Patti Turner survived anaplastc thyroid cancer | radioactive iodine | external beam radiation Hurthle cells
- Bruce Morton
- Apr 26
- 11 min read
DESCRIPTION
What began as a small lump in her throat turned into a diagnosis of thyroid cancer for Patti Turner. It took two surgical procedures to remove her thyroid, but there was more to her treatment regimen. She tells the @CancerInterviews podcast had to undergo radioactive iodine and external beam radiation before attaining survivorship. Without a thyroid, Patti says she tires easily, but is thrilled to be alive and see her grandchildren grow up.
In 2011, Patti Turner of Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada, discovered a small lump in her throat. It was so small nobody else noticed it and it caused no pain, but when it didn’t go away, she sought medical attention. Her doctor sent Patti to get an ultrasound and a biopsy, if necessary. She underwent the ultrasound only, but a few weeks later, she received a phone call from her doctor, who noted she still had to get the biopsy.
The biopsy showed she had Hurthle cells, which can be either benign or malignant. This necessitated surgery to remove the right thyroid lobe and the isthmus, which resulted in a diagnosis of papillary thyroid cancer. Two weeks later, Patti was told her diagnosis had been upgraded to anaplastic thyroid cancer, a much more aggressive form of the disease, one that needed immediate attention.
Patti was relieved to learn the cancer had not spread from her thyroid, which meant she would not have to go on a chemotherapy regimen. However, she did need a second surgical procedure to remove the left thyroid lobe. The surgery was a success, but six weeks later, she had an appointment with a radiation oncologist. In lieu of chemotherapy, Patti would have to have radioactive iodine, then thirty external beam radiation treatments, followed by more radioactive iodine.
Dawson Creek is in a remote part of British Columbia and the nearest big city was Edmonton, Alberta, a six-hour drive away. During her treatment and recovery phase, she and her husband made the drive thirteen times. When she was discharged from the hospital after the final radioactive iodine treatment, on the drive home, she could not sit next to her husband.
Once they got home, because of the radioactive iodine, she and her husband had to sleep in separate bedrooms and use separate bathrooms. Their son stayed with a friend and their dog had to stay elsewhere as well. However, Patti Turner eventually reached survivorship.
Since then, Patti has had a heart attack and experienced a hip replacement, but she admits she has no way of knowing if that was tied to her two surgical procedures. What she does know is that without a thyroid, she tires easily. Yet she is extremely grateful that she is alive to engage in sewing and to watch her grandchildren grow.
Additional Resources:
Support Group:
Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association: htttps://www.thyca.org
TRANSCRIPT
Bruce Morton: Greetings and welcome to the Cancer Interviews podcast. I am your host, Bruce Morton. Our guest on this episode survived a diagnosis of anaplastic thyroid cancer. Survivorship was achieved after undergoing radioactive iodine treatment, which required she stay away from people for an extended period of time. She is Patti Turner of Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. She has overcome a great deal and now is the time to hear her story. Patti, welcome to Cancer Interviews.
Patti Turner: Hello. Happy to be here.
BM: It is our custom to start off on a subject other than cancer. Specifically, we want to know a little bit about you, so, if you would, tell us about where you are from, what you have done for work and when time allows, what you do for fun.
PT: Originally I am from southeastern BC, but I got married and finished university. I was looking for a teaching job and that first teaching job came on the northern coast of BC. We have two kids, four grandchildren. I was an elementary school teacher, teaching Grade One and Two, which I love, until I retired in 2017. In my free time, I like to do stained glass and sewing and crafty things with my grandkids.
BM: Many of us watching and listening have never been to British Columbia, but just about everyone knows of Vancouver. How far is Dawson Creek from Vancouver?
PT: If you leave Vancouver and drive for about twelve hours going north, you’ll hit Dawson Creek.
BM: Patti, all of us who have survived cancer encountered that juncture in which something with our health went wrong. It demanded medical attention and that began the cancer journey. For you, how did that manifest itself?
PT: It was early in 2011. It wasn’t very big. I could feel it, but nobody could notice it. That was the start. There was no swelling, no breathing problems, nothing went along with it.
BM: Did it occur to immediately seek medical attention?
PT: I sort of waited a little while. It was spring break that year. We were about to go on a cruise and I didn’t want any medical situations. Then once we got back, the next three months are the last three months of the school year and that’s pretty busy. I didn’t go to the doctor until June of 2011. I felt I was really healthy and that it couldn’t be anything serious.
