For those of you who have had thyroid surgery....

[TXMomOfFaith]

My doctor wants me to have my nodule removed since the fna came back indecisive. He said he was sending me to an ENT surgeon, is this normal? Can some of you that have had the surgery tell me what I can expect in the way of time in the hospital, pain, time off of work(I am a stay at home mom), healing and just overall your experience? I have never had surgery before so I am pretty nervous.

[utahmomma]

I've had lots of surgeries and the (two) thyroid surgeries that I had were the easiest surgeries that I had.  Both surgeries were just overnight stays in the hospital.  I had my surgeries on Thursdays and was back to work the following Mondays.

The biggest thing to watch for is cramping and tingling in your face, legs, and hands.  Buried in your thyroid are your parathyroid glands and they are finicky little things.  They don't like to be disturbed and they control your calcium.  Irritating or removing them can cause low calcium and, hence, cramping.  This is a serious situation and if it happens you need to call the nurse ASAP and tell them you need calcium.

Other than that, sore throat (from being intubated), sore neck (from the surgery), tiredness, minor discomfort (not pain), and difficulty sneezing and looking over your shoulder are normal for a while.

For me (and I know there are others with different experiences), my four sisters (with the exception of the one who had a reaction to the morphine), and my daughter it was a very easy surgery.

Please take care

Utahmomma
papillary carcinoma '03

[tm514]

An ENT is probably the right choice for TT - they are trained in all kinds of head and neck surgeries.  If you can find one, get a doc who does LOTS of thyroidectomies.   I totally lucked out and got one who only does thyroids - about 20 per week!  

My recovery was smooth - surgery on Weds, back to work the following Weds.  Driving two days later.  I think as long as you listen to your body, you'll be fine.  Will you have help with your children for the first couple of days?  You might be tired from the anesthesia for a couple of days.  Like Utah, the only pain I had was a sore throat from the breathing tube - tylenol took care of it with no problems (and, when I used my chin to put a clean pillowcase on the first time - that didn't feel so good!).

The TT was my first surgery as well (I have had 3 more since - Graves Eye Disease and a sinus problem) and I was nervous too, not being sure what to expect.  I spent one night in the hospital, out to lunch with my sister the next day.  No problems eating or drinking, and no problems with my calcium levels.

Good luck to you.

[redheadaussie]

I had two surgeries 6 months apart and they were pretty much the same. Bit of a sore neck from having head and neck pulled back on the operating table. The throat area was  little sore from the intubation they do to keep you breathing whilst under anethestic. Lots of warm cups of tea eased that problem though. Felt odd as I couldn't lift my head or shoulders up too high.Bit like wearing a neck brace!
  Pain was actually quiet good, you'll be very surprised at how it feels. I have had many other surgeries and my left knee was in agony, had to have morphine constantly, but the thyroid surgeries, just plain old paracetamol and after a couple of days really only took it if I found my neck sore from not sleeping up high on a pillow.
  For me I suffer badly from the anesthetic, so I end up staying longer in hospital than most. I was there 4 days. Most stay overnight to 2 days. They will make sure your calcium levels are fine before they let you go home.
  All my visitors couldn't believe how well I was looking and chatting away on day 3.
You will get a bit tired though. It is a big operation and you do need to rest. Very easy to feel pretty good and get thinking you can do everything again, but it does take about 2 weeks to feel normal-ish again, as most of the TT's here will tell you.
   Make and freeze in containers lots of food that can be heated up in the microwave. Makes hubby or who ever's job a lot easier, and you won't feel quite so stressed too.
  Do be aware you will probably hate having t-shirts near your wound, feels very supersensitive in a funny strange way, not pain, just very 'touchy' So have button up or v neck shirts ready!
  Wishing you all the very best in the upcoming surgery!

[fibromama]

My experience was a little more horrendous,,,I would have been realsed from the hosp the same day right after being in recovery a hour,  but ended up staying 9hrs due to horrid pain.  I was on a med at the time (cant rem the name) and was told that type of med counteracts with opiate pains meds and so basically had no relief for pain.  After that initial day of surgery the pain was more tolerable but had to take 2 10mg  percocets suggested by my doc to get any kind of relief.  Im always a rare case when it comes to anything so Im pretty sure youll do great as everyone else has.  Ill pray for your health and recovery keep everyone posted.  :)