You asked about prior thyroid involvement....that's a question none of my treatment persons has asked me, but one that I plan to bring up. When I was a child, I received radiation "treatments" to my neck for chronic swollen glands. Of course, this was not a scientifically proven treatment, and I'm certain that the area was quite broad. In 1985, my mother read an article which stated that those persons receiving such treatments should have a radioactive scan to detect any tumors the radiation might have caused. I did this, and it did show a tumor, but it couldn't be ascertained whether or not it was malignant, so I had half of my thyroid removed. It was not malignant....but I wonder if that extra radiation to the head could have had any causative effect on my developing cancer. It was likely too early in my life, but who knows?? They say that early sunburns can be responsible for adult skin cancers....I smoked some 37 years before my dx, but I had no other risk factors, and I am HPV negative....so we don't really know what caused my OC. XO