Thyroid Cancer

The Ghosts of Cancer That Haunt Us

I think of supporting our cancer patients and survivors who have dealt with the Ghosts of Cancer by showing how we can deal with our own Ghosts of cancer to our cancer patients and survivors. When they are experiencing cancer and grieving losing their relationship with their spouses, siblings, and family members or losing someone who had cancer, it can be very painful. 

Hidden But Not Forgotten: A Story About Refractory Cancer

Dear Cancer,

I remember being diagnosed with you back when I was 27. How the simple words, “You have cancer,” changed my life in an instant. I was alone with a pathologist and a radiologist, not exactly hearing the words that were being spoken to me.

What I Wish I Knew About Getting a Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis

I wanted to write about some things I wish knew about thyroid cancer. I just know how scary and frightening a thyroid cancer diagnosis is. I went through thyroid cancer treatment and radioactive iodine treatment for my thyroid cancer. It can be a scary experience for anyone who has a family history of thyroid issues. As a thyroid cancer survivor, it can make you feel a lot of mixed emotions, and it can cause some toxic thoughts.

How to Support Friends Through Survivor’s Guilt

I think it is important to support cancer patients who are going through their cancer journey. There are many cancer survivors who are struggling with survivor’s guilt and have lost someone who has been through cancer.

Finding and Losing Myself

In 2012 I was invited to a celebration for cancer survivors at which I spoke about finding my sense of self again after cancer. I still have a printed photograph from the event. On that glossy paper I was captured wearing a sleeveless white dress with a red sash. I looked healthy, and I was smiling. I was 22 years old.

The Invisible Battle

It all started when I was diagnosed with Graves disease and thyroid nodules in the summer of 2020. I was told I was a complex case but my endocrinologist never said the word cancer to me, so it never even crossed my mind. Being 33 years old and diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer is never something I could have imagined. 

Will I Ever Fully “Survive?”

Survivorship – this word itself is loaded. I always thought that to survive meant that you “fought” something and you “made” it. You are now living and existing, despite facing a difficulty. On some level, to me, the word survive itself implies that you are not living your life to its full potential. My core belief has always been that life is meant to be lived fully.

How I Overcame My Fears During Thyroid Cancer By Using My Faith

Two years ago I went through total thyroidectomy surgery on June 3rd, 2020. Since I was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma thyroid cancer on June 5th, 2020, it felt like my whole world has turned upside down. It’s like I was in a downward spiral with all the emotions of feeling lost, lonely, depressed, and angry when I found out that I was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma thyroid cancer.

Panic! At the Ultrasound

Alone, I walk into one of the buildings in the conglomerate towering over me. Past the check-in desk, then left across the atrium. Pink ribbons dapple the windows looking into the waiting room I am heading toward. It isn’t long before a young woman in pink scrubs appears and calls my name. She seems remarkably unbothered, while I am bracing for the ground to drop out from under me. It could happen at any second.

Prescription of Nature

I’m tired. Like to-the-bone weary, at a point where I switch into autopilot mode and float, not present in the moment, or really in the past or future, just tired. So, let’s talk about how I got here. It’s a mix of a glorious adventure in nature and sterile walls and fluorescent lights all in the matter of a week.