It’s been nearly ten years since I got rear-ended by a semi.
That set into motion a chain of events that led to me focusing more on my physical health. Scans, specialists, and surgeries — some directly related to the collision, some related only tangentially.
Several months after the accident, my neck was still nowhere close to feeling normal. (Spoiler alert: it never did get back to normal.) I’d been given a CAT scan in the ER on the day of the accident, and my chiropractor ordered x-rays eight months later. After the x-rays came back, she sent me for an MRI for further details on the soft tissues of my neck. The MRI found what she was looking for: a herniated disc in my neck.
The MRI also found a 3cm mass on the left lobe of my thyroid.
A flurry of referrals and appointments and tests confirmed that the nodule was NOT cancerous, and that my thyroid hormone levels were in the normal range. My new endocrinologist made sure I understood that if I were to have trouble breathing or swallowing, we would need to pursue surgery to remove the left half of my thyroid.
Fast-forward to a couple months ago. Finally, after years of insistent annual reminders about the option of surgery, the symptoms finally got to be too much. I’d started snoring more, my voice had started getting hoarse at seemingly random times, and the mass was pressing uncomfortably on my collarbone. My endocrinologist referred me to a surgeon who specializes in this sort of thing — and who I found to be quite personable when I met with him to discuss the surgery.
One week from today, my surgeon will be removing the left half of my thyroid gland, which now measures upwards of four centimeters in diameter. It’s taking up so much space in my neck that it’s pushed my trachea off-center, which I hadn’t even noticed until the surgeon pointed it out.
I’m anxious about the surgery while also looking forward to recovery.