My journey

I remember the day very well, it was wednesday 13th September 2023. A few weeks earlier I noticed a little node in my neck. After a week it was still there and I decided to pay a visit to my  General Practitioner. She didn't think much of it, but did an ultrasound. There was also a node in my thyroid. So before I knew it, I got a referral to the hospital.

Still, I didn't thought much of it. I was 36 years old and felt good. My appointment was at the nuclear medicine. My doctor knew it was cancer the moment he did the ultrasound. There where three large nodes in my thyroid and more small ones. Furthermore, it was also in the lymph nodes on the left side. 

After those three words: 'this is cancer', everything happened really fast. Two days later I was back again for a PET CT scan. To see if it had spread any further.

When we got the results, we were in a room with three doctors: two surgeons and my nuclear medicine doctor. It had gotten a bit more complicated, because there also was a tumor in the bone of the right leg. A biopsy was needed to see if this was from the thyroid.

Just a week after the PET CT scan, I had the surgery. They removed my thyroid and all the lymph nodes on the left side, and off course a biopsy of the tumor in the leg. 

While I was recovering from the five hour surgery, we were waiting on the results. After a week I got the phone call, it was papillair thyroidcancer and it was found in 19  lymph nodes they removed. But the most important question for us was, what is the tumor in the bone, wasn't answered yet. The only thing they could say was, it isn't from the thyroid.

Weeks went by and still no answer.. It looked like a benign tumor, to confirm this they sent the biopsy to the national tumor board in Switzerland. When I was back again in the hospital for my check up post surgery, after 8 weeks, I got the confirmation that is definitely was benign. Follow-up wasn't necessary.

A month after surgery I was required back to the hospital at the nuclear medicine to talk about the next treatment: radioactive iodine. Surgery alone wasn't enough, it was needed to do this iodine treatment to kill any cancercells that might have been left behind after the surgery. 

So a week later I was admitted in the hospital for a five day stay. After taking the radioactive pill, I would become radioactive and therefore dangerous to the people around me. So a hospital stay made sense. 

Before I could go home, I needed to do a scan. It is called a scintigraphy. This is a type of scan that can pick up the radioactive iodine. Basically it could tell if there were any cancercells still in my body. I have to say it was quite challenging mentally, because I was in this scan for about 2 hours. All for the good cause, because no spots were found!! 

Now I'm taking thyroid medicine and that works really well. Furthermore I have frequently check ups, which means that they can see in my blood that I'm cancerfree.

It has changed a lot in my life, the way I see me and how I want to live my life. I am very grateful for what happened, because it opened my eyes for what is really important. Therefore, I thank my body for given my a warning signal that something was up and for everything it did to get me healthy.

This is just a very literal description of what happened medically. It is definitely not my whole story. So much more happened during this time in my life.  Do you want to what that is? 

I will tell you in my book! 

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