliure Neoplasm(sp?) . My doctor and another doctor says that my only option is to cut it out . Well, for me that is not an option. I do not have medical insurance and this has already put me in dept for $3200.00. I refuse to put my family in debt over this. My question is this. I have already started having headaches all the time, I get sick to my stomach, and this goiter just keeps growing. It has grown ½ inch in the last month which make me feel like someone is trying to strangle me but just not enough pressure to do the job. Will the goiter itself kill me or what? I just want to know how this will play out.
You have every right to do what you think is right. I think ultimately what you want to know is how it will affect you. It won't be easy...(these are the facts, nothing less)....you will slowly choke to death, it will get harder and harder to swallow food, breathing will become so laboured you may need oxygen, your carotid artery will become compressed leaving you with little oxygen to the brain and this will cause either hallucinations or bran dysfunction. By then you won't even know your own name.
Your levels of thyroid hormones will more than likely go hypothyroid, where your body functions slow down, intenstines don't digest food properly,heart will try hard to compensate, you will get palpitations, breathlessness....eventually, either you will stop breathing one night or you will slip into a coma and pass away without any pain.
You aren't terminal yet, but you are willing to decide which path you want, and that is ok. As dogdancing above this post says, do make sure your family are involved in the process of your choice. I have done both saving and letting people die, and ultimately it is not up to me or anyone else, but yourself.
I wish you the best for your choice.
Your levels of thyroid hormones will more than likely go hypothyroid, where your body functions slow down, intenstines don't digest food properly,heart will try hard to compensate, you will get palpitations, breathlessness....eventually, either you will stop breathing one night or you will slip into a coma and pass away without any pain.
You aren't terminal yet, but you are willing to decide which path you want, and that is ok. As dogdancing above this post says, do make sure your family are involved in the process of your choice. I have done both saving and letting people die, and ultimately it is not up to me or anyone else, but yourself.
I wish you the best for your choice.
Totally get where your coming from. If you life in the USA you should see if your town has a hospice. If Im not mistaken the services to terminal clients is free. There is help avaible to you so you can die with dignity, and more importantly as pain free as possible.
I work in a nursing home and in my twenty five years I have sat with and watched several people die from various throat related cancers. Not a pleasent site. I strongly urge you to look into hospice. That support will give you much needed peace, as well as offer counciling to your family.
We have forgotten how to die in this day and age. So much emphasis is placed on saving life at all cost, robbing people of there right to choose.
I would just toss in that if you havent told your family, that you do so. You want to ease there burdon and pain, that is why you are choosing this path. Dont deny them the right to grieve and mourn with you. You cant protect them from the pain of losing you, but you can ease it by giving them time to say goodbye.
peace be the journey
Paja
I work in a nursing home and in my twenty five years I have sat with and watched several people die from various throat related cancers. Not a pleasent site. I strongly urge you to look into hospice. That support will give you much needed peace, as well as offer counciling to your family.
We have forgotten how to die in this day and age. So much emphasis is placed on saving life at all cost, robbing people of there right to choose.
I would just toss in that if you havent told your family, that you do so. You want to ease there burdon and pain, that is why you are choosing this path. Dont deny them the right to grieve and mourn with you. You cant protect them from the pain of losing you, but you can ease it by giving them time to say goodbye.
peace be the journey
Paja
If the nodules and or goiter are cancerous, the cancer will eventually spread throughout the body. The lymph nodes would probably be affected first, and then it could manifest anywhere.
If the goiter grows large enough, it will deviate the windpipe and compress nerves and blood vessels. There is no guarantee it will just keep growing and growing, though.
Either scenario will be drawn out and very uncomfortable. Likely you would suffer both scenarios before it was over.
Has your state not one single hospital for indigents? In Iowa you would be sent to Iowa City, which also happens to be a teaching hospital. Surely there is some resource available.
