This last month has gone by pretty quickly with so many doctor visits. I am working with new specialists on a possible diagnosis, but I don’t fully understand it yet to write about it in detail. The general overview is that she ran a bunch of tests, and so far, a few of them have come back with abnormal results. I’m trying to contain my excitement until we can review them together. On top of that, I also have some good news about my thyroid.
Thyroid Recap
I figured it might help to go over what’s been happening so far with my thyroid. During the search for the cause of my nerve pain, the doctors ran a few different scans on my neck. In the results, they found multiple nodules on my thyroid. Nodules are classified based on how suspicious they are, and they found three that were rated 4/5. With that score, it meant they needed to do another test to extract a small sample to make sure they weren’t cancerous. During the follow-ups, I learned that I have a thyroid issue called Hashimoto’s. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease that causes your body to attack your thyroid.
The bad news was that it wasn’t related to the nerve pain, so it was just another issue to manage. The good news, though, is that we found it early, so we can monitor it and keep an eye on my hormone levels. I was very relieved when they confirmed that the nodules weren’t cancerous. Additionally, my hormone levels have been fine whenever they test them, which means it could be a long time before I have to worry about it. This week, I was back in the doctor’s office for a follow-up to get the nodules rechecked.
The Rescan
Going into the rescan, I was a bit nervous because of how big the nodules were in the first scan. It’s also one of those things where you just assume they’ll get bigger. That’s why I was really surprised when the results came back and showed that two of the three nodules had disappeared. They said it’s fairly common with Hashimoto’s for the nodules to appear and then shrink back down. The third one that was still there didn’t change at all. Thanks to all that good news, I only have to schedule a yearly appointment to rescan my thyroid and keep an eye on the nodules.
I am really glad to get this kind of result. It has been a rough couple of weeks with so many doctor appointments, but I feel like this might be the start of a new chapter. The fact that my thyroid is hanging in there is a huge relief. It also means I can focus on figuring out the other issues I’ve been dealing with instead. The plan this week is to hopefully get the rest of the results back from the tests, and then my new doctor will come up with a plan for the next steps. I promise I won’t go another whole month without posting some updates this time!