I'll know more after my Dec 5 follow-up, but I'm expecting the only difference will be whether it's papillary or follicular cancer. My age, 61, is a factor, but because I was in pretty good physical shape and want to stay that way we opted for the partial thyroidectomy so I'd still have some advantage of a partially functional thyroid and parathyroid (the latter is important to bone health). I'll be on levothyroxine the rest of my life but there's still a chance the remaining right side will regain function.
As GadgetGirlIL noted, thyroid cancer tends to have the best prognosis of all cancers. It tends to remain in the thyroid, probably assisted by calcification that encapsulates the cancer as the thyroid ... well ... dies. The pathology report described it as necrotic.
In fact, the doctors admitted that the needle biopsies carried a risk of seeding cancer, if any, which might be a greater risk than leaving it alone or just going ahead with the thyroidectomy. Some recent publications criticize what the papers describe as overuse of biopsies, but for now most doctors regard the biopsy as the most conservative, least invasive procedure. I had enough information to give informed consent to all procedures and agreed to the biopsies. But basically all four came up dry and the diagnostic imaging indicated some problems that favored removing the problem area.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried, but I feel pretty confident about recovery and staying healthy. As
this publication indicates, a major factor is access to good health care, particularly as we get older. In the long run preventive and immediate remedial care tend to be less expensive overall than delaying treatment.