What you are looking at is neither quick nor pleasant. It probably will cost at least as much to die as getting it taken care of, by the time you throw in the funeral your son may not be able to attend.
If things go badly, dying may be a lot more expensive than fixing the problem. Especially if you can fix the problem with the help of some sort of assistance program.
If the goiter grows large enough, it will deviate the windpipe and compress nerves and blood vessels. There is no guarantee it will just keep growing and growing, though.
Either scenario will be drawn out and very uncomfortable. Likely you would suffer both scenarios before it was over.
Has your state not one single hospital for indigents? In Iowa you would be sent to Iowa City, which also happens to be a teaching hospital. Surely there is some resource available.
What you are looking at is neither quick nor pleasant. It probably will cost at least as much to die as getting it taken care of, by the time you throw in the funeral your son may not be able to attend.
If things go badly, dying may be a lot more expensive than fixing the problem. Especially if you can fix the problem with the help of some sort of assistance program.
1st of all...we are just like so many other's...behind on our Mortgage, with only my husband working. We have a friend that is going through the same thing who now has $700,000 in medical bills and is still fighting with cancer. To me it seems selfish to go into so much debt with no way to know the outcome. I would much rather a debt of $7500 then a debt of $700,000. My son is 20 years old and in the Army. I have had cancer twice before my son was born. I prayed all through my son's youth that God would allow me to part of his life until he was able to take care of himself. God gave that to me.
Anyway..I am not looking for charity of any kind.. I just want to know how this will play out. It is hard to find information on what happens if you do not have the goiter removed. At what point it damages the thyroid functions ect... If this is not the place to find this out then- OK..
I do not feel that I am putting a value on my life I just have a line that I will not cross. That line being that I will not be a burden nor will I place the importance of my life so high as to bring hardship to another human. I am just embracing what I have and preparing myself for whats to come.
Anyway..I am not looking for charity of any kind.. I just want to know how this will play out. It is hard to find information on what happens if you do not have the goiter removed. At what point it damages the thyroid functions ect... If this is not the place to find this out then- OK..
I do not feel that I am putting a value on my life I just have a line that I will not cross. That line being that I will not be a burden nor will I place the importance of my life so high as to bring hardship to another human. I am just embracing what I have and preparing myself for whats to come.
I am poor...poorer than a church mouse, and if I could say, please don't charge me a fortune to do any work on me, then magically a fairy came and they didn't charge me a fortune, I would be happy.
I started to get the breathing issues, not being able to swallow as I would choke on food, and my voice was down to a husky whisper with me stopping to suck in huge lungfuls of air like an emphysema patient. My goitre grew fast too...it too had cancer cells in it...and the operation itself is equivalent to a down payment on a house...BUT...watching my son cry as I struggled to breathe each day is MORE than enough to say to him, Look, this is going to make us poor for a long time, but I think you love mummy more than going without a few rental dvd's for a while....
As most have said, you can get medical payments for your condition, there are many agencies to ask.
Yes, being in debt is a worry, but think of this....the average funeral now costs $7500..and that's the basic of the basic.....does your family have money put away for that?
I started to get the breathing issues, not being able to swallow as I would choke on food, and my voice was down to a husky whisper with me stopping to suck in huge lungfuls of air like an emphysema patient. My goitre grew fast too...it too had cancer cells in it...and the operation itself is equivalent to a down payment on a house...BUT...watching my son cry as I struggled to breathe each day is MORE than enough to say to him, Look, this is going to make us poor for a long time, but I think you love mummy more than going without a few rental dvd's for a while....
As most have said, you can get medical payments for your condition, there are many agencies to ask.
Yes, being in debt is a worry, but think of this....the average funeral now costs $7500..and that's the basic of the basic.....does your family have money put away for that?
Almost every hospital in the US (if that is where you live) has some kind of "charity" care program and/or a Clinic. All area hospitals are welling to try to help people with no insurance, you just have to ask.
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