I hope with evidence of thyroid disease you got a full thyroid panel and antibodies tests? Always get a copy of all test results and reports from diagnostics. You should be able to access your tests and report in your online records otherwise get copies from your doctor’s office. Copies of all tests is one of your patient rights.
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COL, thanks for seconding my suggestion to get a kidney function panel and seeing a nephrologist as I appeared to have gotten roundly dismissed when I suggested it :rolleyes:
I have an appointment tomorrow for my regular draw and appt with my nephrologist next week 
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You’re welcome! :)This came to my mind before you even posted it as being an obvious and potentially urgent need. Best worst case scenario is they test for all of the obvious things, as well as all the less obvious things, and everything comes back negative. I’d be pushing for all of the tests that has been overlooked over 30 years of symptoms. Process of elimination. Keep testing until you find the answer!
I hope your blood results are normal and your nephrologist appointment goes well. Being proactive is so important.
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COL, thank you
I already know the results won’t be ‘normal’ normal but I am hoping for my best ‘normal’. Love my nephrologist as he has quite the balancing act with all my interrelated health issues. I have spilled protein in the past but seem to have that under control. He also monitors calcium I think it is. Thursday is the kidney ultrasound (at least those don’t hurt and are actually kinda cool to watch 
).
Ask me how many times I scratch my head over what my nephrologist does vs what my urologist does (and yes, I’ve asked them both and still often scratch my head as they both seem to have the same obsession with the same body fluid :lol: ).
I am sitting here today working on max hydration so I am on the better side of chronic kidney disease and not the worse side
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Maybe try scratching both of their heads at the same time next time? :lol: It’s a good thing they are both equally obsessed with the same body fluid! If they weren’t they would not be too special a specialist, would they? Any specialist who doesn’t do their job, get to the bottom of things and treat the problem needs to be dismissed and replaced. Like a diabetes doctor who’s been treating the same patient for years but they never fully tests the patient. Then the patient develops new problems that could be diabetes related, like kidney problems, and then that doctor only does half arsed/partial testing. Major head scratch, butt scratch, and nose pick over that one!
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Finally got my appointment - referral was rejected by two general surgeons so now apparently I’m seeing an ENT. But not for another 4 weeks, since I’m in Canada. Should I ask for the additional
bloodwork while I’m waiting or wait to see what the biopsy shows?
I don’t see why not? If there is no information there that will enlighten the issue, then all you wasted was some time and some blood. But what if there was some other info? I say go - what could it hurt?
@Color of Light - I have had multiple thyroid panels and finally the endocrinologist I saw ordered the antibodies and a round of more specialized tests and was mumbling something about ruling out Hashimoto’s. Plus another ultrasound of thyroid. I have not been yet as I have not felt up to it - too much other crap going on. I am now demanding copies of all labs when they are resulted. It’s interesting what you read when you see it yourself.
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Your suggestion was not “roundly dismissed”, I said that my kidney function levels have been a little high a few times but then have gone back down with the next blood test and I would assume that’s why the doctors have not thought of or recommended going to a nephrologist.
Take your rolly eyes elsewhere.
I’m writing all of this down and will suggest them to the next Doctor I see. I’m not sure if I’ve already had some or all of the tests you’ve mentioned or not, the RA specialist did order a boat load of blood tests but I didn’t get a copy of them or the results, I will ask for a copy the next time I see her or I will ask my GP.
This is only the first time I have seen this diabetes doctor, she may or may not have copies of my past blood tests. I did inform her of the high protein and told her I was scheduled to see a haematologist because of, maybe that’s why she isn’t ordering a kidney function panel? I’m not sure which kidney values are high, it was a routine blood test and it had kidney/liver function ticked off on the requisition. It was thought that my kidney functions could be elevated because of taking Celebrex for over 18 years.
I’ve had frequent UTI’s in the past, the last one I thought I had this summer was actually tested for and turned out it wasn’t an infection but the large amount of sugars leaving my system and feeling/acting like a UTI/yeast infection. It was also thought the UTI’s were caused by my chronic kidney stones.
I’ve kept and extremely detailed food log and both my diabetic counsellor and dietician and when I questioned about the sugar I consume they said that I do not consume enough sugar to cause the fluctuating blood sugar highs, the majority of what I eat is quite low on the glycemic levels. My blood sugars are close to being under control with the increase of insulin, my A1C was well over 9 back in March, went down to 7.7 in June and are now 6.8 two weeks ago, yet random sugars continued to be high and low. It;s happened often in the past that my A1C’s were good but random sugars were quite high at times and all over the place. Most fasting bloods were between 15-19 and are now down to 6-9, I’m just starting another insulin increase now. Only my morning sugars fasting and after breakfast are high now and the rest of the day they are either normal or reaching towards low.
To top it all off just last week five palpable cysts were discovered on my left knee, one on my right knee as well as a ganglion cyst inside my right knee and cysts in my hands and wisps. GP said they may be linked to arthritis or autoimmune disease and should be addressed after the ultrasounds are done.
I will bring up being referred to a nephrologist to my doctors and see what they say, I did assume that because kidney levels were down that the doctors were not concerned about my kidneys.
