Freaky Friday Medical Fact ~ Thyroid
January is thyroid awareness month. For my first “Freaky Friday Medical Fact” I chose these interesting facts about thyroid cancer.
• Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer. Thyroid cancer is a cancerous tumor or growth located within the thyroid gland.
• Thyroid cancer is one of the few cancers that has increased in incidence rates over the past several years. There are expected to be 11% more new cases in 2007 than in 2006 in the United States.
• The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be about 33,550 new cases of thyroid cancer in the U.S. in 2007. Of these new cases, about 25,480 will occur in women and about 8,070 will occur in men. About 1,530 people (880 women and 650 men) will die of thyroid cancer in 2007.
• Many patients, especially in the early stages of thyroid cancer, do not experience symptoms. However, as the cancer develops, symptoms can include a lump or nodule in the front of the neck, hoarseness or difficulty speaking, swollen lymph nodes, difficulty swallowing or breathing, and pain in the throat or neck.
• There are several types of thyroid cancer: papillary, follicular, medullary, anaplastic, and variants.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with Follicular thyroid cancer. As far as cancers go and thyroid cancer and specifically, follicular thyroid cancer is one of the most treatable cancers. I had stage II verging on stage III, the cancer had spread outside the thyroid but it had not spread into the lymph nodes. The treatment was a total thyroidectomy followed with radioactive iodine therapy. For more thyroid cancer information either click on this link Thyroid Cancer Survivors.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Freaky Friday Medical Fact ~ Thyroid Cancer
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6 comments:
Great news that you're doing well. Great info especially about your success with treatment.
I did a post about Thyroid Cancer Awareness on my blog too!
My Chronic Life
http://mychroniclife.com
MyChronicLife ~ Thank you =) Since my fibro has been flaring up, I completely forgot that January was Thyroid month. When I saw your post about it and then the question about the thyroid cancer, I thought that it would be a good first "Freaky Friday" post.
Glad to know you're a survivor!
Had no idea there were so many types of thyroid cancer. My ex was checked for thyroid diseases last summer, and the radiated iodine treatment was one option discussed.
My first visit here, via Entrecard.
Mo ~ Until I was diagnosed I had no idea either. Follicular is one of the better to have. As for the radioactive iodine I131, it is not much fun but way better than chemo. The worst part really is the "Low-Iodine Diet". I thought that I was going to starve. Tons of things you would not think have iodine in them. Here is a link to the diet info http://www.thyca.org/rai.htm#diet
Before this post I had never heard of Thyroid Cancer. If I see any suspicous bumps on any of my friends' necks I will tell them about the cancer.
Selene ~ The only time that I had heard of it was when Chief Justice Rehnquist died from Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer(I think?).
The lump on my neck was very small, I just thought that I was getting fat. I will try to get another post out next week about thyroid issues.
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