BM: We’re confident you’ll be able to learn some tips and tools to help you through your cancer journey, but first we’d like to invite you please give us a ‘like,’ leave a comment or review below and share this story with your friends. Kindly click on the Subscribe button below and click on the bell icon, so you’ll be notified the next time we post a cancer interview. We also want to remind you that we are not distributors of medical advice. If you seek medical advice, please contact a license healthcare professional.
Now we have gotten to the point in which you have decided to seek medical attention. After you went to the doctor, what did you learn?
PT: We sent me for an ultrasound and if necessary, a biopsy. I think I phoned the hospital and tried to get in, but their process at the time was that they would reach out to me. It was the last day of school that the hospital called. I went and had the ultrasound, but they didn’t do the biopsy and I thought there was no need for the biopsy. Two weeks later, I had a doctor’s appointment and the doctor noted the biopsy wasn’t done. He immediately phoned the hospital and I was over there within the hour getting the biopsy done and I knew something wasn’t right.
BM: And what did the biopsy reveal?
PT: The biopsy showed Hurthle cells. They don’t get enough tissue it is difficult to tell if the cells are malignant or benign. They said the biopsy revealed a tumor which they said had to be taken out so they could look at it to be able to make a diagnosis.
BM: And when the tumor was removed, was that when you learned you had cancer?
PT: Yes. They took it out and two weeks later, the surgeon told me the initial diagnosis was papillary thyroid cancer, but he also said the tissue would be sent to Vancouver and it would be looked at again. That’s when, two weeks after that, the diagnosis was changed to the anaplastic.
BM: There are four types of thyroid cancer. One of them is papillary, another anaplastic. Can you tell our viewers and listeners the difference between the two?
PT: Papillary usuall has a very good survival rate. The surgeon said if it is papillary, you will probably get an ultrasound every six months to monitor. With anaplastic, it is very aggressive and very deadly, so it has to be dealt with right now. Back in 2011, for anaplastic, the expect survival time was three to six months and that was it; papillary, people can live quite a long time.
BM: Did you have treatment options?
PT: Not in terms of what was done, no. I only had options as to where the treatment would take place, either Vancouver or Edmonton. We chose Edmonton because that is where our daughter was living. They told me there would be a second surgery to remove the rest of the thyroid, followed by radioactive iodine treatment and external beam radiation. The good news was that I would not have to undergo chemotherapy.
BM: Not all of our viewers and listeners live in metropolitan areas. You were a long way from Edmonton. Did this distance create a problem as part of your cancer journey?
PT: It’s a six-hour drive when the roads are good. It’s not too bad. In one year, we took thirteen trips to Edmonton.
BM: Let’s talk now about the iodine treatment. First describe what it was like to have that administered.
PT: You go into a room with a lead door. It’s really thick. In the bathroom, all the fixtures on the counter are covered with real thick paper towels. The nurse comes in and pulls that metal thing that was round and in the middle there was this hole. In that hole was the vial of radioactive iodine. They draped a cloth over my shoulders and I had to have rubber gloves on. The nurse gave me a straw and I had to drink this liquid which really tasted awful. The nurse kept filling the vial with water to make sure I got every last drop of the radioactive iodine. Then she left the room and I was alone. When she returned, she came back with a machine to determine how radioactive I was. I was told I needed to get to about twenty millicuries in order for me to be able to leave the hospital the next day. She told me that if I took a shower and drank lots of water that would help to bring the number down. That night from about five o’clock until about midnight, I drank five jugs of water and had three or four showers. The next morning the nurse came in with her machine again, and I believe the number was down to eighteen, so she said I could now go home. Going home meant not using any public busses, no public transportation, I couldn’t use the wash room. We were leaving Edmonton to come back to Dawson Creek and we couldn’t use any public wash rooms along the way. I couldn’t even sit in the front seat of our pickup truck with my husband; I had to sit in the back in the passenger side to be as far away from him as possible. If I sat next to him, the radiation would pass on to him.
BM: Let’s talk about after you got home. What was that like when you were separated from everybody else in your house?
PT: We have a dog, so the dog went to live with a friend. My son went to live at his girlfriend’s mom’s house. My husband and I had separate bedrooms. If we were in the living room, he was at one far end and I was at the other. Same thing at the dining room table. I used the main wash room and he used the basement wash room so that we weren’t using the same towels. I also couldn’t go into town.
