Finally saying hello! Total Thyroidectomy!

[helsurf]

Hi all! I feel like i know you all cos i have been reading all of your posts for months! and finally decided to say hello! and say thankyou all of your posts have been a great help to me recently!

I've been having trouble with my throid since october when i noticed a small lump in my neck, which grew quite rapidly, had ultrasound and dx multinodular goiter, since then it's grown more and got compression symptoms lump in throat, some difficulty swollowing at times, pain in throat, had a fine needle aspiration under ultrasound where he confirmed it had grown since last scan.

FNA result has come back suspicious so gotta have TT! I'm a nurse and used to looking after others! scared about actually going under myself! Thyroid function is normal but positive for TPO antibodies.

Anyway how long did you guys who've had TT take to recover? how long do you think i'll need off work? how long were you in hospital for? I'm 26 by the way :)

Thanks for your help, this site is great by the way it's nice to know theres people out there who understand me!

Helen x x x

[helsurf]

thanks all! reading everyone elses experiences is reassuring :)

[redhed87]

I was in the hospital for 2 days, but I felt much better in a week or so from the surgery.  Neck was still sore and I had to sleep with two pillows propped up.  My problem was afterward, not being on any thyroid meds for a month awaiting RAi.  I felt like a train ran me over by the end- right before I went into the hospital.    The surgery part heals well, it's the other that took me 7 months to adjust.  Good luck.

[helsurf]

thankyou all for your replies and support!

got sent a copy of the letter my endo sent to the surgeon and in it he wrote, nodule was aspirated and found clusters of follicular cells without any of the convincingly benign features we'd hope for.

do you think thats bad?

thanks again guys x x x

[ellencoop]

I had a TT in 2006 and it was 2 weeks recovery for me.  I am a teacher so that was hard.  Now we are trying to get my Synthroid regulated.  I am on .175, but I got a bad burning sensation across my lips and now my nose area on the left side.  That started with an allergic reaction to Levoxyolrine and they switch me back two weeks ago to Synthroid.

Other than that, my surgery was perfect.  No pain, lost my voice for a day.

[KJ5854]

I had TT six weeks ago.  I was in hospital only 23 hours.  My surgery went smoothly.  I had no problems with calcium or voice.  I was back to pretty much normal activity 7 days after surgery.  I believe it would have been sooner but I ended up with this nasty flu/respitory virus thing that' been going around just two days after my surgery.   I think that made my recovery process a few days longer.

[helsurf]

thankyou all for your advice! no one in my familly has ever had thyroid problems so it's nice to get advice from people who've been there, done that! people who understand how it feels! thankyou so much, i will definately keep in contact now i've braved the first post! :) x x x

[ChitChatNine]

For me with partial I would have been out 2 weeks but many who are younger than I am say a week is ok!

Keep us posted .. welcome to the board!

[Thypatient]

I had to go into the hosp the evening before surgery, then stayed one night after.  I would recommend taking as much time to rest and recovery as is feasible.  I wish I had taken longer.  I think things over the long run would have been easier if I'd rested more.

I wish you well.

[Renie70]

I had a TT on Thursday and went back to work the following Tuesday.  The surgery is not a big deal-the mind stuff is the worst part.
Good luck to you and keep the faith!

Renie

[stella5349]

I am not in your shoes in the TT  department but have many issues on my thyroid. I wanted to say good luck to you and best of health. We all try to pull for each other here and we will be backing you 100%.

Good -- great Luck to you!

[Totie]

I had a TT back in 1994; was only in the hospital for about 2-3 days. I had the short term disability at work so i was able to be off 3 weeks with 80% of my pay. The surgery went well, no problems, took longer than anticipated, but all went well. You can not even tell I have a scar, the surgeon was great. I think  everyone is different on recovery time. I could have gone back to work earlier, but decided to just stay home and rest. The longest part is figuring out the level of thyroid you will need to be on for the rest of your life. It took a  year for me to get it just right and after 12 years of being on the same dose, the doctor changed the dosage for some reason, never knew why.

Hope all goes well.....