Indeterminate

I finally made contact with the doctor only to learn that the biopsy "didn't get much in terms of thyroid cells," so while the cells didn't show cancer, they weren't the right cells. According to the endocrinologist, they provided "no useful information."

So we could try again but because the mass is a "complex, heterogeneous" one (meaning it has several different types of cells in it), there's no guarantee that the next needle biopsy would provide any meaningful data either. And because even with a clean biopsy, the large size of the mass (4 centimeters and no chance of getting any smaller) makes it something she'd recommend having removed anyway, the doctor thinks it needs to come out and biopsy it then. It would be a right lobectomy only and if the biopsy came back malignant, they'd have to do another surgery to remove the left side. That's the downside to this plan--having to have two surgeries, which the doctor described as "inconvenient." But because I'm in the lower risk group for thyroid cancer (neither young nor old, female rather than male) she said surgery was the "reasonable way to go."

One lobe can usually compensate and make enough thyroid hormone for the whole but they'll check--starting at about three weeks after the surgery--to make sure I don't need some meds to make up for the missing lobe.

My appointment with the surgeon is Feb 17; I'll know more after that. Thanks to all of you who held me in prayer and have with me been anxiously awaiting the results. We'll be waiting a bit longer. The surgery isn't outpatient and due to the recovery time, I'll be waiting until after Easter to move forward.