[trlrunner]

#1060274

Hi!
It’s been awhile since I’ve been here – have a curiosity question for folks: Are there any or many of you fellow Graves friends who have had thyroid cancer?
Here’s a quick run-down of my situation:

Diagnosed with Graves the beginning of 2011. Tried methimazole for a year. Had RAI the beginning of 2012. Diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer with metastis into lymph nodes in June 2013 with a neck dissection and thyroidectomy soon after diagnosis (7.5+hour surgery!). Unfortunately suffered damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve and have a paralyzed vocal cord, which may or may not come back. The docs said that performing a TT after RAI makes the surgery more difficult (???). Had another dose of RAI for cancer treatment a few months after surgery.

Just wondering if there is anyone else out there with thyroid cancer as most of the docs say that it is not too common in a Graves person. Thanks for your input and blessings to all this wonderful Thanksgiving week!!!

[shakira7]

#1181715

Hi trlrunner,

I’m so sorry you had to go through both, Graves Disease and a thyroid cancer. In my case, my doctor’s nurse faxed the ENT surgeon, her Rx to see him for thyroidectomy. The ENT surgeon has an excellent reputation for Thyroid Cancer Surgery. Someone didn’t read the Rx, so the secretary called me “Dr xxx does not treat Graves Disease. You would need to see an endocrinologist.”
So I had to explain my Graves journey to her, to get her to give me an appt with the surgeon, not with an endo.

I’m really sorry to hear that your surgery paralyzed your vocal cord.
I wish you a prompt recovery…

Shakira7

[trlrunner]

#1181716

Thank you for your kind words, Shakira! It seems that many people who have their thyroids surgically removed have the surgery performed by an ENT surgeon – it sounds like that is true for you? The doctor who did my surgery was an endocrine cancer surgeon. Have you had your surgery yet?

Despite the “setbacks” of the past 3 years – Graves, cancer, and vocal cord paralysis – I count and am thankful for so many wonderful blessings in my life. I am hopeful that the setbacks shall soon pass.

Best wishes,

[shakira7]

#1181717

No, I have not yet met my ENT surgeon. I will see him in early Jan 2014.
God, I hope he doesn’t tell me sth like “I will pass your file to my coworker who does less emergency cases, cause I do the thyroid cancer patients.”

I believe there are specialists who deal with vocal cord disorder or sth like that. If you can find one in your area, it might be worth consulting them.

Thanks for sharing your positive perspective on your Graves / thyroid cancer journey. I gotta be more positive about this, too.

Do you know if people who’s gone through TTX can travel overseas? I’m a little ticked off right now, cause I just finished my travel itinerary to SouthEast Asia that I was planning on doing next fall 2014, for 3 wks.
Do you see yourself travelling where the timezone changes, after TTX?

Shakira7

[Kimberly]

#1181718

@trlrunner – You might use the “search posts” feature in the top right-hand corner of the screen to do a search for “cancer”. I don’t think we’ve heard from anyone in your exact situation, but I do recall that we’ve had a handful of posters over the years who found out that they had thyroid cancer after getting a thyroidectomy for Graves’.

If you haven’t already visited ThyCa.org, they have great resource information on thyroid cancer, as well as quite a few support groups around the country.

Wishing you all the best!

[trlrunner]

#1181719

Thank you, Kimberly!
Yes, I am familiar with ThyCa and read it frequently. I thought to would check here as I have not come across anyone, in reading the forums on ThyCa, who has Graves and then was later diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The cancer was found this past June during a routine thyroid ultrasound my endo does annually. The thyroid was shriveled up from RAI for the Graves from last year and never showed any nodule/goiter appearance. They were tipped off to the cancer because several of the lymph nodes had changed in size. I suppose, in a way, it is a blessing I do have Graves otherwise my thyroid would not have been monitored on a regular basis and I still would not know about the cancer.

I did do a search, like you suggested, but didn’t find anything related to cancer and Graves???

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Kimberly]

#1181720

Hello – the “search posts” feature is a little fussy; you might just try “cancer” as the keyword…although you might have to wade through some other posts for different types of cancer.

Wishing you all the best!

[Author]

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