Where It All Began

The word "cancer" means so much to so many people. To some it is a tale of survival, to some it is a story of how they lost a loved one, but to some it is a tale of avoidance and learning to struggle with the unknown along the way. I was one of the extra lucky ones, I skated by without the cancer diagnosis, I got the pre cancer diagnosis.  So many people want to share their story and I can't say I am any different. I don't say I am a survivor. Because I am not. I did not have cancer, and I thank god every day. I came a little too close for my comfort. But I live on a slate of thin ice, and chance for relapse of thyroid tumor.

My story begins a little differently. After having bronchitis, I noticed a huge lump in the base of my neck. I blew it off for several months assuming it was nothing more than a swollen lymph node. When it didn't go down, I started to get concerned. I walked to work one day and asked the nurse I work for, "hey, what's this swollen lymph node in my neck?" She laughed and told me thats not a lymph node and told me I needed to go to my doctor like yesterday. Being who I am, I put it off for a few months more until she got the doctor we work with involved as well. He told me it was my thyroid and could be serious. So my mom being the loving person she is, scheduled me a doctors appointment and told me "I was going. Not an option."


I was initially diagnosed with a "thyromegally." A thyromegally is a term describing any unidentified, or inconclusive enlarged thyroid mass. I had a full CBC and thyroid pannel. My blood work showed I was off the charts hyper and I was referred to an endocrinologist.  An initial ultrasound showed my tumor as a 3cm mass engulfing most of the left side of my thyroid. After seeing my endocrinologist, I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease, and a thyroid uptake scan was scheduled. The results of the radioactive iodine thyroid uptake showed the left half of my thyroid was 6 times more active than a normal thyroid, and the right half was completely dormant.

How we embraced my thyroid diagnosis at work. We added
a Halloween themed thyroid tumor to our skeleton!

I was then diagnosed with a thyroid adenoma (an adenoma is a benign tumor). It came time for me to make a decision: radiation therapy or surgical removal of half of the thyroid gland. Being how young I am I chose to have half of my thyroid removed, after I finished my current semester at school. The testing showed half of my thyroid with the tumor was 6x more active than a normal thyroid all together.

As time came closer to my surgery date, things got weird. My symptoms were worse, a dose couldn't control my levels, and even through medication therapy, the tumor was growing. My endocrinologist told me this was typically a sign of malignancy. Surgery day came and though it was miserable, I couldn't be more relieved to be getting this tumor out of my body. I was barely able to swallow from my throat being so swollen, and sore from being intubated as well. Waiting in pre op I was so busy being terrified I forgot to ask my surgeon for photos of the little guy. Luckily, he was able to send a resident down to pathology to get photos of it before they cut it up and turned it in to a pile of biomedical waste.

In the hospital, about 24hrs post op!

Larry the thyroid tumor!

Waiting for the pathology report was absolute....After receiving the pathology report I was diagnosed with a Hurthle Cell Adenoma, with pre cancerous hurthle cell changes. The tumor was 4.5cm x 3cm x 4cm. The margins were not entirely clean from my tumor either, increasing the chance that my tumor may grow back. My endocrinologist said I avoided full blown cancer by only a couple months. I count my blessings and thank God every day. For now I only need blood tests every 6 months and a yearly ultrasound to ensure the other gland stays normal.

I can't believe how lucky I am. But boy do I thank God, my friends, and family for the support and love which I have received through this process. The world isn't so scary anymore. I live with a scar on my neck; but I live. I am a 19 year old girl, en route to nursing school and I am not letting my disease keep me down. As thyroid levels have begun to regulate, other health problems have surfaced. We are working to get my heart rate under control, as well as find an answer to my difficulty swallowing, and get other symptoms associated with the Grave's Disease under control.

I created this blog in order to chronicle my events in learning to live chronically fabulous.

This is who I am, and this is how I am learning to cope and move on with my life.

Showing off my scar at an awards banquet; but this is who I am now.