Thyroid cancer: ‘I discovered cancer after a teacher’s warning in the class’

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“I think he was afraid to speak there, but I noticed that something didn’t seem normal,” says the young woman.

She says that later, at the end of the lesson, she interviewed the teacher. “I asked if there was something else by feeling his neck, he said to me: there’s something, look”.

After this warning, she took tests and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

She classifies this course, mid-October 2020, as a pivotal moment for her health.

“I think if I hadn’t been there that day, maybe I wouldn’t have discovered the disease so early, my diagnosis would have taken much longer and could have been more severe,” says the student, now 22 years old.

The young woman, who was in her third semester of medicine, said she had no symptoms, let alone noticed any change in her neck.

Mr Lichtenthaler, a doctor who specializes in geriatrics and clinical medicine, told BBC News Brazil that he noticed the student’s thyroid gland had a significant and asymmetric increase.

This reason led him to call her to serve as a model at a technical demonstration.

“D’après mes souvenirs, un premier étudiant utilisé comme exemple avait une petite thyroid, ce qui est normal. J’ai donc jeté un coup d’œil au cou de certains étudiants et celui de Gabriella a attiré mon attention”, explique le doctor.

He noticed the enlargement of the gland when touching the girl’s thyroid gland. “We were lucky that she had the correct anatomical change in the head and neck class,” says Lichtenthaler.

The advice the teacher gave her at the end of class to see a doctor to find out the causes of this change surprised Gabriella and left her stunned.

“I have always been a very healthy person, even before that I had gone to medical appointments and had tests a month before, but nothing abnormal was found in me,” said the young woman.

A day after class, she made an appointment with a gynaecologist. “He reviewed it, said there was something and it was better to investigate,” she says. The young woman underwent several tests the following week.

At the end of October, he was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma.

“When I found out, the world came crashing down. I kept thinking: I’m very young to face this. I cried a lot and I didn’t want to believe it. It’s a moment when you see that there is an end to it can come.” said the young woman.

Thyroid nodules are considered common and are often easy to identify due to the gland’s prominent location in the central part of the neck.

In many cases, according to doctors, the patient himself can feel the difference by touching this part of the body.

The good news is that about 95% of these nodules are benign. And if the patient has cancer, the chances of curing the disease in that area are very high – some studies estimate that about 97% of cases have a positive outcome.

The guideline of specialists is that patients see a doctor if they notice a change in this area. The earlier it is diagnosed, the greater the chance of a cure and less invasive procedures to combat the health problem.

According to the National Cancer Institute (Inca), thyroid cancer is most common in the head and neck area. Studies show that the disease affects three times more women than men.

The most common thyroid cancer is papillary carcinoma, as in Gabriella’s case. It usually develops slowly, but can move to other parts of the neck. According to experts, the treatment is generally effective and few deaths are reported.

When Gabriella’s cancer was discovered, the disease had already progressed and had affected other parts of her neck and part of her esophagus.

But even under these circumstances, the doctors were very optimistic that the girl would recover, as it is a cancer with a very high cure rate.

Despite this positive outlook, the student was very worried.

“Since I was very secular at the time, I thought to myself that this could be the worst case scenario. When I saw it had reached other parts, I thought, It must have spread to everything. I felt like my life was hanging on.” a silk thread,” says Gabriella.

In early November 2020, Gabriella began procedures to treat the disease at a hospital in São Paulo (SP), where she lives. The first step was surgery to remove the thyroid gland and tumor mass that had reached other parts of the neck.

In January 2021, she underwent an iodine therapy session, a procedure indicated for this type of cancer in which the patient takes a drug containing iodine to fight the remnants of the disease in the body.

The treatment was successful and she was considered cured in February 2021, as there were no longer any signs of the disease in her body. As it is a cancer, the student should be periodically monitored through examinations to assess her health status. She is currently undergoing semi-annual evaluations and no further signs of the disease have been detected.

Upon learning of the recovery, the student shared the news on her Instagram profile, via a hospital photo and a text message.

“After months of struggle, I want to leave such a remarkable moment in my life that has made me a better person and see the world in a different way,” she wrote in the post. created on February 4, 2021 .

“I’ve been reincarnated and now a new cycle begins,” he concludes. In the comments, many people celebrated his recovery.

Gabriella Barboza, who is currently halfway through her medical training, says the professor’s warning during class and the cancer treatment period were great learning opportunities.

“I always wanted to be a doctor to treat others and heal people, regardless of the specialty. But after living in the role of the patient, I think the perspective is changing,” she notes. †

She points out that during treatment, she discovered that the cancer had appeared long before the teacher’s observation, but had not been diagnosed by any of the doctors she had previously had routine consultations with.

The student says she has learned the importance of paying attention to every detail of the patient and listening to everything he says. “Everything I’ve been through has changed my history with medicine and made me grow not only personally, but also professionally,” she says.

Professor Daniel Lichtenthaler says he was surprised and concerned to learn that the change he noticed in the girl’s neck was a sign of cancer. “But when I heard that the treatment had been successful, I was very happy,” he says.

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