Has anybody heard of thyroid cancer spreading after the surgery to remove it?

Has anybody heard of thyroid cancer
spreading after the surgery to remove it?

first I'll give facts about me and open
to answers but prefer to seek answers from ppl with past experience or
professionals.. a nodule was found. On ultrasound it was a cold nodule. fine
needle aspiration with ultrasound biopsy showed no cancer. Hyperthyroidism was
reason for right lobectomy w/ possible total. They basically said while i was
laid open they would look again for cancer under what i think they called a
freeze slide...? If it was noticeable they would do a total lobectomy. Didnt
find any thing. Left the hospital the next night. A week later i went in for
stitches to be removed and the surgeon/ endo told me the lobe was sent off to
pathology and came back cancerous. Now they want to go back in and finish
taking out the rest of my thyroid and lymph nodes. I have done a little
research and now know I need to know what kind they are calling it.. papillay,
follicular, etc. and at what stage because i was told none of this.. I am only
25 and have 4 kids so this is pretty scary. Mostly because i dont know which
stage and mainly because everyone keeps saying if I let them cut back in to me
it will cause the cancer to spread. So does anyone know what stage this could
possibly be and if the cancer really can spread. To me it only makes sense to
get it out but I keep hearing this over and over..... Help me with any info you
can please... Related stories would be great!!! Just be easy on trying to freak
me out any more than I already am... thanks

Answers

Try wikipedia on this question there is a
ton of info and links on that site to read up on. Best Wishes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid_can…

Source(s):

Cancer Survivor

2: t seems your biopsy report is
papillary ca.

If yes you are advised to go for
resurgery to remove remainig thyroid and regional lymphnodes.

Long term prognosis is good.

You can provide actual bx.report for more
info.

3: I can't tell you what stage
without seeing the path report.

You should let them excise the rest of
the tissue before it spreads.

The "don't let them cut you because
that is how it spreads" is based on pseudo-science and a complete
misunderstanding of how tumors work. This is not a water balloon full of cancer
that will burst everywhere if you try to remove it. This is a solid mass that
can be carefully excised (cut out) before the cells from the tumor start
migrating around your body on their own.

The medical science is clear. Excising
the tumor will not cause it to spread. Please schedule the surgery.

The fact that the frozen slide did not
show cancerous cells but the path examination did detect abnormal cells
suggests that this is early stage. Let them cut it out before it andvances.

The stages of all cancers are basically:

Abnormal changes in cells

Cancerous changes in cells

Cancerous cells spread to other parts of
the body.

Have them cut it out before it spreads.
The idea that cutting it out will cause it to spread is completely false. This
is why your medical doctors want you to cut the rest of it out.

And before someone suggests that the
surgeon is telling you to do this to make money, this is not a surgery to make
money on. Please trust the surgeon's judgement.

It is natural to be more afraid of the
risk of doing something than the risk of doing nothing. Psychologists have
documented this quite well. But the risk of doing nothing is very, very real.
The risk of doing something is small. You can live without a thyroid quite
well.

4 : Who in the world is “everyone”
telling you over and over that surgery will make cancer spread?

That is ridiculous.

Yes, the situation you are in has
happened to several people. Due to the nature of thyroid cancer about 10% of
biopsies are incorrect. What you refer to as a freeze slide I believe was a
frozen section, which apparently was taken from the section without cancer.

I’m not sure why you would find stories
helpful as they may or may not have anything at all to do with you.

I’m sure your doctor told you what kind
of cancer you have as it is part of their job. At this point it is impossible
to know the stage until the whole thing is removed and yes you should have it
removed.

If you have a papillary carcinoma you
will most likely be fine as 3-12% of all papillary carcinoma patients die from
this disease regardless of stage. If you have another type it is a completely
different ball game.

Source(s):

I am a cancer registrar.

I stage cancer for a living.

5: You have cancer in you but people
are telling you that it's going to spread if they go back in? Honey, it can
spread if you keep it in...get it out! You don't say how big your nodule is,
but most of the time, a total thyroidectomy is done if cancer is found in one
lobe. I was 20 when I found a lump, 21 when I was diagnosed with thyroid
cancer. Once you get all the info, type, size, if there's any lymph invasion,
you and your doctors can take the next step...possibly radioactive iodine.
Anyway, please review this site: http://thyca.org it has all the info you will
ever need! Good luck with everything!

thyroid cancer patient

Additional Details

Thanks for the answers so far, but based
on those I would like to add that yes, I have already scheduled the surgery
just wanted to see if anybody out there has gone through this.. and I didnt
know until researching the web that there are different stages and so on.. I
will be signing a release form for my path report and all other info, just wont
be able to get it before my surgery... Thanks again!!!

» Beauty & Plastic Surgery Acne
» What can be done about the rise of thyroid disorders
» My husband has to go in for radioactive iodine treatment for thyroid cancer?
» Beauty & Plastic Surgery Dermatitis
» Beauty & Plastic Surgery Cellulite