This is the @CancerInterviews podcast.  On this episode, Elise Fourie of Pretoria, South Africa tells us how she found herself with mouth ulcers.  That led to a visit to a doctor who said tests revealed Elise had two nodules on her thyroid, and a subsequent diagnosis of follicular thyroid cancer.

 

For Elise Fourie, all seemed well with her health until October 2002 when she had mouth ulcers.  She said they were like sores, there were quite a few of them, they were painful, and over-the-counter remedies were of no help.

 

First came a visit to her doctor after which she was sent to the emergency room.  That’s where tests revealed two nodules on her thyroid and a referral to a surgeon.  He immediately wanted a biopsy of her thyroid.  Although the biopsy was inconclusive, the surgeon wanted to remove the thyroid right away and afterwards determine if the tissue was cancerous.  Elise was well-versed as to the significant, multi-faceted role one’s thyroid plays, how important memory is for a psychologist, and how the lack of a thyroid could result in lack of memory.  She pleaded with the surgeon to remove the nodules but to leave the thyroid intact, but the surgeon said that couldn’t be done.  Elise then said the surgeon informed her of her diagnosis in the most “amazing way.”  He said, “If God tells you that you have to have cancer, but you can choose which, you choose this type.”  For Elise, it was follicular thyroid cancer, it was a good prognosis, but it was still cancer.  She could not figure out its source as nobody in her family had a history of cancer.  The procedure went up the esophagus and the left lobe was removed.

 

After the surgery, she underwent two rounds of radioactive iodine.  Elise said one diagnosed with follicular thyroid cancer needs to receive radioactive iodine until the cancer is killed.  She said the norm is for one to go through two rounds, and thankfully that was her experience.  Elise was also glad she did not have to endure chemotherapy treatment.

 

While Elise Fourie preferred radioactive iodine to chemotherapy, the radioactive iodine resulted in swollen glands that left her “looking like a chipmunk.”  While the glands were swollen, it dictated a great deal as to what she could and couldn’t eat.

 

Even after she stopped the visits, Elise had to come to grips with the fact that she no longer had a thyroid.  While the thyroid affects memory, it also affects energy.   Elise eventually shifted to euthyrox, a medication that could be administered in smaller dosages.  Nonetheless, periodically, Elise must go in to get checked to make sure her dosage is correct.  If it isn’t the dosage must be adjusted.  This is a source of concern to her as each time she goes in for a checkup there is this uncertainty.  She is also concerned about the availability of her thyroid medication, because without it, she would slowly die.

 

Elise had to go in for two treatments.  After the first one, she had to be checked out by a scintigraph, a scan which pinpoints all one’s thyroid cells and shows a light in the location of each cells.  She lit up like a Christmas tree and thought she looked quite pretty that way; after the second treatment, there were no lights at all.  Elise wasn’t as pretty, but much happier.

 

 

 

Additional Resources:

 

Cancer Association of South Africa: https://cansa.org.za