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When to get second opinion-recurrence possible?

Thyroid Cancer | Last Active: Mar 30 10:02pm | Replies (7)
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@lbrockme

I have had follicular ( Huertyle cell) as well.
My endo never did a biopsy in any of times I had a recurrence.
He felt that it was not a reliable indicator for the follicular carcinoma and that other factors would determine the need for treatment. I also have kidney cancer. I have had many CTs and MRIs that are without contrast and with contrast. They are usually done all at once... at least in my experience. They start an I.V. then they scan without the contrast , then administer the contrast and scan again. It doubles the time for me in mri's , especially as I have had a spread to my brain early on.
The different perspectives they get with and without contrast are helpful. Lots of advancement and knowledge grown in the 30 plus years since my first diagnosis .

I'm wondering. . . Did you ask your endo why he didn't want to do the biopsy ?
Or why he wanted both scans?

I have had to learn to ask those questions, to show them I want to understand as much as possible their thought process. I also try very hard to be respectful and not challenge them, but just try to understand to be part of the decisions. It also reduced my stress and concerns afterwards .

If you didn't ask him those questions, perhaps you could still do so ? Phone call? email?

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Replies to "I have had follicular ( Huertyle cell) as well. My endo never did a biopsy in..."
rion | @rion | Mar 30 7:52pm

Thank @lbrockme. Yes, I have stated to her twice that I was uncomfortable with the approach. First she wouldn't order based on the report until she could see the US image disk. Then when she did read the images, she said she wanted to see CT scan before making a decision and "if" they showed any concern she would readdress. Then the CT scans were done w/wo contrast and indicated possible lymphoproliferative process in the neck, a new lung nodule and an indeterminate liver lesion. So I approached her again and stated I feel that an FNA is indicated given my history, and the above. She just refuses to do anything else at this point. The last thyroid cancer occurrence involved lymphovascular invasion and extrathyroidal extension/focally adherent to skeletal muscle. A distant metastasis can significantly reduce survivor odds, as far as I understand. MD Anderson still does FNA for appropriate thyroid nodules and nodes, and perhaps they also wouldn't have done it at this point. But I believe it's more likely that they would have by now, just based on the number of years I was in their survivorship program.

I appreciate your response and am trying not to become overly dramatic about my case. I hope you are doing well!

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