Pam ~ PTHARP

Pam posted on Thyroid board - link below

http://csn.cancer.org/node/256257

ptharp said:

Hi Eileen: I sent a message

Hi Eileen: I sent a message to your personal email. Not sure how often you check it so I thought I would post here too. I have been on this board just reading and I did post on the Thyroid one. I have had a tiny meaty are under and around my Thyroid area for a while. The doc looked at it and said it was just a fatty area. Well, I was at the docs a week ago because I had a bad cold and thought I needed an antibiotic. The PA saw me and said she was worried about a swelling on the front of my neck. They did blood work and sent me for an ultrasound today. I do not have any results yet. She said it was probably a fatty tumor that is always benign but can grow large and then they have to come off. I was wondering if Chemo can effect your thyroid.

Check out your e-mail because I talked about other stuff other than Thyrods and cancer. Hope things are well with you. Talk to you soon.

Pam

 

 

Eileen: Woops I forgot...I am

Eileen: Woops I forgot...I am finished with Chemo. I had my CA-125 and it came back at 7.  Yea!!!  I had my scan last week. I am going to the Oncologist on Thursday to get the results. I will let you know when I find out about my scan and my Thyroid. You know I am in a panic about my Thyroid because I am a cancer phobic now.

ptharp said:

Eileen: Woops I forgot...I am

Eileen: Woops I forgot...I am finished with Chemo. I had my CA-125 and it came back at 7.  Yea!!!  I had my scan last week. I am going to the Oncologist on Thursday to get the results. I will let you know when I find out about my scan and my Thyroid. You know I am in a panic about my Thyroid because I am a cancer phobic now.

Welcome back Pam

Congratulations on finishing chemo and an awesome CA125 number. I am sure that your scan results will be great and you can officially call yourself NED.

Sorry for ringing in about your thyroid post; I was not stalking you, I was looking something up for a coworker.

I wanted to tell you that back in August after my 4th round of chemo I too found a lump in the front of my neck, had trouble swallowing and felt like something was lodged in my throat. I jumped to the same conclusion you did. I had neck ultrasound done; it showed 2mm cystic thyroid nodule at which point I got even more upset. I spent the next 2 days obsessing and doing nuclear thyroid uptake; it showed that the nodule was "cold" (most likely benign) and thyroid function was normal. There is no need to remove those "cold" nodules until they are larger. 95% of all thyroid nodules are benign. But even if nodules are "hot" (most likely malignant) - only needle biopsy can determine cancer dx with 100% certainty. Thyroid cancer is 90% curable, it's one of the "better" cancers. I am not suggesting that you have it, just showing off my knowledge of useless trivia. Then I saw ENT who told me that chemo dries out mucous membranes including throat and may be responsible for my symptoms as well as smoking (I smoke for 33 years including during chemo).  As soon as I found out that it was not another cancer - I was very relieved and my symptoms miraculousy disappeared almost instantly; I suppose most of them were psychosomatic.

On another but similar subject: in a month or so when you hair starts growing back don't repeat my mistake if you find a few large pimples or cysts "down there". Do not assume that it is vulvar cancer like I did, they are inflamed ingrown hair follicles. They will go away in about a week. If someone told me that, it would have spared me one awkward visit to the family doctor.

My point is - get it checked out and not everything is cancer.

Alexandra said:

Welcome back Pam

Congratulations on finishing chemo and an awesome CA125 number. I am sure that your scan results will be great and you can officially call yourself NED.

Sorry for ringing in about your thyroid post; I was not stalking you, I was looking something up for a coworker.

I wanted to tell you that back in August after my 4th round of chemo I too found a lump in the front of my neck, had trouble swallowing and felt like something was lodged in my throat. I jumped to the same conclusion you did. I had neck ultrasound done; it showed 2mm cystic thyroid nodule at which point I got even more upset. I spent the next 2 days obsessing and doing nuclear thyroid uptake; it showed that the nodule was "cold" (most likely benign) and thyroid function was normal. There is no need to remove those "cold" nodules until they are larger. 95% of all thyroid nodules are benign. But even if nodules are "hot" (most likely malignant) - only needle biopsy can determine cancer dx with 100% certainty. Thyroid cancer is 90% curable, it's one of the "better" cancers. I am not suggesting that you have it, just showing off my knowledge of useless trivia. Then I saw ENT who told me that chemo dries out mucous membranes including throat and may be responsible for my symptoms as well as smoking (I smoke for 33 years including during chemo).  As soon as I found out that it was not another cancer - I was very relieved and my symptoms miraculousy disappeared almost instantly; I suppose most of them were psychosomatic.

On another but similar subject: in a month or so when you hair starts growing back don't repeat my mistake if you find a few large pimples or cysts "down there". Do not assume that it is vulvar cancer like I did, they are inflamed ingrown hair follicles. They will go away in about a week. If someone told me that, it would have spared me one awkward visit to the family doctor.

My point is - get it checked out and not everything is cancer.

Thank you for you post

Thank you for you post Alexandra. My swollen area on my neck is not hard or a lump. It is a swelling. When I push on it is is soft. What we go through....no wonder we are strong women. Thanks for the tip about "down there". I am actually more anxious for my eyebrows to come back. I have a little peach fuzz on my head already but my eyebrows did not fall out until I was done with Chemo. How long does it take for them to come back. I still have eyelashes but they are sparse.

I read your post about reoccurance. It upset me. Not what you said per se, but what your Oncologist said. I know the odds are against us with 70 percent reocurring, but I would like to hope I am in that 30 percent like a few of my friends on other sites. For me, if I focus on hoping I am in the 30 percent I can think positive and hopefully have less anxiety and depression. I am not totally in the dark. I do know there is 70 percent chance it will come back but I will deal with it then. My Oncologist told me I have a 70 percent chance of reoccurance but he said he does not have a crystal ball and can not tell me what group I will be in only that I am healthier than a lot of his other 3C patients. I am going to take care of myself, like eating good healthy food and exercising. I used to drink a lot of wine and I have stopped that. 

I should find out today about my neck. My GP doc thinks it is a fatty area. Also I go tomorrow to find out about my Ovarian Scan. My CA-125 came back at 7. Keep your fingers crossed.

Pam