UltraSound of Thyroid and FNA

I didn't know I was going to have this done today; it was just a consultation since it had been awhile since my goiter was looked at. I wish we'd brought my video camera!

I've been putting off getting an FNA (fine needle aspiration, a.k.a. fine needle biopsy) of the goiter in my neck since it was discovered back in 1997. Before you go scolding me for putting it off so long, it wasn't something that seemed necessary given the rest of my case. The goiter fits better with the benign profile than it does the malignant profile so I'm not worried about it.

The doctor took an ultrasound of my thyroid and gave me a copy of one of the pictures he took. When I go back in two weeks I'll see if I can get copies of the others, including a couple taken while the needle was in my neck, and if so I'll post them all in my photo gallery. (I'm too lazy to scan and upload just the one picture tonight, sorry.)

You may be thinking the FNA sounds painful. I had an expectation that the FNA would be extremely painful considering no anesthesia is given, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was just a bit worse than getting blood drawn, just like the doctor said.

The needle is inserted, then the doctor plunges the device quickly up and down to gather the sample. He did four samples from different points of the goiter each lasting about 15 seconds. The fourth was the worst because I had some referred pain that I felt under my jaw line and into my ear. (It felt sort of like when I've gotten an injection at the dentist's office.)

This was about six hours ago. It feels a bit bruised and hurts when I turn my head to the right. I felt a bit nauseated after dinner, but that could have been the Mexican food I'd eaten and unrelated. Otherwise it wasn't all that bad.

Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink