Re the article on thyroid cancer that AlanC posted: there was a study that got quite a bit of publicity a month or two ago. They said that thyroid cancer was one of the over-operated cancers -- that for most people, just keeping an eye one it to see if it started growing was a better approach, rather than a knee-jerk "cut it" approach.

Most thyroid cancers are very slow-growing and many people have worse side effects from thyroid removal that they would if they just have it monitored. The longer you can keep your thyroid, the better.