Medical Adventures: Part 2: Thyroid Spots and You

When we last left off, dear readers, we were being side tracked from hand issues by a side note on my MRI results: "Incidental note of bilateral thyroid cysts or nodules."

Thyroid cysts are super normal. You probably have them yourself. My mom has them so no real worries about this at all. The first thing I needed to do was get my blood work done to see all my thyroid levels. Again, results come back pretty quick. Everything is normal-ish. They are all in the normal range, but bumping right up against what would be considered high.

The next thing they do is an ultrasound of my neck. It wasn't painful and was far less traumatizing than the MRI. I made the tech laugh telling her about the time an ultrasound tech was freaking out because he couldn't find my gallbladder. I knew something was wrong because he had a very concerned look on his face. He finally told me what the issue was and I let him know I hadn't had a gallbladder in 10 years. This story always goes over well with ultrasound techs. Like I said before, I have had a lot of medical issues. The whole thing was light and fluffy and not worrisome at all.

The results come back and they have found five little buggers hanging out, not paying rent on my thyroid. Four of them are on the right side and one is on the left. This lone gunman is the source of all my stress for the next few weeks. He is not like the others. The others are smooth and solid which is what normal nodules are supposed to be, but not Lefty. Oh no. He has to be twice the size with jagged edges and be part fluid and part solid.

So now I need to go see an endocrinologist to determine what the next steps are and what to do about Lefty. I make my appointment and we go through all my medical history (a good couple of hours worth, but I condensed it to the relevant stuff). She asks me if I am tired. I laugh and say, well, I'm not sure if I am tired because of my thyroid or because I do so much stuff with work, school, friends, etc. She explains that Lefty could be nothing or not. The next test is where they stab my throat like a Capri Sun and determine if Lefty has cancer mob affiliations or if he is upstanding citizen.  
 
Next Up: Medical Adventures: Part 3: It is Either Cancer or You are Completely Fine