Kansas City, Kan- Key points from today’s guests:

Kyle Akers, living with thyroid cancer

• Kyle felt a lump in his neck and had it checked out by his doctor.
• He was told it was just a little cyst and it could be removed, but his mother wanted him to get a second opinion at The University of Kansas Health System.
• Kyle then had an ultrasound, a CT, and a fine needle aspiration to do some cytology and actually see what was in the cells.
• He then got the diagnosis it was cancer.
• Kyle said the mental health aspect of it was tough but, once he accepted the diagnosis and realized he was with a great team who can take care of him, he was ready to fight it.

• He tries to not see it as this invasive cancer that's attacking him, but just like a chronic condition that he is just keeping his eyes on and dealing with as it changes.
• Going through this process inspired him to make a career change from software development to nursing to be more fulfilled.
• He wants people to fight the stigma about getting something checked out by doctors, especially men who are reluctant to do that.

Dr. Erin Buczek, head and neck surgeon, The University of Kansas Health System

• Thyroid cancer is a kind of a double-edged sword. It is a cancer, but it is typically a pretty slow growing cancer.
• It typically has low mortality rate, doesn't usually hurt people in the long term, but it can be difficult to fully treat, and it requires continual follow up, because it can take a long time for us to know if it's coming back or not.
• Most patients actually present with no symptoms. The most common one is going to be a neck mass. Sometimes it's found incidentally on imaging.
• For most thyroid cancer, surgery is the first line therapy and that is what happened with Kyle.
• Oftentimes, patients receive radioactive iodine. The thyroid gland takes up iodine, so radioactive iodine sort of acts like chemotherapy. It doesn't have the same side effect profile, but it goes all over the body, and the idea is that it will kill off any potential thyroid cells, including thyroid cancer cells, to fully treat it.
• Papillary thyroid cancer, which is the type of cancer that Kyle has, does like to spread to lymph nodes.
• If you have a specific mutation in your thyroid cancer, we have some really great targeted drugs that have fewer side effects and are very effective at treating the cancer.

Jennifer McGaughy, R.N., clinical nurse coordinator, The University of Kansas Health System

• Typically, we see Kyle every six months to a year. We're looking at imaging and labs. We can test blood for a thyroglobulin level, which is an indicator if it's elevated and if there's a problem.
• Nurses are called to the profession because we want to care for people and make a positive impact on people.
• Hearing that Kyle got to experience that and wanted to become a nurse gives me goosebumps. It makes me happy to be a nurse.

Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Counseling, medications, even magnetic stimulation -- none could help one woman's thoughts of suicide until she tried a prescription nasal spray. Hear what it's like using the only FDA approved psychedelic treatment for depression.

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