My Experience

My doctor referred me to an endocrinologist for treatment and evaluation of an excess of calcium in my body (giving rise to kidney stones) and an excess of albumin (affecting my diabetes). The specialist saw and felt and an unusual condition in the front of my neck and gave me an ultrasound of the thyroid, which showed a nodule on the left side of my thyroid. He then advised that we do a thyroid nodule biopsy, which is a needle aspiration of the thyroid.

The thought of inserting a needle 5 or 6 times in the neck did not please me, and I jokingly envisioned the cartoon picture of water coming through the holes in the neck upon drinking of water. The doctor advised me that it would be a virtually painless procedure as it would be done with Novocaine numbing the area and that there were relatively few nerve endings in that area of the neck. In view of my expressed anxiety he prescribed a sedative to be taken an hour or so before the procedure. He did advised me that if I took the sedative I should not drive a car after the procedure.

The procedure itself was less painful than a visit to the dentist’s office for a filling. It was done by the doctor viewing the ultrasound screen with a nurse assisting him and lasted for not more than 20 minutes. The only pain, which was minimal, occurred when he had to go through a muscle to aspirate the thyroid.

Because I went to another endocrinologist for a second opinion, I had to undergo a second biopsy, this time at a hospital. The doctor did not recommend that I take a sedative, but I took one left over from the prior procedure. I advised the doctor that I wanted to take the pill just prior to the procedure, he said it would be OK, but not to drive after the procedure. At the hospital, an ultrasound was done by a technician, and then the endocrinologist did an ultrasound guided aspiration/biopsy. He was assisted by a radiologist who viewed the ultrasound screen and gave guidance, a resident, and a technician. I don’t recall feeling any pain for this procedure. Once I overcame my anxiety, I would say that the procedure was not traumatic.