2. Trips to the Doctor

There are five ways to diagnose thyroid disease. One way to test for thyroid disease is a blood test. A blood test can check the amount of thyroid hormones present in your blood. The doctor can determine based on whether your thyroid levels are too high or too low if you have thyroid disease.  (Office on Women's Health) The first test I took was a blood test and the results showed that my thyroid levels were normal. But after some more tests, they discovered something. The doctor wanted to perform an ultrasound on my neck just to be sure my thyroid was normal. A thyroid ultrasound is another test that is used to diagnose thyroid disease. Sound waves are used that allow doctors to create a computer image of the thyroid (Office on Women's Health). It is the same type of ultrasound that expecting mothers get. When the doctor came back with my results, he gave us some unexpected news. He told us that I had a 1 mm cyst in my thyroid area. Because it was very small, he told us it wouldn’t cause much problems as long as there wasn’t any sudden growth. And of course, there was a “but” to his news. He said that they found a layer of calcium around this cyst of mine, and that usually pointed to signs of thyroid cancer. Once my mom heard that last word, she broke down. The idea of cancer is one of the worst things that people try to shield themselves from and pray that it misses them. The doctor tried to reassure us by saying that the layer of calcium around my cyst was not a definite sign of thyroid cancer and that he wanted to do more tests.

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I had to go to a different hospital. I don't remember much, but I do remember that the room that I was supposed to go in had the sign “radioactive” on the door and I wasn’t sure whether or not I was in the right place, but it turned out that I wasn't mistaken. My dad came with me to make sure I was okay and because he was familiar with the testing, seeing that he has thyroid disease. The doctor seated me and asked me the typical series of awkward questions. She looked over the paperwork and then went to her cabinets and table and came back with a pill in a cup. Just as I was reaching for the pill, she told me that I couldn't touch the pill because it was radioactive. Something in my expression must have told her that I was uncomfortable with taking a radioactive pill. She quickly explained to me that the pill wouldn't hurt me and my thyroid would collect the radioactive iodine from the pill and that it would help her determine how my thyroid was functioning and on what level. This is another test that doctors use to diagnose thyroid disease. If the thyroid only uses a little of the radioactive iodine from the pill, it means that the thyroid is not making enough hormones and vice versa. (Office on Women's Health) I took the cup and I tried my very best to avoid having the pill touch my lips and I threw it into my mouth and swallowed it. It was a very odd feeling and I didn't know what quite to think. After a couple of minutes, she did an additional scan on my thyroid area and recorded her observations. This is another diagnosing test used by doctors called the thyroid scan. The thyroid scan uses the radioactive iodine from the pill and creates an image of someone's thyroid with a special camera. This test is mainly used to tell whether or not someone's thyroid is cancerous. (Office on Women's Health) It felt like another ultrasound. After she was done and I was all cleaned up, she told me that I would hear the results from my family doctor and dismissed my dad and I. As I left the hospital, I couldn't stop thinking that there was something radioactive inside my body, sitting in my stomach. And I just felt uneasy with myself.


The last test a doctor can use to diagnose thyroid disease (I wasn't given this test) is a thyroid fine needle biopsy. A biopsy is performed on the thyroid where a thin needle would be placed in the thyroid and withdraw cells from it. These cells would then be analyzed to determine if there was something unusual with them. Unusual cells typically pointed to signs of cancer. (Office on Women's Health)



Works Cited

1. Office on Women's Health. "Thyroid disease fact sheet." Last modified July 16, 2012. http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/thyroid-disease.html