I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer in late June 2018, and since July, I am a survivor.

It all started when I was diagnosed with a mild heart arrhythmia back in December 2017. After some months under medication, and have managed to control it, my heart began beating really fast again.  When I visited the cardiologist, he said it was probably some thyroid malfunction. When I went to the endocrinologist, he ran some tests and found a small tumor.  After doing a biopsy on it, they found it was cancer at its earliest stage.

Immediately after figuring out it was cancer, I cried for a whole afternoon. I cried and cried and asked God why he would do it. I was too young, only 22 years, but then, I figured I couldn’t go through this path and immediately decided to keep going. My family accompanied me to the head and neck surgeon, and he explained that I had to undergo surgery to figure out whether they needed to take out my whole thyroid, or just half of it.

I also had to know if I had to take iodine therapy after the surgery, which is a risky chemical, or just some pills. After doing some pre-operatory tests, I found myself undergoing the surgery, and ended up with no cancer, luckily, and a small visible scar. It has been a month since then, and in these few weeks, I have had some pain inside the scar and sometimes it hurts and itches on the outside. I also get dizzy and want to throw up sometimes, and I get tired a little too fast. However, I am glad that I am cured, and I know that if I hadn’t acted quickly, perhaps the situation would be much different.

Thanks to my family and my will to live and accomplish so many more things personally and professionally, now, I can say to Cancer: “Thank you… Next!”.

A piece of advice: If you are someone who just found out that you have the illness, please don’t get depressed. Obviously, take some time to cry, but then just suck it up, and keep going. No one is going to fight your battle for you. Find the right treatment you have to undergo and do it as soon as possible. Do not lose any time hesitating or feeling sorry for yourself, time is too valuable for us.

ABOUT María Jose

Bio

• Lima

Diagnosis

• Thyroid Cancer

Primary Treatment

• Surgery

Primary Cancer Center

• Other

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