suspicious mass on left

[smorri35]

My doctor found a "highly suspicious mass on left side of thyroid gland via ultrasound. He preceded the following week with a FNA biopsy. When he called results to me he stated that he had three different pathologist look at the findings and all three concurred that it is highly considerable malignant. He said I could proceed with another FNA biopsy within the next month so they could get a larger amount of cells or I could see a surgeon to have it removed. I have never had to deal with anything like this before and I just think it would be wiser to have it surgically removed than to wait around on another biopsy. If I do have surgery how soon should I schedule it for? I have other committments and can't really plan for anything til after first week of March. What should I do? I am a registered nurse and work nights so I was wondering how long will I need to be off of work for this type of surgery? Is this something that should not be put off for another 3 weeks or do you think it would be okay? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Sheila

[helsurf]

Hi Sheila!

I had a suspicious nodule on the left side too, the decision for surgery was easy for me, because it was pressing on my eosophagus and causing pressure symptoms, so i was happy to get it out, They took out my whole thyroid cos i had quite a few nodules most of which came back as cancerous, I waited 8 weeks after getting the suspicious biopsy result before having the surgery and i don't think it had any adverse effect, most thyroid cancers are quite slow growing, thankfully!

I am also a registered nurse and i would have been fit to go back to work after about 2 weeks post op, but when i got the official cancer dx, i took an extra week off, mainly for appointments with endo and oncologist!

feel free to ask any questions! and just remember even highly suspicious nodules don't always come back malignant, i recall other people on here who have had benign result after highly susp fna, but do think it's best to get it out anyway!

good luck

love Helen x x x  

[jeblondon]

Hi there, I had the left side of my thyroid removed a year ago due to a 'suspicious' nodule.  It turned to be benign but I did have a tiny micropappilary carc' in the bit of removed gland itself.  I had a RAI scan of my neck and the remaining part of the thyroid and all came back clear. I came on here at that time to get more info and support and found this site invaluable!  Take a good look through all the posts and run some searches. There are some really knowledgable and helpful posts/answers.
As far as your surgery goes, if no complications, it usually takes 1 - 2 weeks to feel ok.  I was in hosp for 2 nights and had 2 weeks off work and was ready to go back.  The first few days are obviously a bit uncomfortable but nothing like as bad as I expected. By 6 month post op' my scar was geat - now you can only see it when you look hard - it's hidden amongst my other wrinkles!!
Try not to worry - I know that's easy to say - but so many 'suspicious' lumps on and around the thyroid come out benign.  My readings all said 'inconclusive' after the FNAs so I decided to go ahead with the surgery anyway.  I would do the same all over again - 'better out than in' as they say.
Even if this little thing turns out to be malignant, thyroid cancers are slow growing and VERY curable. As my doc said - if you're gonna get it - it's the best place to get it!  Not really comforting at the time but I can laugh about it now.
I hope all goes well.
J
J