share: Thyroid cancer is not the good cancer, straight out of THYCA newsletter
No Such Thing As "Good Cancer"
By Some of ThyCa's Lifetime Members
We've all heard it at one time or another: "If you have to get cancer, then this is the one to get." "Thyroid cancer is good cancer," and similar statements. These comments fail to take into account just how serious and complex thyroid cancer can be.
Those of us who have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer know these statements aren't true. There is no "good cancer."
Telling someone diagnosed with papillary or follicular thyroid cancer that he or she has an excellent prognosis for a long life of living with thyroid cancer is reasonable. Telling the same person that he/she has "good cancer" diminishes both how dangerous the disease can be, and what the person diagnosed is going through.
Medical professionals need to speak to us in the same way they discuss any other cancer, so that we will realize how important lifetime monitoring is even when we have a good prognosis. Not clearly delivering this message can lead survivors to not understand how important lifetime monitoring and follow-up are to managing their thyroid cancer.
To put things in context, when someone feels poorly and goes to the doctor for a checkup, the doctor may say, "you have a bad cold." How can a person be told he or she has a "bad cold," but can have "good cancer"?
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Valerie
Thanks so much for posting this and how true your words are.
Because many thyroid cancers have good survival rates (especially the most common types of thyroid cancer -papillary and follicular, that you spoke of, which have survival rates of over 95%)I think people think it's somehow less serious. But cancer is cancer!
And the rare form of thyroid cancer, anaplastic, is very, very serious.
I hope you are getting the support you need, Valerie. And you can always come to Empowher for a boost, when you need one. In addition, I'm sure you have some very valuable information you can share with us.
January 31, 2009 - 12:28pmThis Comment
Valerie, I learned something today. So thank you.
I can see how in a certain situation I might have thought or said that at some point. My meaning wouldn't have been that thyroid cancer is good, just that some others seem so very bad, especially those that seem to be impossible to treat. But I can totally see how to a person with thyroid cancer, a comment like this diminishes what they are feeling and dealing with.
I'm surprised that you get this from the medical community, though.
Perhaps it's that they see everything in degrees. I can imagine an orthopedist looking at an x-ray and saying, "If you have to break a bone, this is the one to break," meaning it's easier to heal then some other bones. But that doesn't mean it hurts any less.
Devil's advocate: If I was a patient just learning that I had cancer, I actually think it would be comforting to me to hear a doctor say it was a "good" kind. That wouldn't make me feel like I was off the hook by any means, but rather that it was something I could beat, or live with. I would imagine that any doctor who regularly diagnoses cancer patients gets used to the stark terror we feel upon hearing the word, and perhaps this is their attempt to mitigate that fear, not an attempt to minimize the seriousness of the disease.
January 31, 2009 - 1:22pm@Valerie, so grateful for this, and I hope what I say below doesn't convince you that my words are to be taken with grain of salt.
Because,
@Diane: I know you meant well. Still, your words seemed very much those of someone who has not experienced cancer or thyroid cancer first-hand.
Because honestly, when shocked by diagnosis at age 30, all I wanted was as much practical, straightforward information as possible. I felt trivialized by needlessly upbeat phrases like "good cancer" which only served to make me feel like I shouldn't and couldn't complain and that it was unreasonable to sink into more than a year of depression following diagnosis. And, for all the support of wonderful friends (and some who weren't -- serious illness can be a useful way to weed-out those who maybe didn't belong in your life to begin with), I was and am in this disease with myself alone.
It's brave for patients to speak out about actual experiences with the disease. We all need a hell of a lot more patients to tell the truth, and not feel like they're unimportant.
We *desperately* need more than a few more endocrinologists willing to listen to patients instead of merely reading out lab results.
Our culture needs more honesty from cancer patients in general, as the incessant cheeriness thrust on people with diseases far, far worse than mine -- see Barbara Ehrenreich's writings on breast cancer, for example -- can be profoundly alienating to many. (Of course, I've no doubt this helps many others.)
Of course all things are relative, and I'm lucky enough to have a more minor cancer.
But glossing over issues related to disease is a serious issue in the medical community. The vast majority of what I've learned about thyroid cancer came not from treatment at a "top medical central" but from fellow patients (...I hate the word "survivor" in this context, for I'm more just...alive). I've never been so grateful to find a group of plucky, mostly female women [on the internet] than those on the thyca mailing list.