BM: Patti, I have to ask. You have had this diagnosis. You have had your thyroid removed. You have been temporarily made radioactive. Physically, mentally, emotionally, how did you deal with all this?
PT: I had lots of family and friends support. Even though they couldn’t come to visit, I got lots of calls and people reaching out, so I knew I wasn’t alone, and you know, I thought I have go through this because I have another thirty years of this so I can see my kids get married and so I can see my grandkids.
BM: At some point, you had to get some good news that you were turning the corner in your cancer journey. What was that like and how exciting was it?
PT: Right after I had my anaplastic thyroid cancer surgery, my doctor sent me for a CT scan and that showed the cancer hadn’t gone anywhere else. Just before the second surgery, that surgeon sent me for a PET scan and that, too, showed the cancer had not spread. Those two events made me think I am going to get through this. However, the doctor never really said there was no evidence of disease. It wasn’t until a year after my second surgery that my doctor called me a “rare bird,” and that made me think I will get to live for a while.
BM: You had mentioned support from friends and family, but you also received support from an external source, the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, or ThyCa. Could you tell us what ThyCa has done for you and what it can do for others.
PT: I actually didn’t learn about ThyCa until 2014. At the various thyroid cancer conferences, they are recorded and you can access them on the ThyCa website. They also have pamphlets, they do support groups, and they have the TPPN, The Person To Person Network, so if you were diagnosed with anaplastic, you could reach out and have communication with them via email or phone. They do fundraising, which goes toward thyroid cancer research. Life expectancy for those diagnosed these days with anaplastic thyroid cancer is far greater than it was when I was diagnosed.
BM: That’s great to hear. Good news for anyone diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer or thinks they might. Patti Turner, but do want to ask a question about your health today. Compared to how you were pre-diagnosis, is there anything today that you cannot do?
PT: With radioactive diagnosis and external beam radiation, my salivary glands have been fried, so I have very little saliva. My mouth can get very dry and there are teeth issues that can come from no saliva. I guess without having a thyroid I am still tired quite often. In 2023, I had a heart attack, so that has caused issues and in 2024, I had hip replacement and that caused issues. I don’t know whether those are totally separate or if there are any connections with thyroid cancer, but I am happy to be alive and figure I just have to put up with these things and go forth.
BM: The good news is, you are still here and you can see your kids and your grandkids, so that on a day-to-day basis is a very good thing. Patti, we are going to wrap up now, but we want to thank you for sharing your story and telling us about ThyCa. If one wants to access the ThyCa website, it is https://www.thyca.org. It will offer a wealth of information, a wealth of services that will help anybody diagnosed with any type of thyroid cancer. Once again, Patti, thanks for sharing your story on Cancer Interviews.
PT: Thank you for having me here.
BM: And we want to remind you as we always do when we conclude, if you or a loved one are on a cancer journey, you are not alone. There are people out there like Patti Turner and organizations like ThyCa that can inform and inspire. So, until next time, we’ll see you on down the road.
Additional Resources:
Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association;
SHOW NOTES
TITLE: Patti Turner, Thyroid Cancer Survivor – Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada
It wasn’t easy, but Patti Turner tells the @CancerInterviews podcast how she survived anaplastic thyroid cancer. In 2011, she noticed a lump in her throat and sought medical attention. A biopsy revealed Hurthle cells and led to her diagnosis. After two surgeries needed to remove her thyroid, Patti went on a regimen of radioactive iodine and external beam radiation and achieved survivorship. She says without a thyroid, she tires easily but is glad to be alive to see her grandchildren grow up.
Additional Resources:
Support Group:
Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association: https://www.thyca.org
Time Stamps:
02:29 Patti felt a lump in her throat
05:22 A biopsy revealed a tumor with Hurthle cells, which led to a diagnosis of anaplastic thyroid cancer.
06:47 Explains the difference between anaplastic thyroid cancer and papillary thyroid cancer.
07:45 Describes her treatment regimen.
09:42 Patti tells us what it was like to receive radioactive iodine.
12:25 Recalls having to sequester herself once she returned home from the hospital because she was radioactive.
13:37 How she dealt with her diagnosis and her treatment regimen.
14:40 Patti said it was great to learn her cancer had not spread.
20:21 Compares her health before her diagnosis to her health today.
KEYWORDS (tags):
anaplastic thyroid cancer
papillary thyroid cancer
radioactive iodine
patti turner
hurthle cells
external beam radiation
bruce morton
salivary glands
Comments