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Treatments for reoccurance?

firefly71
firefly71 CSN Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Thyroid Cancer #1
Hi everyone!

I'm a newbie. I was diagnosed in 2001 with papillary carcinoma. I had one nodule on the left side of my thyroid. I had a total thyroidectomy and RAI. All treatment was completed by April 2001. I have been on Levoxyl ever since.
I had a clean scan in September of 2001 and again in Dec of 2005. I went to my Endo in December 2008 and he drew my blood and suggested I have a neck CT with contrast and a chest X-ray since it has been 3 yrs since I had a scan. I had those tests done last Tuesday (Jan 6th).
I have not had the results back yet. I also haven't heard from my Endo about the bloodwork. I am hoping that this meant the markers were undetectable (*crossing fingers*!)
I am a worrywort and I managed to panic myself about recurrances quite a lot :o(
What kind of recurrance do people usually get? and what kind of treatment is given?
I am REALLY trying not to freak out.

THANKS!
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Comments

  • gmthul
    gmthul CSN Member Posts: 19
    #2
    I had what some doctors term a "recurrence" and others have called "regrowth". I had my TT in 6/08, with negative tumor markers and a clean U/S at 3 months post in September. By October, my tumor markers, thyroglobulin were strongly positive along with my WBS. I received another dose of RAI in November and will have another scan in March. I think you can expect more RAI if you suffer a recurrence, unless this new tumor doesn't take up iodine or is in a difficult location to treat, in which case chemo or external beam radiation is sometimes used (but that is really the rarest cases).

    Good luck and don't worry too much! I have totally been in your shoes.
    Genevieve
    http://turquoisegates.blogspot.com
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  • gmthul
    gmthul CSN Member Posts: 19
    #3
    Group suggestion
    May I also suggest you join the Yahoo! Thyca group, which is much more active and will get you quick answers to all your questions from other survivors.

    http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/
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