Thyroid cancer in elderly

cynthiag117
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My mother had her thyroid removed 1 month ago. Diagnosis of Pappillary Thyroid Cancer. Surgeon had said the pathology report had said turmor was contained to thyroid. Perhaps stage 3 but final staging is to be determined by oncologist (how? based on whole body scan?). We've an appointment with an oncologist tomorrow, Friday 8/29. Surgeon mentioned radioactive iodine may be treatment but oncologist would determine that too.

Can anyone tell me about the treatment protocol? I'm researching now and am starting to wonder if it is worth it in my mother's case. She's 82 and very tired from the surgery and complications there of. She also has bladder cancer.

1 reply

tarajane2
  • By tarajane2
  • Posted August 29, 2008 at 6:33 am

Hi cynthiag117.
I had Papillary Thyroid Cancer early 2007. One month after surgery to remove the thyroid, I went into hospital (in Australia) for 3 days to have the radioactive iodine treatment. It was very simple - one capsule swallowed. Dosage determined on whole body scan the week prior to see if there was any spread. In my case, I had local spread to the lymph nodes in the neck and was told I was getting a "standard" dose of radioactive iodine. The only immediate side effect was a fairly bad headache on day 2. However, 9 months after the treatment, I developed radiation sialenditis - damage to the salivary glands. This is a well documented side effect of radioactive iodine. The salivary glands take up the iodine for some reason whereas other parts of the body don't. The symptoms of this is pain and swelling in the cheeks, near the ears, when first eating - due to the damage, the salivary glands can't expel the salivar as quickly as normal, so there is a build up and it can be painful and cause swelling. However I have learned to live with it and it comes and goes. Gentle massaging while swishing warm water in the mouth helps a lot and stimulates the glands to expel any build-up as this can become infected if left too long. Hope this helps and good luck to your Mum.

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