A few questions

I have been reading this board top to bottom the past couple of days. It is very comforting to know there are so many people out there that have gone through the same things. Thank you for your willingness to share and help the newer people out.  I have a couple of questions, silly or not, still just wondering. I am going to be having a TT within the next probably 4-6 weeks, totally freaking out and scared yet I know it is a fairly common thing too so it can't be "that" bad.

OK, seriously, how big of a scar are we talking about here? I have seen folks with huge 1/2 circle type scars and then other with a straight across. From what I have read it could be 1 inch long to 5 inches??? Anyone care to share on this? Oh, and does it really fade after a short time? I have to say I am not extrememly vain or anything but a little spazzed out about having a huge scar across my neck, ya know?

The other thing is that I am reading a lot about hoarse voices and no voices. When you are talking about this, do you mean like NO voice at all or a slight whisper or just a crackle or gruff sounding voice?  I have 4 kids at home and dont' want to freak them out after the surgery, wanting them to know Mom may or may not have a voice to hollar at them!  (jjking of course)

And last thing. After the surgery, what kind of pain am I to expect? I have had several abdominal surgeries, and 4 babies, so am I talking major pain with narcotics to help? or just a dull pain? sore throat or what? I am not a wuss by any means, but I do want to know if I am going to wake up and be begging for pain meds .....

OK guess that is all for now. Thanks again to you all for sharing. You guys/gals are amazing and really inspiring me to get through this in one peice.

DarlaLOU

[devushka]

I'll weigh in about the scar. I already had two creases in my neck, right in the middle, about an inch apart. The surgeon decided to place the 3-4 inch incision along one of the creases, reasoning that it would be less visible. In hindsight, I might have preferred a scar lower down like most people on this forum have described--a place that would be covered by a crew-neck t-shirt (this seems to be the more usual place). Because it's in a crease of my neck, my neck puckers more there, and I think it's more noticeable, not less. It can only be covered by a turtleneck. Not that I mind scars at all, but that's just it: you can't tell it's a scar. It just looks like a very deep neck crease! (I have an average size neck). Once in a while I feel bad about my neck! As for pain, for me it was not bad. A dull ache and an inclination to move in slow motion, so as not to jar the stitches. You might get bruising around the incision, the sight of which seemed to freak out my 8-year-old, since the actual incision will be covered by a bandage/steri-strips for the first week. The skin on my chest and neck was stained yellow from some kind of disinfectant they painted on during the surgery prep; it took ages to wash it off. My voice was normal.

[artsyrose]

ok...questions...

my scar is not too big...straight...about hmmm 4 inches maybe...right in the hollow of the throat...I had surgery Feb 28th of this year...hardly noticable...I had no external stitches...my surgeon used steri strips...some use stitches...depends upon the surgeon...I had an surgeon who specializes in endocrine surgery

I had some pain...in the hospital I was given morphine at first IV...then tablets...I stayed one night...the pain at home was taken care of by prescription pain meds...I think I took them for about 4 days or so...I was more tired than anything else...I felt exhausted and sore all over...especially my the back of my neck and shoulders...and yes..I had a sore throat...like a cold...

My voice was a whisper for a week...but I think this is unusual...it was from the breathing tube...my voice was not completely normal for several months...I think it is normal to have a sore throat from it and to be hoarse, but my case was a but pronouced...but it is fine now...although I still cannot sing as high as I used to.

so...to sum up...it is more than "dull" pain...but not as bad as abdominal surgery...unless the abdominal surgery was laproscopic....

[redhed87]

My scar is not too big, maybe 3 inches, barely noticeable right now and it has not even been 2 months.  The pain does not compare to child birth- I had my daughter with no drugs- nothing will ever hurt that much, I don't think. Don't be like me, I wanted to completely get off pain meds, but the nurses said it is harder to manage the pain if you let it get too sever- they were right, so I listened to them.   My voice is fine- kind of hard to raise my voice right now- but again, it's only been a few months.  Also, my neck is swollen from surgery plus RAI still.  I get a little raspy certain times of the day.  The toughest part is hypohell, waiting for RAI and now trying to get my meds straightened out- I am weak and my body hurts all over.  I just hate being dependent on others.  You'll do fine- you sound tough....you can handle four kids, this is a piece of cake :)  Keep us posted.

[DarlaLOU]

Oh, one more question please!!??

Even though my US did not show any sign of a malignant growth or anything suspicious, will they automatically run a check on my thyroid when it comes out?  The initial reports just say that it is extremely enlarged (both the thyroid and the isthmus) and showing nodule mass on right side. The reason they are taking it out is because it is causing problems with my voice and sleeping as well as the fact that it grew so large so quickly. (Doubled size since the first of the year) The surgeon said it will most likely continue to grow larger and the larger it gets the harder it is to remove so the sooner we should have it taken out. Since I am already on a large does of Synthroid and would be for life anyway that part is not a concern to me.... but the thought that they might come back after the surgery and say "by the way.... there is cancer" or something like that totally freaks me out.  So my question is will they do a check on it after it is out? or not? Gosh, I need to write all these things down for the Dr to answer, don't I???  Thanks a MILLION times over!!

