Hi everyone,
I know I have not been around much in the last month, I have struggling with lots of anxiety and not doing well. Thanks a lot to all of you who have been sending me little messages.
Today I have just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer as well. I will need to have another surgery soon. I am in shock. It seems that I just can not catch a break.
Ambra, I'm so sorry to read this. You absolutely deserve not to have to be dealing with any more cancer. Please tell us more about it when you're able to, and let us know how we can help.
I send all good thoughts.
Hi Ambra,
So sorry to hear the new diagnosis. And thank you for keeping us informed. I suspect there is a group for thyroid cancers but do keep us updated as you can as we do care about all those in the family, there is no expiry date on the membership.
God be with you,
Don
I'm so sorry to hear about this Ambra
Son of a (*&@$^ I hate F'in cancer! Hang in there kiddo ya hear! Please keep us informed.
Positive thoughts and prayers
I've been thinking about you Ambra, and wish your return to the forum was under happier circumstances.
Keep your chin up, you got through oral cancer albeit with a lot of discomfort. You will survive this one too.
Don't stay a stranger, we miss you
Tony
Hi Ambra, I'm sorry you're going through this. As soon as you have more information let us know. Linda X
Im very sorry to hear about your recurrence!!! I had been thinking of you and wondering how you were making out with your recovery.
Hang in there!!!! Wishing you all the very best.
Ambra... thyroid cancer (though another bout with cancer truly sucks) is a very doable cancer. You will get through it, you will be fine... in the past couple of years 3 people I know have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. They are all doing great. I know we hear cancer and think... oh my god... However, with thyroid cancer it's not really staged or treated like any other cancer. You will have a surgery and depending on the pathology you may have a date with a rads pill. This is three days in a special isolation room, lots of showers, nausea, and a follow up CT and then you're done. They will give you meds to replace your thyroid, and you will be monitored. BUT you will be okay... hugs and love.
Ambra--
So sorry to hear this news. This STINKS, but Cheryl and everyone are absolutely right: You will get through this! And there are many here to listen and encourage you on this next journey. Please keep us posted.
Mary
Hi Ambra,
I am so sorry to here that you are facing another health challenge so soon. From what I understand about thyroid cancer, Cheryl is right - it is one of the easier cancers to treat. I am sure getting this news is very upsetting.
You have been in my thoughts and prayers. Hang in there and please keep us posted.
I don't want to go on about something I haven't a clue about, but I do know, like Cheryl, several people who have had, and survived thyroid cancer, and my impression has always been, again like Cheryl, that it is "do-able". I've been thinking abut you today, and hoping you're able to have some peace of mind, some down-time from the awful stress of it all. We all know what it's like - bloody awful. Hang in there, dear. Linda X
Sorry to hear of another cancer. There have been two increases in HNC, while others went down, and that is HPV related oropharyngeal, and Thyroid Cancer, especially the last in men, for unknown reasons. I hope your team comes up with an acceptable plan to eradicate this. Good luck.
Hello guys,
Thank you for all the kind posts, it is much appreciated. My life has become a complete mess in the past couple of weeks, and today it just got worse.
Thyroid cancer is indeed very treatable. My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow,2/27. The doctors were very clear that this is not a recurrence of my SCC, but an independent cancer. They call it papillary, it is the most common type of thyroid cancer, with very good prognosis if discovered early. They will remove my complete thyroid tomorrow, put me on thyroid replacement hormone and most likely give me the radioactive iodine pill some time after the surgery.
There are two extra complications. One, they did an ultrasound of the neck to look at the possible lymph node involvement so they know if they need to do another neck dissection as well. The ultrasound has shown one suspicious node, very small (5mm), to small to evaluate based on the ultrasound, too small to do FNA on, and according to my surgeon, even too small to remove it during tomorrow's surgery. So I guess we will just follow it which makes me very nervous. The node is interestingly in level IV on the left side ( my tonsil cancer was on the left, thyroid is on the right), so if it turns out to be malignant, we even will not know which cancer it came from unless we can biopsy it. Very stressful.
To make the matters worse, yesterday I had PET/CT and CT scans as three month checkup of the SCC after rads ended. The good news were that, other than the known thyroid cancer, there were no other uptakes in the neck. The bad news were that an ovarian cyst discovered in October last year showed some uptake. Yes, I might have an independent cancer #3, this time ovarian. I need to have some followup ultrasounds as one can not do simple biopsy on the ovary and it is very difficult to diagnose it without very invasive surgical procedures that pretty much constitute the removal of the whole ovary. Needless to say, I am really at the end of just how much I can take. I know it is not cancer till the biopsy confirms it is, but so far every suspicious thing turned out to be cancer. Urgh...
