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Yes, Men Do Get Thyroid Cancer, You Didn’t Know?
Dear Thyroid,
Go to hell, thank you that is all.
Why didn’t you tell me you were cancerous? If we could have gotten on the same page last year this upcoming surgery would not be so big and bad and scary as all hell.
Do you really need to invade my larynx and poke around the old esophagus? I feed you, the food going down my throat should hold no appeal! NONE! Now if I have to get a feeding tube you will be cut off for real!
Oh yes, did I mention the part about you getting cut out? You got it buddy, you are getting the boot, THE BOOT!
In these remaining two weeks that we are together you can’t do any more damage, so I feel as though I can tell it like it is. You get cancerous and jack me all up, I go and pay big money to have some guy cut you out.
I will have a pretty sweet scar, though that my wife gets to look at everyday. Maybe you and her gallbladder got together and had a scar planning session, one for her tummy and one for my neck.
My boys may not remember daddy without the scar that goes from his ear to the other side of his neck. I think I will tell them its from my days fighting pirates with the French foreign legion.
You have much to answer for thyroid. Enjoy your time with the parathyroids, bastard.
-Written by: Mooncat
Tags: Dear Thyroid Letters written by men, men and cancer, men with thyroid cancer, men's health, mens stories of thyroid cancer, thyroid cancer blog for men, thyroid cancer forum for men, thyroid cancer support for men
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12 Responses to “Yes, Men Do Get Thyroid Cancer, You Didn’t Know?”
Leave a Reply to Anna
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Good luck with your surgery, Mooncat. I haven’t gone through the same myself (I have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis)… but I’ll join you in kicking your cancer. Let us know how it all goes.
Hi there Mooncat! Great letter. I just want to share with you that my husband had surgery and a total thyroidectomy in Nov 2009. I had mine in May 2007. Men are not immune from thyroid cancer either, they just aren’t as diligent about keeping medical appointments and going to see the doctors. If they would go more regularly the stats would be higher for the men too diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Please understand I’ve done my good share of nagging to my husband. Thank gawd I did.
Wishing you nothing but the best for your surgery and speedy recovery….which you will do just fine at both!
Cheers from Canada!
Dear Mooncat;
We’re so proud of you for writing this letter and sharing it with us. Men do get this disease, so many men, too many men.
At present, in my opinion, I don’t think it has anything to do with not going to the doctor. I think many of us endure ‘can’t connect the dots’. Often times, I think we think “Oh, it’s no big deal, it’s nothing”. Or, we tell our doctors and if we’re not with the right treating physician, our symptoms are chalked up to nothing.
We also collectively don’t have the education and awareness we need completely. That being said, all of us collectively are raising awareness every day. Participating in the movement that seeks to invoke change.
Please let us know how the surgery goes. Please let us know how you’re doing and feeling.
We wish you the best,
Love,
DT
@ DT – are you kidding me? A lot of it has to do with not having regular check-ups. I meant not to single men out as many women don’t go regularly either. Statistics show that there are more women diagnosed with thyroid cancer then there are men. Women are primarily the caregivers to their families, I’m saying primarily and of course not always. We schedule the appointments, ensure that the men are reminded of when they are, et cetera. In many instances, men in their late 40’s and 50’s are now just being diagnosed with thyroid cancers. All I’m saying is that we all have to make sure annual check-ups are scheduled.
Eva, I think we’re having a miscommunication. My point, apologies if I wasn’t clear, is that I don’t believe this is a gender issue. Having spoken with thousands of women and hundreds of men, it’s not about “not” going to the doctor so much as “not” getting properly treated and/or diagnosed.
I believe we have a systemic issue of mistreatment and misdiagnoses.
There is a major spike in Men and young adults/teens being diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Before diagnoses, many of us don’t understand what is going on with our bodies. Many of us don’t know what a thyroid is much less what it does.
Where we do disagree respectfully, I hope, is that men are less likely to go to the doctor than women.
Dear Mooncat,
Sorry to hear you will be needing surgery to remove the thyroid and wish you a quick recovery & good health after!!!
I like the idea of you telling your kids about getting the scar from fighting off pirates!!!
From @CharlesTaggart-
An Unnecessarily Long Journey Back to Health: http://bit.ly/dgOHN6
No apologies necessary, and I mean no disrespect with any of my comments. I’m thankful for this site as I’ve read with great interest all about it. It’s great with a lot of useful information on it, keep up the great work you all do!
Totally agree with everyting you’ve written, but still agree to disagree about the men’s lack of going to see the doctor diligently.
Back to Mooncat – chin up, this is an emotional roller-coaster ride, but things do get better!
You’re never disrespectful, Eva. You’re a peach. I love that we can respectfully agree to disagree. I’m thrilled you’re a part of this community. YOU DO GREAT WORK!
I hear you, thysistah.
Back to mooncat – you’re so right – “chin up,this is an emotional roller coaster ride, but things do get better”.
Beautifully said
Katie
Mooncat,
Just wanted you to know that I had a complicated thyroid cancer story which included cancer starting in my thyroid and spreading to my nerves, trachea, lymph nodes,and eventually taking one of my vocal chords. Yes, it stinks, but your scar will be your battle wound and a reminder that you survived!
My endocrinologist is known in my area and nationwide as an expert in treating thyroid cancer. He is a two time thyroid cancer survivor himself from 40+ years ago (He was first diagnosed as a 16 year old boy). He’s awesome, intelligent, compassionate, and a survivor. yes, men do get thyroid cancer!
Blessings to you and your journey!
Anna
Mooncat.
There’s nothing more terrifing then finding out you have cancer and having to go thru this excperience alone!! i’ve been there and done that. I found a support group in San diego thru ThyCa.org go to it and you will find a support group in your are. cancer is cancer in our bodys and it doe’snt matter what gender we are!1 there are alot of men in this group besides women. my heart is with you like all the others here on DearThyroid.
Jeannine
Good luck with your surgery Mooncat hope all goes well and you recover quickly with minimum discomfort and become cancer free.
Lolly
This time last year I was facing thyroid cancer surgery too. The cancer got all of my thyroid two of my parathyroids and eleven lymph nodes. I started a blog right before my surgery called Losingthebutterfly. You might find it interesting or hopefully supportive. In any case good luck to you. I just found out that the electrician working on our house had HIS cancer surgery a few.years.ago. we compared our.scars. best wishes to you!