Darla

[LADYBLU34]

i have hypo and feel so crappy! doctor lowered my syn frm 100 to 75 cause my levels were high, but i feel like sh*t!!! i cant thnk or complete a thought im depressed all the time i hate everybody! i used to love people but now i cant stand to b around them! im extremely emotional and just can't get it together! i think that i'm going crazy! not used to feeling like this!

[DarlaLOU]

Ladyblu, sounds like you need to seriously talk with your Dr....or get a new one! You should not be feeling so lousy and if he is lowering the dose that makes me think he is a nut! jmo though.  good luck and hope you feel better/happier soon!

[redhed87]

I would assume they would send it to pathology after they take it out.  I think to check for cancer or anything else.  Not 100% sure.

[dart frog]

My scar is about 3 inches and looks great since its been 20 days since surgery. I dont have natural folds on my neck so I was very worried about the scar but I think it will blend in just fine. I do recommend the dermabond instead of stitches though.

As for the voice problms I think it depends on the person and how surgery is handled. Most surgeons use a intubation tube that has nerve sensorys that let them know if they are bumping into the vocal cord nerves. From my research that is a HUGE question to ask the surgeon if they use or not.

I have had several surgies and had a LOT more problems recovering from this then any other. I know the major difference is that this is the neck and we dont notice how much we use the neck muscles until they are sore. I also foundout the hard way that its bad bad bad to overdo it the first week or so after surgery. ( Im hard headed and stubborn to boot) Simple things like pushing or pulling.....you use the neck muscles to do that so as long as you REST and dont over do it you should be fine.

I had mine removed because of goiter and rapid growing nodules. FNA did NOT show any cancer before hand and the surgeon did NOT expect to find any after surgery either BUT she went ahead and reran the pathology on the thyroid anyway. At the hospital I went to anytime a organ is removed they HAVE to have it biopsied. Thankfully the final report did NOT show any cancer.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Rhonda

[nprince1999]

I totally feel you about the scar concerns.  I too had that concer, cried like a baby because I didn't want a scar.  I talked with the surgeon and he explained he would make the incesion along the natural cress of my neck, this over time would make the scar less visible.  He also recommended that I massage the scar so that it will soften and smooth out. After all the strips fell off, I began massaging the scar using Palmer's CoCo Butter.  I had my surgery in early April (02) My voice was only that of a whisper and it didn't come back until after June 24th (02).  I had my 5 month follow up in Sept and my surgeon was really impressed that my scar was barely noticable( seeing & smoothness).  Now 5 yrs later you would never know I surgery just by looking at my neck.  My cut was about 2 1/2-3 inches long.

As for will they check the thyroid.  They froze the part that was taken out, sliced & diced it several times while I was still on the table to make sure it wasn't cancerous and needed to take out the other side.  Everything looked normal but they still sent part of that that was removed in for farther testing after my surgery was over.  Ask you're surgeon how they do.

[SuzieQTT]

I had a total thyroidectomy on June 26th, pain wasn't bad at all...but I have a high pain tolerance and am very sensitive to certain medications.  I took maybe 1 or 2 pain pills per day.

I was told that I probably would have a hard time talking for a couple of days...my family laughed and said I would explode!...I woke up talking.  I felt like I had a sore throat and stiff neck.  You just want to make sure that you rest your voice and your neck though because by the end of the day mine would be hoarse and my neck muscles would be tired.  I was told by my surgeon that my scar would probably be about 5-6 inches half-circle and it turned out to be about 3 1/2.  He used dermabond or "superglue" as he called it and steri-strip.  the steri-strip came off 8 days post-op.  I began using Vitamin E then and I now have a thinning whitish-red line across the base of my neck and it really looks excellent, I have seen some pretty vicious scars though.  I actually went to a wedding this weekend and wore a dress that had a low cut neckline.  I wore a very thin string of fresh water pearls and you couldn't see it at all.  

I have had problems with my synthroid dosage at 2 and 4 weeks though that is leveling out.  I have had some "fluid" swelling on and off at the incision site but that has lessened every day.

They did pathology after removing the thyroid and confirmed the "NO CANCER" diagnosis as well as the Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  My thyroid was also working at only 2% so I am glad it is gone.  I now have collarbones and my neck looks so much thinner.

Hope this helps
Suzie

[LADYBLU34]

thanks for well wishes! hope everything goes well with u :o)