I had a thymoma removed April 21st, 2016.

It all started in January of 2016, I was having shortness of breath. I was first told it was my gallbladder and had surgery to remove it in February. When the shortness of breath continued, I was told it was anxiety. Knowing something was wrong, I went back to the clinic several times, finally pleading for further testing, a simple chest X-ray revealed a mass in my chest, a CT confirmed a baseball sized mass that was pushing up against my heart and lungs, causing the shortness of breath. I was scheduled for surgery with a cardiothoracic surgeon a week later. I was staged at a thymoma b2/b3. The tumor was encapsulated, except one small area of concern. The local pathologist felt there were some abnormal cells in that area. The local oncologist felt there was no concern. I decided to get a second opinion at Mayo. The first oncologist at Mayo felt radiation was a must. The radiation oncologist felt monitoring was a more appropriate approach due to my young age and the increase risk of other cancers with radiation. Because of these two separate recommendations, my case was brought to a board of oncologists. The final decision was to monitor by CT scan every 6 months. My first scan was clear. (Yay!) They said a thymoma is most likely to return within the first 2-5 years after resection. I am scheduled for my next follow up scan in April.

Jump to this post