Celebrating Small Victories Along Your Cancer Journey
- Country singer Paul Cauthen, 40, is battling thyroid cancer but says the birth of his long‑awaited son has been a major source of hope, praising his wife Elizabeth as “the strongest woman in the world” after years of trying to conceive.
- Thyroid cancer occurs when cancer cells form in the tissues of the thyroid gland and grow out of control. The thyroid is located at the base of the neck and produces hormones that regulate your heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and weight. A lump or swelling in the neck is a common symptom of this type of cancer.
- Thyroid cancer patients may be faced with surgery to help treat the cancer. There are varying surgery options, including a total thyroidectomy, which involves completely removing the thyroid.
- After the surgery, patients may experience some soreness in or near their throat for a couple of weeks, mainly because a breathing tube was needed during the procedure.
- Cauthen’s unconventional treatment path has stirred mixed reactions, as he leans away from standard-of-care methods—like surgery or radiation—in favor of lifestyle changes and alternative approaches.
- Traditional cancer treatments (standard of care) are backed by scientific evidence and are part of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) treatment guidelines, while non-traditional therapies—such as herbal supplements and dietary modifications—fall outside mainstream guidelines and may carry risks.
“God is good,” Cauthen wrote alongside a sweet photo of newborn Jim Paul Cauthen bundled in blankets.
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“I was taking a bunch of steroids to get me through those shows,” he explained in an Instagram video. “Something woke me up, and I was blue in my lips and white in my face. It just scared the hell out of me.”
Though he stepped back to prioritize his health, Cauthen eventually returned to performing. His treatment choices, however, sparked debate, as they did not always align with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s recommended standards of care.
“Whipping cancer’s ass. It’s going great. I’ve been taking a bunch of supplements,” he said on the podcast “Ten Year Town.”
“A lot of people shunned me for it. A lot of people have gotten a lot of flak. I’ve stopped working with people because of this situation. It’s been weird.”
Even amid the challenges, the upcoming addition to his family has become a source of hope and strength, potentially adding fuel to Cauthen’s fight against cancer, so he can be present for his child. Fans have rallied around him with messages of support.
Expert Resources for Thyroid Cancer Patients
Understanding Thyroid Cancer and How It Is Treated
Thyroid cancer is generally grouped based on the specific cells it develops from.
- The most common type is differentiated thyroid cancer, such as papillary thyroid cancer. Under the microscope, these cancer cells still look somewhat like normal thyroid tissue. They typically start in follicular cells, the part of the thyroid responsible for making hormones.
- Non-differentiated cancers can come from the thyroid’s calcium-controlling cells, the immune cells that fight infections within the thyroid, or from follicular cells that are so mutated that they no longer look like thyroid cells under a microscope.
“Although papillary thyroid cancer is the most common, the other types of cancers tend to be more aggressive and tend to spread more widely, at least in advanced cases,” Dr. Lisa Orloff, a head and neck surgeon at Stanford Medicine, explained to SurvivorNet.
WATCH: Diagnosing Thyroid Cancer.
When being diagnosed, patients may receive the following tests:
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) Test. This blood test mainly checks levels of a hormone called TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone), which is made by a small gland in the brain (the pituitary) to regulate thyroid function.
While the test can’t tell if a thyroid issue is cancerous, it helps doctors see if a thyroid nodule is producing hormones. In many cases, hormone-producing nodules are not cancerous.
- Ultrasound. An ultrasound can detect subtle thyroid changes, ranging from small nodules to extensive changes. However, not all nodules detected are necessarily harmful.
- Biopsy. The biopsy may follow an ultrasound, which detected a nodule. In this procedure, a radiologist visualizes the nodule on a screen and directs the needle precisely into the targeted area to collect a tissue sample for further testing for signs of cancer.
- Depending on the size of the tumor and if it has spread into nearby lymph nodes or tissues, doctors determine the stage, or how advanced the thyroid cancer is.
