<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Dear listmembers: Last year at this time I enlisted your help. I was feeling very ill, loosing a lot of hair and wondering about malabsorption. I got lots of supportive email and suggestions about having my thyroid checked. Well, four dr. later I am finally getting somewhere. The GI dr. thought it was all in my head, I was just fine, no malabsorption, no thyroid (TSH was normal). 9 months later, after depression assessment (looks like it, but is not clinical depression) another doctor suggested that the lump on my throat was a swollen lymph node, probably from allergies, the next dr. suggested it was psychosomatic (the lump in the throat bit) and the otolaryngologist I saw next diagnosed gastric esophagus reflux disease. But he did suggest a thyroid ultrasound, because I thought it might be thyroid. Well the findings came back: there is a nodule with sonographic characteristics consistent with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Naturally it could also be another type of carcinoma or a benign lesion. Now the otolaryngologist wants to do a needle biopsy. My questions to anybody on the list who has had problem like this. Is the ENT dr. right person to do this or should it be done by an endocrinologist? If the nodule needs to be excised, is there a hospital stay involved and will I get a gluten-free diet? For those readers in Oregon, is there a recommendation of a dr. or surgeon somebody thinks is great? TIA Hanne in Oregon