No doctor advised that synthetic thryoid would not feel same as natural (though in retrospect, a big DUH to me): after no trouble w/ weight in my whole life, I'd gain 20+ lbs over 2 years, and that excessive sweating (such that it's not actually manageable, in any way, at all), rapid heartbeat, water retention, insomnia, brain fog/forgetfulness, etc. make me regularly "joke" that I'm going through menopause.
True, thyca patients don't have it so bad most of the time. We take our meds (with side effects) and dutifully go in for blood work, not such a big deal. We have our scans, we fear the future surgeries worse than the prior ones, and the cancers that will come after this one.
Downplaying the reality of disease sure didn't help me survive 2 very rough years getting used to my new life, and it didn't change the fact that I had and have cancer.
For this, and other cancers, are not cured, but managed. For vast majority of "lucky" thyca patients such as myself, life goes on. But when the body has betrayed us like this -- especially, I think, those diagnosed at younger age -- life continues in a very different way.
January 30, 2012 - 5:59amThank you for saying that Valerie.
I have thyroid cancer myself, and I can't tell you how SICK and TIRED I am of hearing people say that to me, especially medical professionals.
Good prognosis for most, yes. Good cancer? NO!
February 10, 2009 - 1:14pmI was just wondering if you know if after you have thyroid removal and a
March 30, 2009 - 6:38amradical neck surgery for this cancer, is it possible to get another lump and it be cancer? My husband had this just about one year ago, and last night told me he has found another lump on the opposite side of his neck. I am so scared for him and myself. Just wondering if you new or anyone reading this. Thanks.
The best thing I can tell you is not to panic. The next thing would be is to call your Doctor and make an appointment. I know it is scary when you find something and not knowing is the worst part. They need to do some tests, blood work and I would suggest a ultra sound. That way they can get a better idea what it might be.
March 30, 2009 - 9:11amI have not even been given a diagnosis yet and I am already hearing the "good Cancer" comments. My thyroid TSH has been all over the board. It was high in June and meds were changed....then it went drastically low...then lower. My gynecologist sent me to an endocrinologist and he had a ultrasound done with a real-time sonograhic evaluation. The findings were: "right lobe of the thyroid gland is heterogeneous with fatty infiltration suggesting "burnt out" thyroiditis. No discrete nodules are demonstrated (this sounds good). But then....the left lobe of the thyroid gland is heterogeneous with fatty infiltration. A discrete hyperechoic nodule within the midpole measuring 0.6 x 0.6 . 0.5 cm associated with increased flow. No other nodules are demonstrated. Isthmus is normal at 2.5 mm. No increased flow demonstrated." I have been hypo for 22 years. I have Hashimoto's Disease. The doctor ordered a FNA and I am going tomorrow morning. I am petrified. Not of the procedure...I can handle pain...but does it hurt? I have read that hyperechoic is a good thing...meaning that it is not solid. But I am so scared. If it is not cancer...will they remove the nodule? Do you have to have chemotherapy? There is thyroid cancer in my fam....my uncle has it. I am worried.
October 20, 2009 - 8:26pmDon't be afraid of anything. That is not the way to look at this. I had hashimoto's also. I noticed you wrote this last night so you won't read this until after you FNA. It wasn't that bad was it. It's like going to the dentist you know it hurts a little, but you go anyway! You need to take a deep breath. When you go to your Endo ask him as many questions that you can think of ( write them down) also I don't know where you live, but there is a support group called THYCA call them they can help. Look under local support groups on their website at www.thyca.org Stay strong you will be fine.
October 21, 2009 - 5:59amHello and thank you for commenting on my post. You are right, it truly was not bad at all...just like the shot at the dentist's office. The people at my hospital were so nice and truly caring. The doctor that took the sample was making me laugh after it was over, so all in all it was a positive experience. I hope that the results are benign so I can put this aside. No matter what....I will be fine. Thanks for your support and I will let you know what the results are. I have a feeling I will know tomorrow. The young lady that took the slides said that it looked good, but of course, they need to be examined.
October 21, 2009 - 11:17amMarie - best of luck to you and thanks for finding EmpowHer. Please keep us posted as to your diagnosis and prognosis. Here's hoping for that "b" word! Let us know!
October 21, 2009 - 11:39am