Thyroid cancer patients may be faced with surgery to help treat the cancer. There are varying surgery options, including a total thyroidectomy, which involves completely removing the thyroid. In other cases, a partial thyroidectomy may be necessary, which means only a portion of the thyroid gland is removed. A partial thyroidectomy may be optimal if the nodule is confined to one side or has smaller growths affecting a smaller portion of the thyroid.
WATCH: Understanding what goes into thyroid cancer surgery.
After the surgery, patients may experience some soreness in or near their throat, mainly because a breathing tube was needed during the procedure. Over-the-counter pain medications may also be prescribed. Recovery time may last up to two weeks.
For thyroid cancer patients whose cancer is at an advanced stage, in addition to possible surgery, treatment may also involve chemotherapy, thyroid-stimulating hormone therapy (stimulates hormone production), and/or radiation therapy. In some cases, when thyroid cancer is very aggressive, surgery may no longer be effective, so relying on other treatment methods may be more optimal.
Thyroid cancer has reasonable treatment success rates. However, there is a chance of recurrence, meaning the cancer can return after treatment (also called recurrence). Recurrence may happen a few months after remission or sometimes even decades later. Patients should ask their doctor after treatment what their risk of recurrence is.
WATCH: Thyroid cancer surveillance.
If a doctor finds your recurrence at an early stage, your chance of quickly regaining remission is often higher. This is why regular follow-ups, blood tests, and neck ultrasounds are essential.
Some of the more common signs and symptoms of a return include:
- A lingering cough that doesn’t go away
- A lump or swelling in the neck that you can feel or see
- Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
- Neck pain that isn’t explained by muscle strain or other causes
- Hoarseness or voice changes
Standard Treatment and Non-traditional Treatment Approaches
According to the National Cancer Institute, standard of care (also called standard therapy, best practice, and standard medical care) is treatment for a cancer or disease that medical experts widely accept as “a proper treatment for a certain type of disease.”
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), which comprises 28 leading cancer centers, establishes treatment guidelines, according to The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
“The NCCN Guidelines provide evidence-based, consensus-driven guidance for cancer management to ensure that all patients receive preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, and supportive services that are most likely to lead to optimal outcomes. They are intended to assist all individuals who impact decision-making in cancer care, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, payers, patients and their families, and many others.”
Traditional treatment methods for cancer may include surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation regimens. Understandably, these treatments are not easy to deal with as they often bring grueling side effects, from hair loss to diarrhea. Despite these grueling side effects,
Some patients opt for non-traditional treatments to avoid these side effects, while others bypass traditional therapy for other reasons. Examples of non-traditional treatments may include relying on herbal supplements, homeopathic drugs, or a changed diet and lifestyle.
A study published in the medical journal JAMA Oncology focused on complementary medicine, refusal of conventional cancer therapy, and patient survival. The researchers surmised that patients are more likely to die when they rely on non-traditional cancer treatments.
WATCH: Complementary Treatment
“We know that many, many patients out there are using complementary and alternative medicine, but they’re not talking with their providers about it,” says Dr. James Yu, a radiation oncologist at Yale Cancer Center who led the study.
Yu and his colleagues examined information collected from 1.9 billion people in the National Cancer Database. They found that people who chose complementary medicine for cancer treatment were more likely to be female, younger, affluent, well-educated, and privately insured.
People who chose complementary medicine were also more likely to refuse some conventional treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy, Yu says. Unfortunately, these people had a two-fold greater risk of death compared with patients who did not use complementary medicine.
Yu stresses that using complementary therapies to improve patients’ quality of life should be okay as long as they do not interfere with conventional medicines and help them feel better.
Questions To Ask Your Doctor
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, consider the following questions when talking with the doctor about treatment options.
- What are my treatment options, and which do you recommend?
- Are there clinical trials available for someone in my situation?
- How frequently should we be checking my thyroglobulin levels now?
- What lifestyle changes can I make to help support my treatment and recovery?
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