YoungBoy - Re: Thyca and men - Waiting for my first scan in May 6 months after surgery

[Guest guest]

" yb_lim2000 " wrote:

> I am a 46 year old man and I had a small lump under my skin on

> my right shoulder, which turned out to be cancerous

> (adenocarcinoma).

> Fortunately, and after 3 pathology labs (including Sloan

> Kettering in NY) the doctors concluded it was primary

> sweat-gland cancer, very very rare stuff.

Hi, YoungBoy; welcome to the group.

You certainly have had a long and unusual journey to your thyca

discovery!

> All the pathology labs wanted the slides for their

> library :-)

you must be so proud :-)

> So, because of my skin cancer, I discovered the cancer in the

> Thyroid.

> I was told that Thyca is not common in men. I am wondering if

> any men who has Thyca that metasized to the lymph nodes and

> is undergoing treatment?

>

> I am wondering if there are any particular information or facts

> that I should know specific to Thyca in men?

You're absolutely correct that papillary is far more common in

women, by a factor of about three to one. However, we have several

male members, and hopefully some of them will write in with their

experiences.

There are two factors that come to my mind that you should be aware

of. While thyca and its treatments don't seem to affect fertility

in women, RAI does seem to affect fertility in men. I don't know

if this is a particular concern for you, but it's something to know.

More importantly, while papillary thyroid cancer is generally

considered to be extremely treatable, the mortality rate for men is

higher than for women. All of us must remain vigilant for life,

monitoring for recurrence, and men even more so. Don't ever be

lulled into thinking that you are cured, and that you don't have to

maintain TSH suppression and be monitored regularly.

I have some questions/comments for you:

- do you know what your current TSH is?

- were you advised to follow a low iodine diet before both your RAI

treatment and upcoming scan?

- your completion surgery was in December? When was your

ablation? Having a scan in May sounds a little too soon to me.

Generally 5-6 months is considered the absolute minimum for a follow

up scan, so you do fall into that range, but unless you have a

particular reason for scanning in May, you might want to consider

waiting an extra month or two.

- are you being treated in Hong Kong? I ask this one because you

refer to your RAI dosage in milliCuries; I was under the impression

that the US is one of the few countries using that measurement (as

opposed to MBq).

-

NYC

TT 2/99 dx pap/foll; RAI 100 mCi 3/99 & 4/00; clean scan 3/02;

current TSH ~.06 on .225 levothyroxine

(for help in deciphering this, and for other frequently used

abbreviations, see

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/message/21248 )