Thyroid Cancer Patient Profile: Beena Patel

As Beena Patel shares the story of her thyroid cancer journey and path to becoming an integrative medicine professional personified, it becomes clear that she’s making a positive impact to many patients and to those seeking wellness. In her professional life, she works as an oncology physician assistant, holistic life & health coach, yoga teacher, and energy healer. Beena shares the initial feeling that sparked her passion for patient empowerment, “I felt like I’m meant to do this. And I had even more of a fire in me, like I’m going to help people, and I’m going to help cancer patients feel empowered over their care.” 

Beena’s cancer journey began when she was 21 and in Montreal celebrating post-college accomplishments with a group of friends. They were mainly driving to festivities and eating a lot of food. She felt like she must have gained 5 pounds, but found that she had actually lost 5 pounds after she was back home. She was in physician assistant school at the time and told her doctor about her weight loss, which prompted her to check her neck and thyroid. Her doctor said her thyroid felt palpable and decided to do further hormone testing, radiological testing, and an ultrasound. Something abnormal was found in the testing, which was followed up with a biopsy that confirmed diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Beena was shocked with her diagnosis at such a young age and felt unsettled with the timing for it to happen when she had just started physician assistant training.

Traveling back and forth between her doctor’s office and the hospital felt overwhelming for Beena. “It was a lot for a young woman and a woman of color, to see not only how painful it is to go through any type of diagnosis, let alone cancer, and having to feel so alone throughout the process. Also seeing how people do pass you off when you’re a young woman of color, and I would say a woman of any age, but I think women who are younger, trying to navigate life, and figuring out your path. And then you get a diagnosis and you’re like, ‘No one understands me,’ so it was a lot to handle.”

Beena’s thyroid cancer treatment included a total thyroidectomy to remove her entire thyroid gland. Her care team also tested some lymph nodes at that time, but didn’t find anything concerning. “I didn’t get radioactive iodine, but then three years later, I did have a mild recurrence, so they did do radioactive iodine at that time.” Beena is now doing well and takes thyroid replacement therapy to maintain her metabolism and other thyroid-related processes.

Empowering herself has been a vital piece of Beena’s patient journey. She felt like her first doctor on her cancer journey wasn’t really listening to her, so she found a different doctor. “You have to find the right fit. It’s like dating. Don’t settle until you feel like you not only have the scientific background, but the right doctor who has clinical expertise, who you feel has clinical knowledge and compassion, as well as the time to spend with you and to educate you as a patient. Your doctor should make you feel seen, heard, and understood. It’s a relationship that you’re creating with this provider, so it’s very important to find a good fit.” She also feels patient resources like NIH.gov, clinicaltrials.gov, and the Patient Empowerment Network (PEN) website are valuable in the process of patient education and empowerment.

Beena had to start physician assistant school a second time after her cancer became too disruptive, and she felt she became empowered at that time. She went through a difficult breakup about 6 months earlier and was feeling disconnected from her body. Yoga and meditation helped her cope with stress, but she was looking for something deeper. She found a Reiki practitioner in New York City and received a treatment for the first time. “I just felt like I transcended everything that I’d gone through in the last decade. I just felt good and calm and at peace. And so when I felt that, I knew I had to share that with patients, I knew there was something deeper.” After she was at Columbia University Irving Cancer Research Center for a few months, Beena had already started doing patient consultations with integrative medicine, and her patients were very responsive to the consultations.

 “Many patients aren’t aware of Reiki, or they don’t know that yoga is available to them, but I started doing consultations to educate them. They were willing to try something new, since we weren’t replacing the medication.” Beena realized that she had a gift with patients as she was able to bring peace when they were stressed or had a panicked look on their face. She also recalls during her cancer journey that a medical fellow actually lied to her about the diagnosis and seemed uncomfortable in telling Beena the actual diagnosis. “Some people don’t know how to be comfortable with emotions, because they weren’t taught emotional intelligence. And so I learned that when I would go into the room with a patient, I would hold it together even when I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Beena would request that someone else accompany her in the room, like another provider who was more experienced. She would maintain her calmness and return to her center, and she attributed that ability to her daily meditation practice. She would tell the patient to take a deep breath, and she could watch their heart rate decreasing in real time. The patients would become calmer. “So even if there was an emergency, I could hold it until the intensive care unit (ICU) or someone from another department came in to check on the patient, and it’s like we have that power to help people just by being emotionally and mentally balanced.” And when Beena went to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, they were more supportive of integrative medicine. “Music therapists would come, and they had yoga nidra (yogic or psychic sleep) at nighttime and Reiki. They had a patient population that was more aware and educated about integrative medicine, so they would ask for it.”

