My home is Jasper is in the north Georgia mountains about 60 miles north of the Atlanta metro area. We moved there on December 23, 2006 to get away from the stress, traffic and high-paced life of a major metropolitan area that I had been in all my life.
On the way home, I called my wife Kim and my parents and told them that everything was OK, and that I biopsy was scheduled for the next day. Silence. Dread. No one wants to hear the word biopsy. Cancer is really not known in my family. It is something that other people have. I told everyone that is just precautionary--cancer of the thyroid is very rare. A goiter, or the growth of a thyroid is common--with many people having a minor growth, living with it, and never even knowing their thyroid has grown. 80% of all goiters are benign. With my family history, I would likely be one more in the family to not have cancer. I was not worried. The thyroid had been large for years. My internist, Dr. James Capo, at a large medical practice in Atlanta, had never even mentioned that my thyroid was enlarged, so I was sure it would not be cancer.
