Thyroid cancer: A disease you get when abnormal cells begin to grow in your thyroid gland.
I will never forget that day when I found out my sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I remember walking into the house, and the house being dead silent. I knew something was wrong, my parents were being very secretive and talking among themselves in the kitchen. Finally, my mom pulled me aside and told me that my sister was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer and would receive surgery that winter break. I was only a sophomore in high school, and nothing tragic had happened in my life yet. I was scared and confused. I couldn’t understand why it had to be my family. My sister went to school two hours away from home, so it was hard to not be able to see her. She came home that weekend, and when my mom told her, the world came crashing down. It was her senior year of college and now she had to deal with this. She was supposed to live it up and not have to worry about anything. When my sister got surgery for the first time it was very scary. None of us knew what to expect. The surgery was six hours, and it was the longest six hours of my life. My sister finally came out of surgery and recovered well. Finally, everything was coming back together—until we found out she was diagnosed once again two years later. This time I was a senior in high school. We weren’t as scared this time around, but we couldn’t understand why it had to target us two times. Her second surgery was more difficult, and took longer for her to recover but she was OK. We thought our bad luck was over…until my time came around.
After a very tough freshman year of college, I had finally met my close group of friends at school and couldn’t wait to live it up my sophomore year. My best friend and I had so many plans for that upcoming year. Two weeks before school started up again I got my yearly checkup on my thyroid. My doctor wanted me to be checked out as well. My mom knew something was up by the way the ultra sound was going. The woman was shaken up, and wouldn’t talk to us. I didn’t want to believe anything was going on because I was finally excited for school. My mom and I spent the day shopping when three hours later I got a call from my doctor telling us I needed to get a biopsy.
I don’t think I ever cried that much in my life.
I knew that there was a possibility I could get cancer as well but I didn’t want to believe it. The hardest thing for me was to watch my mom cry as well. She wanted to hold it in for me, but I can’t imagine the position she was in to watch her only two daughters go through a major surgery.
My mom told me to go to school and forget about it. She didn’t want me to stress and over think. I had fun my first few weeks of school, and was on the right track. I changed my major to education and was happier than I’ve ever been.
The day of my biopsy is when it hit me. I was getting checked to see if I had cancer. Cancer, I couldn’t understand why God had chosen my family to infect this disease with.
Sadly, it was cancer. They caught mine very early. When I told my best friends they were very upset. They didn’t understand the disease like I did. They never had the experience to watch someone else go through it.
It was very tough for me to focus in school; all I wanted was my mom. The months leading up to surgery were hard for me. I was able to celebrate Christmas and New Years before surgery and I had fun but it was always in the back of my mind.
As crazy as it sounds, the hardest thing for me to accept was my scar. I am 20 years old; I don’t want a scar on my neck. I don’t want to cover with a scarf or make up. I was scared what people would think, or if they would run scared from me.
The morning of surgery I didn’t talk much. I was in a blank daze and didn’t want to talk to anyone. They took me early, which scared the shit out of me. I remember doctors kept coming up and talking to me and holding my hand. Brigham and Women is an amazing hospital, and they treated my family so well.
All I remember is being rolled down the hallway and a mask was put over my face and just like that I woke up in recovery. My first instinct was to call out for my mom. I cried automatically and begged to see my mom. I remember seeing her, my dad and sister walk down to me and all I wanted to do was hug them, but of course I fell asleep—knocked out from the drugs.
I recovered really well and spent two days in the hospital. I got grumpy at times and just wanted to go home. I remember the hospital bed was probably the most uncomfortable thing in the world. I had really bad back pain from the bed; the back pain hurt me more than my neck did. The nurses and doctors were amazing to me. They all spoiled me and loved giving me attention.
After two days in the hospital I was finally home. It was the best to just sit around and watch TV all day. My friends were always in and out of my house. Three days after I came home from surgery I had a huge scare. Because of the thyroid being taken out, my calcium was low. I needed to take calcium pills. I was on Oxycodone for the pain and the pills were making me sick. I felt very weak and nauseous and was not myself. Before I went into the shower I felt tingling in my arms and fingers and I couldn’t move. I was laying on the bathroom floor when my mom came in. My mom freaked out and took me to the walk-in center. My calcium didn’t drop but no one could figure out why I felt so sick. They figured it was the pain medicine and gave me something else. It was a very scary moment, because we didn’t know what was wrong with me. I had never felt that tired or sick before.
Post op was that Friday. We were expecting good news but of course my family never receives good news. They were scared that the cancer spread and I was going to receive another surgery in the summer. I remember breaking down in the room, and my surgeon trying to calm me down. My parents didn’t even know how to react. No one knew how to react.
I was once again going back to school thinking in the back of my mind that I was going to have cancer again. I didn’t want another surgery. I couldn’t do another surgery. My scar would finally be healed and then it was going to be cut open again. It wasn’t fair.
I had another biopsy in March and I remember it hurt more than the last time. It was very painful, and I didn’t want to go through this whole process again. All I kept thinking was another surgery, more back pain and more surgery.
I was expecting the worst when I got the call three days later…luckily there was no cancer. I wouldn’t have to go through another surgery but it was going to be a long recovery for me.
I have to get checked on every six months and in the summer I have to receive radioactive iodine. It’s going to be a long journey for both me and my sister. We are always going to have that fear in our minds that it could be back anytime, or anywhere.
This whole journey has made me into a stronger person. It made me grow older faster than others. I am a cancer survivor!
And to whoever keeps saying thyroid cancer is the “easy kind,” it isn’t.
