Thyroid Cancer
I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer 5 years ago. First I'll answer your questions.
1-Best resource for thyroid cancer is www.thyca.org.
2-There aren't too many options. Once diagnosed with thyroid cancer, you must have surgery to completely remove your thyroid gland. This is called a total thyroidectomy. Afterwards, you will have to take a pill everyday for the rest of your life. After surgery, most people will have RAI. That stands for radioactive iodine. Thyroid glands suck up iodiine. So the radioactive iodine goes in and "kills" any remaining thyroid tissue or cancer tissue. It's taken in the form of a pill. The radioactive isotope is called I-131. Some doctors will say that surgery is enough. But the RAI really is what goes in as the "cleanup crew" to kill any remaining cancer.
3-Thyroid cancer is a very slow spreading cancer (usually). If it spreads, it's usually to the lymph nodes nearby. Some very rare thyroid cancers can spread to the lungs or brain but usually it's slow.
Most thyroid cancers are very treatable and some would even say it's curable. First step for you will be an ultrasound of your thyroid. Next would be a biopsy which is called a Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA). A needle is inserted through your neck, into your thyroid, and cells are removed. Sounds painful but it's not. Takes less than a minute and feels like a pinch. If the results come back as cancer, you'll have the surgery and about 2 months after surgery you'll have the RAI.
