A thyroid-less life

Inside your neck, resting on your airway and right near your vocal cords you’ll find one of the lesser known organs inside your body. The thyroid. This little gland is shaped like a butterfly and the hormones it releases control every function of your body. Every. Single. One.

All is well and good, until the thyroid malfunctions or turns nasty. This happened to me throughout 2009. It was then, I learnt the extent the thyroid affected my every move. Everything I took for granted. The ability to sleep, the ability to be calm, the feeling of a regular heart rate free from palpitations, and many many other things.

The doctors told me “no, it can’t be your thyroid. You’re too young.” Just because I didn’t fit the “standard” stereotype of a thyroid patient. Although I am female, I wasn’t middle aged. I was 18. This went on for months. And all this time, I suffered. And it got worse, until it got to the point that there was obviously something in my neck. You could see it! And it was the size that it was affecting my swallowing. I was choking on certain foods because they just wouldn’t go down. It was at this point I finally got the surgery I needed.

But this isn’t really about me. It’s about the lack of awareness for thyroid disease. In America, every September is thyroid cancer awareness month. This is a great initiative, but, any initiative is only as good as the awareness that is around for the cause. And with thyroid, both in America and here in Australia, thyroid awareness is severely lacking.

Thyroid cancer doesn’t have the physical signs of other cancers – patients don’t lose their hair and most don’t get scarily thin from treatment. Some people see it as a lesser cancer or “the good cancer”. This frustrates many, myself included. A friend of mine, Lucy, who I wrote about here lost her life to thyroid cancer. The cancer that is considered to be one that doesn’t kill, killed my friend. It is real!

Those who do come through the other side of thyroid cancer live their life without a thyroid and because thyroid hormone is essential for life, are on thyroid replacements for life. This is also the case for people without a cancer diagnosis, but, due to thyroid disease, have had their thyroid removed.

This is my reality. My thyroid pills are in the fridge and every day, an hour before breakfast (or coffee) I take one. Maintaining the right hormone levels can be tricky. Blood tests are done regularly – every 4-6 weeks when levels are off target and 8-10 weeks when things are good. It is because of this, that the lady from the pathology that takes my blood is now quite a good friend of mine. We are on a first name basis and I know her partner and daughter.

Having been around groups of thyroid patients and people with the same reality as I, I have seen first hand the discussion this raises. Some people (myself included) are thankful that these medications are available so we can live thyroid-less, but some people never seem to reach this stage and complain about every aspect of a thyroid-less life. They claim that life will never be the same again for anyone who has thyroid surgery. I agree, life will never be the same.

But it’s not all doom and gloom…

Life without a thyroid can be good. I currently feel better than I ever did between 2008-2011. Yes, there are times the hormone levels drop and I feel a little poorly for a little while, but it ALWAYS gets better. I believe it’s about your attitude. It’s like everything, think the worst and the worst will happen. Think positive and positive will happen.

A friend of mine, who had her thyroid surgery 3 weeks ago created this graphic and I believe it sums things up nicely. Everything will be ok without a thyroid.

See, I have a theory. The scar from thyroid removal looks coincidently like a smile. So surely that’s a subtle message from the surgeon that it’s ok?! I had to go over my scar in eye pencil to be able to see it these days, because it’s so faint, but with some eyes, it looks like there’s a smile on my neck!

There is also a website in the making. Happy necks the concept, is now happynecks.org There’s a whole lot of fun stuff happening over there…check it out!

And if anyone is willing to reach for an eye pencil, or a lipstick and draw a smile on your neck (even if your thyroid is perfect) and share it with me, it would mean the world!!! Please do show me your happy neck…I would love to see!!