In 2000 I had a thyroid nodule that was growing pretty quickly. The endocrinologist said it was "precancerous" and needed to come out. My entire thyroid was removed. The surgeon said "we got it all", but I was never told definitively whether it was cancer or not. Since then I've been taking synthroid or levoxyl. My T4/T3 seemed OK and I was feeling OK, but I wasn't being followed for any sort of cancer. Last October I noticed a growth in my neck in the thyroid bed. The results of an ultrasound looked pretty scary, but two biopsies didn't detect anything. After surgery in January, the 3.5 cm lump was found to be solid Hurthle Cell Cancer. IRT last week showed a very small invasion in the neck area, and I'll find out if any of it was killed by the radiation in two days. I'm hoping against hope that the radiation worked, because HCC is very stubborn.

In my opinion, when my "thyroid grew back", the lump should have been removed immediately. If my thyroid was completely removed 20 years ago, what else could it be but cancer? Even if non-malignant, you don't want extra tissue hanging around. Additionally, HCC is difficult to detect vis biopsy. Whatever it was, I would have chosen to remove it. As a good friend of mine always says, "why fool around?"

Thanks for listening and good luck everyone!