DESCRIPTION:
11/19/2018 update - been almost 3 years cancer-free, still living with only half my thyroid. No hormones, I feel great, my body has been functioning wonderfully. I was able to get back in to lifting and running and I'm pretty happy. I don't know if it will ever come back, it may not - but I am SO GLAD I did not have a second surgery to get it all removed. If you have any questions about thyroid cancer or the process of treatment feel free to comment.

11/2/15 UPDATE - Biopsy results revealed "atypical" cells, doctor didn't use the "C" word but insisted that the entire thyroid be removed ASAP. I believe these types of cells are considered pre-cancerous. I was expecting this, so I am not upset.

11/20/15 UPdate - Finally scheduled surgery for Jan 7th. My thyroid is completely whacked out, mostly hypo but sometimes hyper, some days it is hard to breathe...among other symptoms, life is absolute hell. I am literally counting down the days until surgery. They want to start by only taking out the left side, which is where this huge mass is, if it comes back clear from pathology, I can keep the right side. But I still need to get on hormones due to being hypo for so many years.

Uh yeah, fun video today. I recently discovered I have a pretty large mass on the left side of my thyroid. I've had an enlarged thyroid for years, much longer than before the doctor noticed, because I used to cut slits in my hoodies so they wouldn't sit so far up on my neck, sometimes it felt so uncomfortable!

Anyway, a year passed between the doctor's exams and he thought it was bigger, so I got an ultrasound, which revealed a mass. I got a fine needle biopsy done last week, I don't know the results yet, but will update. From what I understand, this is actually fairly common and 95% of the time it is benign.

This runs in my family, but I'm not exactly sure what to do about it. My bloodwork is always normal, and I think for the most part, I don't experience symptoms of hyper- or hypo-thyroidism. Maybe every once in a while. I am hypoglycemic and I have alopecia, but I don't know if any of that is related. My mother has a really terrible autoimmune disease but no thyroid problems. Every once in a while, I do feel like my face is puffy and red, I deal with anxiety occasionally, I am normally a very mellow, easy-going person so it is different. I have always been thin with an athletic build, I am 30 now and still look like I am 10 years younger. I do honestly work out excessively, so I maintain that build, however I do not know how to gauge if my progress is on a normal scale. I have a feeling if I did not work out so much, and just depended on my diet (which is good!), I might not stay so thin. I don't know.

You can see the mass when I swallow. If it isn't super evident at first, I pointed to it. It is about 3.18cm, so it's pretty big. I woke up feeling that slight discomfort all through my neck and it has been bugging me all day, I kept having to pull my hoodie neckline down. Now that I am aware of my condition, I am noticing some things more often, like the fact that I can SEE the mass! Wow.

10/30/15 Update: Doctor has not commented on biopsy yet, but I called and the woman from the office read me the results from the lab. Said "carcinoma cannot be excluded at this time". Going back in a few days to show/tell the doc how it's been growing and pushing on my windpipe and talk about well, probably getting it removed.