new nodule/tissue with no thyroid

[karen1958]

I am a person who was diagnosised in 98 with goiter and multiple nodules - My TSH always running  around 1.0 to 1.6 - yet I felt I was hypo with being tired, weight gain etc.... in March of 2002 having symptoms of acid reflux /hard to swallow - my trachea was shown to be deviated because my thyroid/right side had enlarged x2 since my last check up. April 2002 I had a Right thyroidectomy. My left side still intact I did not need any medication. In late 2005 my TSH was running 0.6 and my endo doc started me on tapasol 2.5mg daily which brought me back up to 1.0. Recently (Aug 07) I had my yearly ultrasound/doctors visit with my endo and some thyroid tissue or nodule showed up on the ultrasound on the right side of my neck ... how can this be ? when I have no thyroid there ?
She had me stop my Tapasol ( per radiology rules for 6 weeks) and I will be getting a thyroid uptake scan in nuclear med. I did this test back in 2002 prior to my surgery My second question is: How do we really know its thyroid tissue via an utrasound? - shouldn't I have a cat scan or a pet scan 1st to determine this.

thank you in advance for your reply

[karen1958]

Thankx for your replies ladies ...  My right side of my thyroid was not cancerous just super enlarged. And I did not have the RAI afterward for that reason ... however I do recall the past few visits that my liver enzymes were just over the high end of the normal limits ( mine is 57 - high end is 56 - aka major side effect of Tapasol ) My endo said if they stay up she was going to do the RAI ... and for the life of me I can't remember my results this check up - my mind tuned it out with the conversation of the new right sided nodule.

So if she kills the rest of my thyroid that means different drugs, different diagnosis and different problems ... which I am not looking forward to - especially when you read all the stuff posted on hypothyroidism.

Will let you know - the scan is the 28th and the follow up doc appointment is Oct 3rd

[JoBa]

If you did not have high-dose RAI to destroy any remaining thyroid tissue, then I think it is possible that there was some left after surgery. I was told that the RAI that I am having is necessary not only to destroy any cancer cells, but also to make it easier to monitor in the future by destroying any remaining thyroid tissue that might interfere with the scan. But my info is based on 15 minutes with the consulting endo, so take it with a grain of salt.

[imedicmommy]

I don't know if this helps but I do know that your body can make more thyroid tissue which I thought only happened if you were hypo, but that doesn't sound like an issue for you. I don't know if they can determine for sure if it's thyroid tissue via radiology unless it takes up during the uptake scan. Maybe a biopsy...in case it's a lymph node or something? I don't know but keep us posted, I'm interested in what they say.
Good luck