I'll pray for you just as soon as I stop posting my comment here, Chisue! I had calcifications in L. breast and had needle biopsy...face down on the table with the hole in it and my back just about killed me...and the time it took was longer than I can stand as I am very impatient. Other than that it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but don't want to do it again if I can keep from it. Prayers that it goes fast, easy and has excellent results proving good health for you. nola anne

My doc said the results take so long because the lab does genetic (genomic?) tests on the tissue. She said there's only one lab in the US that does this specialized testing. Okay with me, as long as my insurance will pay for it...

Caroline, of course we can be "sisters". I had a successful kidney transplant in January 2012. But I kept having these several-times- a- day "hot flashes", worse than anything I had with menopause seven years ago. My urologist felt my throat and said he felt a one-centimeter nodule. I had no pain or other problems. I then went to a specialist, an endocrinologist. She also felt a nodule and sent me for a sonogram of my neck. It showed seven nodules, five big and two small, the small ones under 2 centimeters. A few days later (last Tuesday) she did the biopsy. I was quite fearful, took a Zanax before, which relaxed me. The assistant had me lie back in a chair and tipped me back, like at the dentist. She cleaned my neck. Then the doctor came in with her needle and a jar for the tissue samples. She nick-named the nodules "The Twins" and "The Triplets" as there were three on the left side and two on the right. The thyroid is in the center front of your neck, just below your adam's apple. She had the assistant spray my neck with something to numb the skin, but I felt every jab. She would stick the needle in , then stir it around and push deeper to get enough tissue. I stopped counting at ten jabs. They told me not to talk or swallow when the needle was in. That was hard.It hurt a lot and I felt a tear roll out of one eye. Finally it was over. She put a couple bandaids on my neck and I was allowed to go home. I took Aleve tablets and kept a bag of frozen peas on my neck for most of Tuesday evening. The next morning I had no pain whatsoever. The tissue samples were sent to a lab that does extensive testing, including Genetic and "Genomic" testing, whatever that is. But the downside is it takes two and a half weeks for the results, so I'm still worrying and waiting. Best case scenario, everything will be benign. Worst case, I will have to have my thyroid removed, but at least I'll be under anesthesia for that. I've been assured one can live a long life without a thyroid, and thyroid cancer is the most curable kind to get. So it could be worse... Good luck, Caroline. Let us know when you get the results. I'll be posting when I know more. This post was edited by jannie on Mon, Sep 2, 13 at 17:38

Nodules are common - I think it's 1% of the population. I had a nodule in 1992. After a year on synthroid to suppress the gland, a radioactive iodine tracking test that showed it was "cold" (not producing hormone), and a needle biopsy (benign), they decided to take it out "just in case." I had half the thyroid glad removed, and I've taken replacement hormone ever since. For decades, I was on enough hormone to suppress the gland - "so I wouldn't get another nodule," they told me. But my current doctor isn't doing that, I just take enough to keep the TSH in regular range. I'm telling you all this because it seems that the protocol has changed. It's entirely possible that my surgery wouldn't even be considered necessary today. If you ever did need thyroid surgery (unlikely, from the sound of things now), it's not a big deal - way easier recovery than abdominal surgery - and they put the scar in a natural fold in your neck, so it hardly shows. I know several people my age and older who had surgery for a thyroid nodule earlier in their lives, and none had cancer, and you would never notice their scars unless you were specifically looking for them.