One Year Thyroid Free
Today marks one year since my thyroid surgery. God has blessed me with a smooth recovery and actually no medication changes over the last year which is amazing. Six months after surgery I was doing so well I no longer had to see the ENT surgeon every six weeks to check my levels and now my primary care doctor can handle the testing. I have felt so blessed with how well the recovery has been. I generally have more energy and feel like I sleep so much better. There are still days where I feel like the medication isn’t doing what it is supposed to do but overall I know having the surgery was the right decision, even if it took a lot of praying and convincing myself. Let me tell you I wish the year before my surgery had been as easy as the year after.
My thyroid journey actually began in March 2024. I went to see my primary care doctor for my annual physical. As the doctor was doing his exam he checked my thyroid and moved on to the next check. But I saw his demeanor change slightly and as soon as he finished with the eye test, he started feeling my throat again, and then declared that it seemed like my thyroid was enlarged and sent me for an ultrasound to confirm.
I was able to schedule the ultrasound appointment for a week or so later. I was feeling some apprehension, as one always does with medical tests. But as I was at the appointment, the ultrasound tech made two comments that made me worry even more. First as it was getting near the end of the ultrasound she said, “Sorry this is taking longer than normal.” This was my first ever ultrasound on my thyroid. I had no idea how long or short it should have been. It all seemed normal to me until that comment. Second, as I was getting ready to leave she asked me, “Do you have siblings?” I confirmed I did and she said, “Well let them know they should consider getting their thyroids checked also.” That really got my mind spinning. If she was telling me to have their thyroids checked also, that had to mean something was wrong with mine.
The ultrasound technician told me I should hear the results from my doctor in about a week. So, imagine my heightened anxiety when I’m sitting at work the next morning and my phone rings and it is the doctor’s office. They already had my ultrasound results and found some nodules on my thyroid that needed to be biopsied. The doctor’s office told me they would send a referral over to the ENT for the biopsy. After a week I still had not heard from the ENT office, so I called them and they had not received a referral. This started a month of calling multiple times a week trying to get an appointment, trying to figure out what happened to the referral and the whole time my frustration and anxiety are rising.
Somewhere in this waiting period, my pastor casually asked me how I was doing. I gave my standard answer of fine, but he must have noticed something because he asked again and specifically asked about my physical health. That was my undoing and I told him everything I was dealing with. Up to this point, I had been dealing with it all on my own. I hadn’t even told my sister what was going on. Just telling my pastor eased some of the anxiety going on in my mind. Knowing someone was praying for me and knew I wasn’t okay gave me a small amount of peace.
By the middle of May, I finally met with the ENT and he told me that he looked over the ultrasound and my thyroid is huge. Three times the size it should be. It has actually grown so big that the ultrasound couldn’t even capture the whole thing. He said it also had five nodules on it and I need to get a biopsy on the biggest one to determine our course of action. I scheduled the biopsy for a week or so later then went to see the ENT a couple weeks later. The entire time I’m fighting the voices in my mind telling me its cancer versus the ones telling me I am absolutely fine. All I know at this point is that I do not want to have surgery. I am almost in hysterics everyday thinking about surgery, cancer, recovery, and my anxiety is definitely taking its toll on me. When I went in for my follow up with the ENT, I knew one thing for sure- that I would not agree to surgery.
The ENT doctor said the biopsy showed that the nodule was benign but because they only biopsied one that there was still a 10-15 percent chance it was cancer, but they wouldn’t know until they took it out. Now I don’t know if God intervened, or there was a look on my face (probably a little bit of both) but the doctor told me to come back in six months, and we would see if the thyroid was growing or not. It was an answer to my prayers. I walked out feeling better than I had in months.
Somewhere in the middle of all this I finally reached the end of my rope. My nerves were so frayed and my whole life was consumed with my anxiety. I almost could not function because my mind was all consumed with fear and anxiety. I remember distinctly one day at work I had to get up from my desk and walk out behind our building. All I could do was cry out to God and tell him I couldn’t do it anymore. I needed him to take the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty from my mind. After that I felt a peace that I hadn’t felt in the three months since all of this started.
The next six months felt like a gift from God. I was able to process everything that had happened with being diagnosed with thyroid issues, possible (even if small) chance of cancer, and the probability of surgery. Never in this time did I actually want surgery, feel comfortable with surgery, and I definitely kept praying that God would somehow shrink my thyroid. September arrived and I had to have another ultrasound. I met with the doctor a week after the ultrasound and he informed me that my thyroid had grown in the last six months and that there was no other option besides surgery. This time I knew it was coming, I knew there was no escaping surgery. While I still wasn’t ready for it, I felt more at peace. A peace that could have only come from God.
Surgery was scheduled for a month and half later, November 19, 2024. I was anxious waiting for the surgery day to arrive but not overly anxious like I had been before. After surgery I found out that there was no cancer but thank goodness the doctor found it was enlarged since it had been blocking 50% of my airway. No wonder I could sleep and breathe better. Now I had finally allowed the people around me to be there for me. I will always be so grateful for the support of my friends, family, and church. The whole year was hard for me but God used it as part of my story of how He can take the worst situations and use them for His good. I never would have strengthened my relationship and trust in Him without having to go through this whole ordeal. He has truly blessed my recovery from the first day after surgery and continues to do so, and keep my health steady. I have learned to rely on Him and those around me that he had ordained to be part of my life. God uses the worst situations to build our faith, and while I wish I had not had to go through this whole ordeal, but God used it to capture my attention, knowing it had to be something dramatic to pull me out of my complacency.
Much love,
Victoria