Ambra
glad to hear from you but I wish you did not have such complicated news! I guess it's back to one step at a time. Hope that the thyroid surgery goes well. Please keep us updated.
Maria
Oh my gosh....I cannot believe all of this. Good luck tomorrow. At least that will be done. Then I guess it is one step at a time. Keep us updated as things progress.
Will be thinking about you,
Kathy
Oh Ambra...breaks my heart to hear of all these complications. I so wish you didn't have to deal with all this. Like you know, it will be rough, yet doable, I pray you stay stong! I think of you all the time and so wish we lived closer.
Praying for all the best outcomes. Please keep us posted when you are up to it. As you can see we all care about you. xo
Hello Ambra, gosh this is a lot for you to be dealing with. As the others have said, take it 1 day at a time . That way it is manageable. Good luck with tomorrow's surgery, I'm sure it will go well.
Update us when you can.
Tammy
Ambra, I'm sorry all this is happening to you all at once. As already mentioned, take one step at a time, and good luck with your surgery tomorrow. All the best.
Hi Ambra,
Thank you for updating us. Unfortunately, your new is so disappointing. At this point, I think all you can do is focus on one thing at a time and work through each one. You are young and your body is able to recover well so please keep your head up and hopes high. Look at Paul and others who have been through so much yet they are still here typing away.
Try not to look back nor too much forward, just take it one day/one treatment at a time.
Praying for the best for you, Don
Ambra - So sorry for all you've had to deal with, but try to stay focused on all the positives others have pointed out for you. Hope your surgery went well and more positives come your way soon. Please let us know how you are doing whenever you can. Lots of prayers and hugs going your way!
Ambra-
Thinking of you and hoping all went well with the surgery. Keep us posted. We are all pulling for you!
Mary
Thank you very much for your support guys! You are the best!
The surgery went pretty well, the post-op is much easier and less painful compared to the TORS/dissection. It has been a week now and I am feeling pretty decent. The post-op pathology confirmed that it was a small-ish, 1.4 cm papillary thyroid cancer,(well-differentiated, not particularly aggressive) which does not appear to have spread anywhere for what they can tell. (That semi-suspicious indeterminate lymph node remains to be followed). The radioactive iodine treatment will be scheduled for sometime mid-April. My doctor has actually told me that for thyroid cancer case like mine normally they would not even give iodine, but since I have had SCC too they think it is better to do it, and I personally agree. I have also started taking thyroid replacement hormone and so far seem to be tolerating it well.
I have had the ultrasound too look again at that ovarian cyst yesterday and I am nervously awaiting the results. No phone call today yet, even though I was told that the results are typically available within 24h. According to the doctors, size increase/decrease from the previous ultrasound is an excellent indicator of malignancy as ovarian cancer tends to be very aggressive and grows very fast. I have done just a little reading, and apparently it is a pretty bad type of cancer. Even if it were stage Ia, the earliest one, the typical treatment would involve surgical removal of both ovaries, hysterectomy, and lots of chemo. I am pretty scared now, but what can I do. Three independent cancers in 6 months for a healthy and relatively young person sounds pretty unbelievable, but it might be happening.
Hi Ambra, I'm so glad that your surgery went smoothly and you're starting to feel better. It's good to have that behind you! I hope with all my heart that you heard good news today .....what you're going through is surreal. You are doing a great job taking care of yourself!
(((HUGS)))
So, I have good news for once. The ultrasound showed that the cyst has almost disappeared, so supposedly nothing needs to be done about it. Breathing huge sigh of relief.
Oh happy day! Yes wonderful news! xo
Ambra, your post made my day!!! Thank you so much for sharing your good news with us. You certainly deserved a break, so happy you got one.
HOORAY!!! Fantastic news Ambra!! Thank you for keeping us posted.
Mary
That is fantastic news. Glad the surgery went well too. Thank you for keeping us posted!
Kathy
Great news, Amber! You deserve it.
Excellent news about the cyst - and the thyroid surgery. Spring is coming and you will be able to truly enjoy it!
Maria
Fantastic! Oh my gosh you had some good news coming, girl. Hang in there!
Lynn
Ambra: Great news about the ovarian cyst. You mentioned radiation for thyroid starting in mid April - is that still the plan? Hope you continue to do well.
Donna