Chapter 9:
The Ultrasound
As recommended, I followed up with my doctor the following week. “What the heck?” she said. I know, right? I said as I got up from the small sofa in the exam room. She followed up with “You’re too young to be getting blood clots. We need to investigate a bit more after you’re done with the treatment. I want to keep you on blood thinners for 3 months and we can do blood work after that to see what’s going on” she said. Ok, what about the nodules on my thyroid, I’m a bit concerned with that, I said. “Yeah, I’m going to schedule you for an ultrasound, your blood work back in April looked fine and your thyroid levels are normal.” Ok, that’s good to know, I said, trying to read between the lines.
It was the first week of September when I had the first neck ultrasound. September already?! I was a little late but they took me in anyways. I had a feeling about this so I really wanted to make the appointment. “Have you had a biopsy before?” asked the tech. No, did you look at the CT Scan? I asked. “Yes. We see the nodules, how did you end up here?”, she asked. Oh, I went to the ER last week, it turned out to be a blood clot, so they did a CT Scan of my chest and it revealed the nodules on the Thyroid and here I am. “Ok, don’t worry. She’ll have a look first and I’ll finish the exam to make sure we get a good picture”. The main technitian had an entry level tech who did the first scan. She was thorough, but I’m glad she took her time. They stepped outside to give me some privacy while I cleaned myself up, and when I stepped outside to meet them, I could tell they were worried. “Ok, we’ll let your care team know when these are ready, have a nice day” she said. I looked at both of them, knowing they looked concerned and said, “Thanks, have a nice day as well”.
The results came back a few hours later and were posted in my patient portal. My doctor was quick to respond, knowing I would be concerned. “Ultrasound findings came back. They are recommending a biopsy for both nodules. One is on the left and one is on the isthmus (the bridge connecting both sides of the thyroid). I’ll set up an order so that you can schedule it”. I read the ultrasound report, “highly suspicious” is not what I wanted to read.
Chapter 10: The Biopsy
