Hello to all. I am 52 years old, male, married with 3 kids. For more than a year, I've noticed a lump growing in between the jawline and base at the left side of my neck. I paid no mind to it at first, since I felt no pain or discomfort. Towards the end of 2017, I started feeling strange sensations that seemed to emanate from around the lump. I also noticed a slight numbing of the area above the lump.
By the middle of January, my voice started to change. At first it became hoarse; then it became high pitched. I went to an ENT on the 1st week of March, 2018, and after the doctor viewed my throat with a laryngoscope, stated that I had laryngopharygeal reflux. When I asked about the lump in my neck, he replied that I had to have a ct scan to aid diagnosis. Unconvinced, I went to a friend who's a General Surgeon and had it checked. He said it was an enlarged lymph node and advised me to have it biopsied immediately, which I promptly did. Biopsy results of the lymph node showed PTC, follicular variant. I underwent a ct scan in preparation for thyroidectomy. When the General Surgeon saw my ct scan, he advised me to go to a specialist, since my ct scan results showed one sided vocal cord paralysis. I went to a specialist and was advised to undergo blood tests and a PET/CT scan for further evaluation and preparation for the surgery.
The surgery took 8 hours. He removed the whole thyroid gland, plus a selection of lymph nodes -- mostly from the left side of my neck, but some also from the center and the right side.
Due to the involvement of the laryngeal nerves, one of my greatest fears prior to surgery had been to wake up and find I've been given a tracheostomy. Thankfully, this wasn't the case. I found myself breathing normally, able to shrug and lift my arms, and swallow without much pain.
After the surgery, a drain was left in place for a couple of days, after which it was removed and I was discharged from the hospital.
Since my ionized calcium levels have been a little low, I've been prescribed calcitriol and calcium tabs.
I received the histopathologic report just 3 days ago, and found to my dismay that aside from the PTC follicular variant, they also found columnar variant in the tissues removed during surgery. The report also showed angioinvasion and neural invasion.
I am now in the process of preparing for RAI by undergoing a low iodine diet, which I started yesterday. Hopefully, I'll be able to proceed with the RAI by the 24th of this month.
I will update this from time to time, as soon as any development occurs.