Patients would request to do a technique like yoga or breath work before they went for radiation treatment in the hopes that it could eliminate the need for anxiety medication. “Sometimes it would work and other times it wouldn’t. Some would pass out at their radiation treatment. So we adjusted things to a combination of breath work and meditation and decreased the anxiety medication dosage. Patients loved having that ability to manage their care from an empowered standpoint.” Beena would also run the integrative medication combination by the care team to keep them informed about the patient.

Integrative medicine is at Beena’s core of medical values that use a mixture of Western and Eastern medicine techniques. She helps patients understand the energetic root of the issues that are happening in the body. “I do think in the future there could be more Eastern philosophies, I think we could get back to energy healing and understanding root causes, the ancient medicine that was passed on from our ancestors.”

Beena is grateful that she is feeling healthy and for the different ways that she’s able to help patients. As for her other advice for cancer patients, she recommends advocating for yourself for the sake of your health. “Be open to ask for support. It’s your body and your health. And be open to us for support, be open to ask when you don’t understand something, and let us know about any supplements that you take. If you feel like you don’t have a good relationship with your healthcare team, be willing to do empowered research and go to the person who you feel comfortable with and who you feel understands you.” 

Top Resources for Thyroid Cancer

General Resources, Including Medical Information

Find a Physician

Support Groups

Thyroid Cancer Glossary of Terms

Thyroid Conditions

Hyperthyroidism – A condition that occurs when the thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormones than the body needs. Thyroid hormones control the way the body uses energy and affect the body’s metabolism. Signs and symptoms include weight loss, fatigue, rapid or irregular heartbeat, sweating, diarrhea, nervousness, mood swings, shaky hands, trouble sleeping, trouble tolerating heat, muscle weakness, and a goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland that may cause the bottom of the neck to look swollen). Also called overactive thyroid.

Hypothyroidism – Too little thyroid hormone. Symptoms include weight gain, constipation, dry skin, and sensitivity to the cold. Also called under active thyroid

Types of Thyroid Cancer

Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer – a rare, aggressive type of thyroid cancer in which the malignant (cancer) cells look very different from normal thyroid cells

Follicular Thyroid Cancer – cancer that forms in follicular cells in the thyroid. It grows slowly and is highly treatable. The cancer cells look and act in some respects like normal thyroid cells

Medullary Thyroid Cancer – cancer that develops in C cells of the thyroid. The C cells make a hormone (calcitonin) that helps maintain a healthy level of calcium in the blood

Papillary Thyroid Cancer – cancer that forms in follicular cells in the thyroid and grows in small finger-like shapes. It is the most common type of thyroid cancer. The cancer cells look and act in some respects like normal thyroid cells. Variants include:

  • Columnar cell
  • Cribiform-Morular
  • Diffuse sclerosing
  • Encapsulated
  • Follicular variant of papillary
  • Hobnail
  • Hürthle cell
  • Insular
  • Macrofollicular
  • Oncocytic
  • Solid/trabecular
  • Spindle cell
  • Tall cell
  • Warthin-Like

Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Cancer – a rare form of thyroid cancer that is often aggressive. It is associated with high risk of cancer recurrence, spread to lung and/or bones and increased risk of death. Patients are often treated with a combination of surgery, radioactive iodine and/or radiation therapy and possibly newer, molecular targeted therapies

Thyroid Cancer Terms to Know

Adenocarcinoma – Cancer that begins in glandular cells. Glandular cells are found in tissue that lines certain internal organs and makes and releases substances in the body, such as mucus, digestive juices, or other fluids

