In the mirror

It's time to crank up the healthcare blog again. We had hoped it would sit rusting away in a corner of the back yard, but a new healthcare adventure means there's a reason to drag it back out and get it working again.

They tell you to perform monthly breast self-examinations religiously. But there’s no educational campaigns about the importance of regular neck examinations. So when my new primary care physician (the former had to resign due to cancer treatments), said to me, “Are you aware that you have lump on your thyroid?” I replied, “No, I hadn’t noticed,” and then quickly added “I’ve been pretty much focused on my breast.”

It’s embarrassing really to be so clueless about a part of your body. Especially a part that's visible each morning in the mirror and is rarely covered by clothing, except for this time of year. And now that it’s been pointed out to me, I can see it when I look closely. But in my defense, I’ve had a ton of doctors (even one as recently as November) poking and prodding on me these last few years and none of them noticed it either. Even when I was complaining of hoarseness, acid reflux, etc. We all counted it as side effects to the chemo-prevention drug Tamoxifen. In hindsight, I probably should’ve been paying closer attention to my neck since my great grandmother and mother both have “thyroid issues.” But when I went in back in 2005 with symptoms that could relate to thyroid problems, they told me it was nothing.

What can I say? Sometimes it takes someone new, who’s not familiar with your story to offer a new insight into your life.

The ultrasound in December showed three masses on the right side of the thyroid–one large, one smaller and one cyst. The last two they figure are benign, the larger growth is “worrisome.”

So now I have a new specialist to add to my again-growing three-ring “healthcare” binder that I had rejoiced putting in a back, dark corner of the office in a November 8, 2006 blog entry. An endocrinologist who recommends a needle biopsy scheduled for the 20th. There are usually some problems getting results from such biopsies (these tests are notoriously indeterminate for thyroid growths) but the Dr. says mine is so big that she’s confident they can get enough cells to determine if it's one of the two kinds of thyroid cancer or is (the more likely option) benign.

The next step would be surgery. I have a retired colleague who could no longer preach after her thyroid surgery because of low volume. NotherFrog said not to worry, if I wrote the sermons, we’d find someone to read them to the congregation.

By the way, for those of you wondering what I was when I first heard the news back in December: breast cancer does not normally “re-occur” in the thyroid. So if it is cancer, it’s a new one. That’s something to celebrate because thyroid cancers are much easier to treat than recurrences.