Again, thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience!
@Color of Light If you are looking for a job, why not hire yourself out as a consultant? I would love to go to my next doctor appt and say “oh, talk to this person” and there you would be on Skype. Seriously. Plus I would love to see my doc’s face. “Whaaaaa……”:yes:
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Believe me I was thinking the same thing! I would love to have COL as my wing man at an appointment, let her do the talking then say, “Yeah, what she said!”
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COL you had asked about micro calcifications and now that I have a copy of the ultrasound report Insee that it is mentioned. It says:
- overall size of thyroid gland is normal.
- right mid lobe has a 1.1cm circumscribed hypoechoic nodule that is vascularized and contains calcifications, some of which appear to be microcalcified.
- tiny incidental cyst in right upper lobe. Small bilateral physiologic cervical chain lymph nodes.
Do you have any idea what any of that means?
I had a biopsy done on my thyroid about 10 days ago. I have a nodule on my right thyroid that we’ve been monitoring via ultrasound for the last couple of years, and it grew a bit this time round to 1 - 1.5 cm so the biopsy was ordered. The procedure was fine - very slight discomfort during the procedure (ultrasound guided), and a bit of discomfort through the rest of the day in my neck, mostly if I stared down at a screen. I had a pretty good bruise the next day (kept getting asked who punched me in the throat).
Unfortunately, and to my complete and utter shock, I got the results yesterday that it is cancerous. I did not expect that. I’m waiting to get a call from an oncologist to see how we are going to proceed with this. All I know at this point is that the pathology didn’t confirm what type and it could be one of three, so I don’t know how it will be treated.
I am also in Canada, BigMama, but I’m pretty sure a different part than you.
{{shortenmyreins}}
Keep us posted. We’re here for you!
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Shortenmyreins I’m sorry you got such crappy news. Based on what Google tells me about my ultrasound findings I’m expecting the same result 
The good news is thyroid cancers are generally very slow growing and rarely spread beyond the lymph nodes, so have an excellent cure rate. Courage mom amie!
My appointment with the ENT isn’t until the end of Nov - still waiting for an appt for the u/s guided biopsy. ENT won’t see me until we have those results. Hopefully soon, the wait is not easy as I’m sure you know.
Please keep us posted on your next steps.
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So sorry to hear this and wishing you the best possible outcome! I’ve been told that most 2 out of the 3 thyroid cancers are easy to treat and cure and one that is a bit more difficult to treat.
I was having mine checked through ultrasound once a year until my new GP asked for another scan 3 months after the most recent and it had grown almost three times larger in as many months. The biopsy came back negative and it’s shrunk since then, the technician says ultrsound once a year again but I think I’ll push for sooner seeing how quickly it had grown previously.
Please keep us updated and let us know how things go for you. Sending positive thoughts.
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I had a consult with an endocrinologist before the biopsy, and have a follow-up appointment at the end of November. Only 5-10% of nodules are generally malignant, but there are a range of things that can still be wrong between nothing and cancer. He talked about a study that they are doing in Japan, where they are not treating people who have cancerous nodules, and they are finding that the death rate is no higher than in areas where they remove the whole thyroid as is typical here. I thought that was interesting.
My biopsy was done by a radiologist at one of the hospitals.
I have to do bloodwork tomorrow (I think it was requested to narrow down the type) and then just wait until I hear from an oncologist.
The hardest thing at the moment is not Googling - I am the type of person who needs to research the crap out of anything I don’t know. I have a friend who has gone through a couple of bouts of cancer, and she has threatened me bodily harm should I look things up online. I promised her I wouldn’t (at this time at least). A co-worker has offered to be my proxy Googler should I feel the need to search the interweb.
I had my first ultrasound about 2.5 years ago after I had had a hoarse voice for no reason for about a month. At that time there was a small nodule on the right side, that is typically benign. It was rechecked 6 months later with no change, so it was recommended that I get it checked again in a year.
I forgot about it - should have been done back in February. Didn’t remember until sometime in the spring, but figured I would wait until this summer when I would need a refill on my Synthroid to go to the doctor. Thus the ultrasound wasn’t done until September.
I’m kind of wondering if it’s kind of flukey that we found it - if I had done the ultrasound back in February, would it have shown any growth at that time? And if it hadn’t, would they have still recommended annual rechecks?
CanadianTrotter - I think I would probably see if I could get a scan after 6 months for a couple of times. So much growth after 3 months would very much concern my uneducated mind.
Is there a reason you’re seeing an ENT and not an endocronologist for this?
Hopefully you don’t have too much of a wait, my ultrasound results were rushed back to my GP and Endo doc and I had the biopsy date within a week.
The technician’s report before the large growth increase had said “no follow up”. I was quite pleased thinking it was gone but then I started having difficulty swallowing and asked my GP to schedule another ultrasound. Both my GP and Endo said the technician had to have either been asleep or drunk because there was no way it could have grown that much in such a short time. End story is that you know your body and if need be push for appointments and tests.
I think you’re right and I should push for 6 month follow ups for a bit.
I’m so glad that that the timing for yours to be found was good!