Advanced – Has spread to other places in the body; far along in course

Benign – Not cancerous. Benign tumors may grow larger but do not spread to other parts of the body. Also called non-malignant

Lobe – a portion of an organ (ex. thyroid)

Lobectomy – surgery to remove a whole lobe (section) of an organ (ex. thyroid)

Locally Advanced – has spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes

Malignant – Cancerous. Malignant cells can invade and destroy nearby tissue and spread to other parts of the body

Metastatic – spread of cancer from the primary site (place where it started) to other places in the body

Neoplasm – An abnormal mass of tissue that results when cells divide more than they should or do not die when they should. Neoplasms may be benign (not cancer), or malignant (cancer). Also called tumor

Nodule – A growth or lump that may be malignant (cancer) or benign (not cancer)

Partial Lobectomy – surgery to remove a whole organ (ex. thyroid)

Radioactive Iodine – a radioactive form of iodine, often used for imaging tests or to treat an overactive thyroid, thyroid cancer, and certain other cancers. For imaging tests, the patient takes a small dose of radioactive iodine that collects in thyroid cells and certain kinds of tumors and can be detected by a scanner. To treat thyroid cancer, the patient takes a large dose of radioactive iodine, which kills thyroid cells. Radioactive iodine is given by mouth as a liquid or in capsules, by infusion, or sealed in seeds, which are placed in or near the tumor to kill cancer cells

Recurrent – Cancer that has recurred (come back), usually after a period of time during which the cancer could not be detected. The cancer may come back to the same place as the original (primary) tumor or to another place in the body. Also called recurrence and relapse

Refractory – Cancer that does not respond to treatment. The cancer may be resistant at the beginning of treatment or it may become resistant during treatment. Also called resistant cancer

Risk – patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (papillary or follicular) have different levels of risk of a recurrence or of persistent disease

  • Low Risk of recurrence or persistent disease means: no cancer in nearby tissue or outside the thyroid bed other than 5 or fewer small involved lymph nodes (under 0.2 centimeters), and cancer that is not one of the variants.
  • Intermediate Risk (Medium Risk) means some tumor in nearby neck tissue at the time of surgery, more than 5 lymph node metastases 0.2 to 3 centimeters in size, or a tumor that’s a variant or has vascular invasion
  • High Risk means extensive tumor outside the thyroid, distant metastases, incomplete tumor removal, or a cancerous lymph node over 3 centimeters in size.

T3 – also called triiodothyronine; a type of thyroid hormone

T4 – also called thyroxin and thyroxine; a hormone that is made by the thyroid gland and contains iodine. T4 increases the rate of chemical reactions in cells and helps control growth and development. T4 can also be made in the laboratory and is used to treat thyroid disorders

Thyroglobulin – the form that thyroid hormone takes when stored in the cells of the thyroid. Doctors measure thyroglobulin level in blood to detect thyroid cancer cells that remain in the body after treatment. If the thyroid has been removed, thyroglobulin should not show up on a blood test. Some patients produce anti-thyroglobulin antibodies, which are not harmful but which mask the reliability of the thyroglobulin value

Thyroid Gland – a gland located beneath the larynx (voice box) that makes thyroid hormone and calcitonin. The thyroid helps regulate growth and metabolism. Also called thyroid gland

Thyroid Gland Squamous Cell Carcinoma – A rapidly growing primary carcinoma of the thyroid gland composed of malignant squamous cells (cells are found in the tissues that form the surface of the skin, the passages of the respiratory and digestive tracts, and the lining of the hollow organs of the body). The clinical course is usually aggressive

Stage – The extent of a cancer in the body. Staging is usually based on the size of the tumor, whether lymph nodes contain cancer, and whether the cancer has spread from the original site to other parts of the body

Unresectable – Unable to be removed with surgery


Sources:

ncithesaurus.nci.nih.gov

cancer.gov

thyca.org

thyroid.org

Cancer Survivors: Managing Emotions After Cancer Treatment

Since the 1980s, doctors have tried to describe the stages cancer survivors normally go through. Most divide them into a version of the three stages described below:

Acute Survival (Living With Cancer) – Covers cancer diagnosis and any subsequent treatment. During this time, patients will undergo treatment and may be invited to participate in a clinical trial to study new cancer treatments. Sometimes services are offered to patients and their caregivers to address emotional, psychological and financial problems.

