Life Without A Thyroid / Surgery On Saturday

[bmxdad]

I am having a total Thyroidectomy on Saturday.  I have Hashi's and I have a Hurthle cell nodule (FNA showed it to be non-malignant, but my Endo told me that the only way to be 100% sure is to have it biopsied).  All of my doctors (General, Endo & Surgeon) agree with eachother on this too.  They said since I have Hashi's and my thyroid will be of no use to me, that the best thing is to get it out and not play any games or take chances.  I am scared of the surgery, and I have a few questions that hopefully someone can answer?

1.)  How hard is it to get meds regulated after surgery?
2.)  I am scared of losing my voice due to nerve damage....What are the statistics on this, has it happened to you?
3.)  How is the recovery from this surgery?
4.)  Any other complications related to the surgery and after care?
5.)  Anything else I should know?

Thanks,
Karl (BMXDAD)

[th1269]

I had a total Thyroidectomy on October 8th.  I feel fine and almost back to normal.  I went back to work on the 19th and drove on the 18th.  Started the synthroid four days after surgery and it is going well.
Best of luck - hope it all works out!!

[mrsomes]

First of all good luck.  Thyroid surgery is typically very, very safe.   As others had mentioned it is absolutely critical that you have a surgeon who has done many of these procedures.   I had a TT in June.   I had no problems with my voice at all.   Some people are a little hoarse for a while but most of the time there are no permanent voice issues.   Your parathyroids can be damaged/removed during the surgery as they are close to the thyroid.  You'll have blood work to monitor your calcium levels.   If you feel tingling in your arms/legs/face you need to tell your Dr.   The other very rare complication (which is what I had) was bleeding after the surgery.  It happens in something like .02% of surgeries but it is just something to be aware of.  My medical team knew right away when my neck started to swell that there was an issue and it was fixed.   Recovery for me was long but that was mainly because I wound up having 2 surgeries instead of 1.  It was 2 weeks before I could actually go out to a grocery store and that was still with somebody driving me.  The good thing was I had no pain whatsoever.   I am almost there with my meds.  I am very thin and sensitive to medication so my synthroid has been raised in small doses.  I think w/in the next 4 weeks it will be perfect.   That being said, I haven't had any major issues with getting the meds right.   Just annoying.   The key to all of this is to have a really good surgeon and a really good endo Dr who listens to you.   Pay attention to more than your blood work.   Pay attention to how you feel and share that with your Dr.   You know your body better than anybody.   I also found it helpful to write down how I was feeling,  how that related to blood work and the meds I was taking.   I think that helped my Dr get to this point of being almost normal sooner rather than later.
Good luck.

[Totie]

You will do fine. Just make sure your surgeon has experience.

It took a yr to get my dosage too where it needed to be.
You can not notice my scar, the surgeon did a great job, no vocal or parathyroid damage.
I was kept long than 5 days due to other health issues. I was out of work for two weeks.
I did not have any pain on scar or throat, not trouble swallowing. No lost voice.
You will need a lot of patience. .....due to the ups and downs emotionally that you will have when adjusting your dosage.

Good luck...you will be just fine.

[musicgirlsuz]

Hi, I have Hashi's and had a goiter, well, still have it, but it's shrunken now.  I also had a thyroid node but was told they are almost always benign and when I insisted on a biopsy, I had to get almost nasty to get it.  It was benign.  That was about 5 years ago.

What I am concerned about is that I am on Armour, having tried Synthroid, Cytomel and bio-id T3 to no avail.  The only med that agrees with me is Armour.  The doctor tried treating me for reverse T3 issues, but it didn't help either.  Lately, my hair started falling out, I no longer grow hair on the lower part of my legs, I have a lot of neuro issues, but have a condition called Chiari I Malformation and Syringomyelia which can cause this too.  I have had brain surgery to help the problem but it failed.  Anyway, my concern after reading your posts is that I was led to believe that it is extremely rare for a Hashi patient to get cancer of the thyroid.  So I'm wondering if you are in the extreme minority or if you know different.  Should I consider thyroidectomy since I have nodules?

Thank you for your help.

[MANmom]

I had much the same, only no Hurtle cells, I had four nodules, and a biopsy of "benign follicular clusters".  I have had two surgeries, one to take out 1/2 the thyroid (hoping that would alleviate my hoarseness) and another when they found cancer to remove the rest.  Both surgeries were a peice of cake, I had a great surgeon...I am a singer, so not damaging the vocal nerves was important. You should ask your surgeon what HIS stats are on the vocal nerve damage.  A really good surgeon will not have had many.  Mine has been practicing 20 years, and only had 1, the man's surgery involved invasion of the vocal nerve from the cancer spreading.  But the better the surgeon, the better the outcome.  I had NO COMPLICATIONS, and was singing within a fews days.  I have not had any problems since, and am back to teaching and singing in my choir and have not missed a note.  Meds after surgery depend on the result of the biopsy.  With my cancer, I had to be starved of thyroid hormone until after the RAI treatment, I went 7 weeks and felt miserable after about 4 weeks. After the RAI I started synthroid, I was given .15 dose, and being so active (I am an active jogger, 4 miles daily), it wasn't enough.  I am now on .175, still not enough, I am still napping in the afternoon.  We will get it right, it takes a long time.  I started the synthroid the day after RAI in late July, and today I am still low, but feeling about 85%.   Recovery from the surgery was easy...within two days after each surgery I was functioning, walking two miles after 3 days...The scar healed fine, you can hardly see it, no complications there.   The only other thing I can tell you is if you have siblings or parents with any form of thyroid problem (or not), you should have them get checked.  I insisted my sisters get checked, one has the same cancer (no symptoms, no idea!) and the other has nodules and is getting tested.  I have two brothers with Hashimoto's as did my Dad and I.  Good luck!

[TamraW]

The main complications if your surgeon is a general surgeon and not experienced in thyroid can be damage to parathyroid glands. They regulate calcium, and if those don't work, you're taking calcium pills forever.

The other would be damage to vocal cord.

Once again, this is very rare in the hands of an experienced surgeon.

My dad had this done 40 years ago, back in the stone ages of thyroid surgery, and he was fine.
:) Tamra

[TamraW]

The main thing is that you need to make sure your surgeon has plenty of thyroid experience. The more experience, the less likely the complications.

My mom was 62 with this surgery. She was sent home the next day, although too soon, but her insurance sucked. She had a great surgeon, but this was in Las Vegas, and I don't know where you live. Anyway, within a week, she was slaving for her family, as usual.

Did the doc mention the thyroid drug and level you will take? I am assuming Synthroid or Levo, since those seem to be the drugs of choice for most endos. Sometimes, you get the exact dosage you need. Sometimes, you don't. If, after a few weeks, you are too tired or too wired, then go to your endo and demand bloodwork. Many endos don't treat FT3 levels. They believe FT4 will convert to FT3 naturally by the body. Sometimes, this doesn't happen, and we require an FT3 drug to be added to our Synthroid. Sometimes, people don't do well on the synthetic Synthroid at all, and they do better switching to a natural drug made from dessicated pig thyroid like Nature-Throid.

You have options for your best health. I am sure you will do fine after surgery and you will be playing with your kids in no time.

Best of luck!


:) Tamra