I think this happens with surgeons as well. About two years ago my doctor found nodules on my thyroid... blood tests revealed Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. After a s

I think this happens with surgeons as well. About two years ago my doctor found nodules on my thyroid... blood tests revealed Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. After a series of ultrasounds, radioactive iodine uptake tests, and needle biopsies, I was referred to an ENT who specialized in thyroid surgeries. The pathology report revealed that there was about a 20% chance I had papillary thyroid cancer, which has the highest cure rate of any type of cancer (>95% are completely cured after a thyroidectomy). So he recommended we take it out. And that's what I did... a partial thyroidectomy where one half was removed. Turned out there was no cancer. It was weird, though. After all of the painful tests, the long weeks waiting for appointments, the waiting in doctor's offices, the uncertainty, I didn't really think to say "Well, this is pretty low-risk... why don't we just wait on it?" Surgeons will operate if you let them. It's what they do.