Prolonged survival (transient cancer): Post-treatment period during which the risk of recurrence is relatively high. Many patients are relieved that treatment has ended, but are concerned that they will not visit the oncologist regularly. During this stage, patients often visit the oncologist two to four times a year, depending on their circumstances.

Permanent survival (living after cancer): survival after treatment and long-term. Although two out of three survivors declare that their lives have returned to normal, a third affirms that they continue to have physical, psychosocial or economic problems. During this stage, most survivors are cared for again by their GP. Ideally, they have developed a long-term follow-up plan with the oncologist for their regular doctor to implement.

Social and Emotional Repercussions of Cancer

In addition to the physical effects of cancer, survivors experience psychological, emotional, and spiritual consequences. Many of them affect quality of life and can manifest many years after treatment. Here are some of the most common problems cancer survivors face:

Fear of Recurrence

Many survivors live in fear that the cancer will return at some point. In some cases, a major event, such as the anniversary of the diagnosis or the end of treatment with the oncologist, can trigger these feelings. Fear can be good if it encourages you to discuss your health changes with your doctor, but it can also cause unnecessary worry. Knowing your own body will help you distinguish between normal changes and more serious symptoms.

Pain

Grief is the natural result of loss. In cancer, losses refer to health, sexual desire, fertility, and physical independence. To overcome your pain, it is important to experience all of these feelings. Support groups and psychological assistance can help you deal with these problems.

Depression

It is estimated that 70% of cancer survivors experience depression at some point. Depression can be difficult to diagnose in cancer survivors, since the symptoms are very similar to the side effects of cancer treatment, such as weight loss, tiredness, insomnia, and inability to concentrate. In a 10-year follow-up study, symptoms of depression have been found to be associated with shorter survival, so seeking treatment for depression is essential.

Body Image and Self-esteem

Cancer survivors who have suffered amputations, disfigurements, and loss of organs such as the colon or bladder often have to overcome their problems to relate to themselves and to others. A negative body image and low self-esteem can affect the survivor’s ability to maintain relationships with their partner, which will have important consequences on their quality of life. Good communication is essential to maintain or regain intimacy after cancer. Consult a doctor if problems persist.

Spirituality

Many survivors feel that life takes on new meaning after cancer and renew their commitment to certain spiritual practices or organized religion. Research indicates that spirituality improves quality of life through a strong social support network.

Survivor’s Fault

Some people feel guilty about surviving cancer when others don’t. You may be wondering “Why me?” Or reevaluate your goals and ambitions in life. If you have a prolonged feeling of guilt, a psychotherapist, a member of the clergy, or a support group can help you express your feelings.

Relations

Possibly the biggest challenge cancer survivors face is how others react to their disease. Friends, coworkers, and family members may feel uncomfortable when discussing the diagnosis of cancer. They can keep silent, avoid you, or pretend that nothing has happened. Others may use humor to try to distract you and not think about your situation, instead of offering to talk about your problems. Cancer can be a long-lasting disease, so it is essential to overcome communication barriers.

Social and Work Life

Social and professional reintegration can be accompanied by many fears: concern about being exposed to a higher risk of infection, lack of enough energy to reach the end of the workday and anxiety about not being able to think clearly due to the so-called “neurological impairment by chemotherapy “or memory loss. In overcoming a life and death situation, many cancer survivors feel alienated from people who have not had the same experience and turn to other survivors for support and friendship.

You may be reluctant to reveal to your bosses and colleagues that you are receiving cancer treatment for fear of being treated differently or even losing your job and health insurance. This creates an atmosphere of uncertainty that contributes to emotional stress. Again, honest communication with your colleagues will help you overcome these feelings.


About the author: Diane H. Wong is copywriter at write essay for me service. She is also a professional nutritionist and plans to start her own blog to share her knowledge with others.