I went into a small room with just enough room for a small exam bed/table and the ultrasound equipment. A technician in her 30's came in and said that the exam would only take a few minutes. She asked me to lay back, and arch my neck back, essentially by putting my head off the table. This was so the thyroid would be stretched out. She then put ointment on my neck and then touched a blunt probe hooked to a computer to my neck. She scrolled up and down and across my neck. Occasionally, should would stop, press a button on the equipment and out would come a Polaroid picture. She took picture after picture.
Dr. Wotten walked in and looked surprised. "You took all those pictures?, he asked.". She commented simply "yes". This was not a good sound to me. OK. So she takes 15-20 pictures of my thyroid and he thinks this is a lot. Why? Maybe because of the big size? Maybe because she sees something that she thinks is important? Something bad?
Dr. Wotten said--"Steve, we need to do a fine needle biopsy. I want to see if this is cancer." My mind started to get fuzzy. So, why the concern now? What did he see? So I bluntly asked: "What do you see?" "Well, Steve. This is big. It is a multiple of the size of a normal thyroid and when they get this big, there is a chance it is cancer. But, in most cases, they are benign--we just want to be sure." Dr. Wotten asked if I could return the next day to do a fine needle biopsy. A fine needle biopsy is when he takes a very thin needle on a syringe and inserts it into my thyroid at several points, to withdraw some cells. The cells are then biopsied to determine if the growth is malignant or not.
Dr. Wotten walked in and looked surprised. "You took all those pictures?, he asked.". She commented simply "yes". This was not a good sound to me. OK. So she takes 15-20 pictures of my thyroid and he thinks this is a lot. Why? Maybe because of the big size? Maybe because she sees something that she thinks is important? Something bad?
Dr. Wotten said--"Steve, we need to do a fine needle biopsy. I want to see if this is cancer." My mind started to get fuzzy. So, why the concern now? What did he see? So I bluntly asked: "What do you see?" "Well, Steve. This is big. It is a multiple of the size of a normal thyroid and when they get this big, there is a chance it is cancer. But, in most cases, they are benign--we just want to be sure." Dr. Wotten asked if I could return the next day to do a fine needle biopsy. A fine needle biopsy is when he takes a very thin needle on a syringe and inserts it into my thyroid at several points, to withdraw some cells. The cells are then biopsied to determine if the growth is malignant or not.
