No Cancer

This is a thyroid ultrasound image. It is not mine. But it is like mine. I had my thryoid ultrasounded today: well what is left of my thryoid. I had cancer in my left thyroid in 2000 and it was surgically removed. Though it is the best type of cancer to get supposedly, it is still a pretty significant operation, coming in at 4 hours and a neck held together with metal clips for 10 days thereafter. I don't want to go through it again, and I don't really want to take pills everyday if the right one has to go as well.

When I returned to the UK, I was told that best practice now is to remove the entire thyroid, and I was advised to have the operation. If there is no thyroid at all, it is easier to detect any abnormal levels of thyroxine as the pills taken provide a regular measurable reading. Detection is harder when half the thyroid remains as the bodies production of thyroxine is not as regular as the dosage in pills and therefore harder to know if the cancer has returned.  So it is chiefly a detection (of cancer returning) issue rather than a likelihood of it returning. That's what I have understood anyway.

I didn't want the operation, and after a few sometimes testy meetings with consultant doctors, it was agreed that I would continue to have regular ie annual ultrasounds to see if there was any abnormalities. Thankfully this time there are not. There are no flecks, odd dots or anything sinister. Phew.