neck disection

[sleepy75]

have any of you had to have a neck disection? I was diagnosed 3 years ago with papilary thyroid cancer. I had a full thyroidectomy & Rai. Now they have found 2 lymph nodes. One on my trachea & 1 in my jugular chain. I go for a right side neck disection on May 13 th. I am pretty nervous. I really don't want it done. Better to be safe than sorry I guess.
sleepy75

[5amymark5]

I  am thinking of you and hope your surgery went well. When you are up to it, I hope to hear how everything went.
I had my post op appointment and was advanced to a low fat diet, yeah! I am currently on the LID preparing for RAI next week.
Wishing you the best...

[sleepy75]

Thank you for responding back so quickly. Did you find it hard to eat at first? Did you have to  make any other changes to your diet? ie: soft foods?

I really hope your appointment proves to be good news for you.

Thank you for your prayers the more people I have praying for me the better.

[5amymark5]

Hi. For the first surgery I went into the hospital on a wednesday and was sent home friday.  The most uncomfortable thing for me was the throat pain from being intubated. The incisional pain was minimal, but there was discomfort in the area of the neck dissection, kind of near the jaw. For this most recent surgery my surgeon went through the original incision, it is in the center of my lower neck. He did the neck dissection from there. I had no idea I was going to be placed on a no fat diet! I am still following it and will have my post op appt this Thursday. Hopefully I will be able to stop it especially becasue I need to start a LID next week.
I have found this forum helpful. For one thing, I have no idea about my lab values. I have not been following them. I will be sure to find out this week.    
Best of luck with your surgery, I will keep you in my prayer.

[sleepy75]

Sorry I lost track of who I responded to. My Endocronologist says I have one on my Trachea & 1 in my Jugular chain. The surgeon said he is going to remove all of my Lymph nodes on my right side. He doesn't feel completely confident that it is Cancer. He says they are very small. He felt I should have a Biopsy done, although he couldn't be sure of true results as they are so small. I told him I just want the surgery done & over with I am only 35 & I have 3 kids who need me to be here for them. He finally agreed it would be resonable to have it done.
  
How did they discover the abnormal nodes?

[sleepy75]

It was 3 years ago for me aswell. I had my surgery on Oct 30,2007. Then in January of 2008 had my RAI. I have gone for thyrogen full body scans twice since surgery. This past year was really stressful though as I was sent for the full body scan, which they thought they saw an issue with. Then they sent me for a CAT scan, then an Ultra sound of my neck. Which they had identified 2 lymph nodes that were irregular. Then I was sent to have a PET scan. When they finally decided it would probably be a good idea to have them removed. To add to it, my origional Surgeon wasn't willing to this surgery. It really scared me. I found out though it was due to the fact the new surgeon specialized in neck dissections. So all of this started back in October & I am only now finally having my surgery. Not looking forward to it. Although it will be good to know if it is actually Cancer or not. They haven't really said what comes next though. If you are asking what Thyrogen is 7 I believe. I'm not positive though. All I know is he felt it was too high. All the numbers for blood work I can't remember. That is why I always take someone with me to appointments to remember the important information.

Well I really hope everything works out for you so that you don't have to have another surgery. Good luck.

[sleepy75]

How long were you in the hospital for the first surgery? How are you making out with the no fat diet? Did you prior to surgery that you were going to have to go on this diet? I had up my Calcium & Magnesium after my thyroidectomy. I hope you heal quickly without any issues.

[Justin1967]

Well good Luck with your surgery.. I am almost in the same boat as you as I was diagnosed 3 years ago with papilary thyroid cancer. I had a full thyroidectomy & Rai. I am crossing my fingers I don't have to do neck dissection..

What was your Tg? Did it shoot sky high?

[ChitChatNine]

Hi,

Welcome to our community .. here's a few posts I pulled from the archives for you.

http://www.medhelp.org/personal_pages/show/413710?personal_page_id=413710

Pls. keep us posted!

C~

[5amymark5]

I had right thyroidectomy and neck dissection done in March for metastatic papillary cancer. Last week I returned to have completion of the total thyroidectomy and left neck dissection. For this most recent surgery I was in the hospital for 4 days and have been home now for 5 days. I still have some incisional pain and numbness on my jaw line. The most unexpected part of this surgery was the drain they had in place after surgery and the fact that they have placed me on a NO fat diet for 2 weeks. Apparently with neck dissection the lympahtic duct can be injured and cause chyle leakage. They placed me on a no fat diet so the duct can heal. Coupled with that, the parathyroid gland can get bruised or damaged, and in my case they have me on high doses of calcium and Vit D which is causing me to have stomach upset.  
I am doing well and although it is unpleasant it is tolerable. I wish you well and know you will be fine!        

[Danni526]

I had thyroidectomy in 2003 for pappillary cancer,. Followed by RAI in 2003. Then was clear for about5 1/2 years. I had modified neck dissection on right side in March of 2009. They removed some tissue and 17 lymph nodes. I had a couple of suspicious lymph nodes. 1 came back positive. I went back to work within a month. I probably wouldve been sent back sooner but my job is very physical. I had complete numbness for almost a year. Just on the right side of my neck up to around ear. Now I have times where it feels a little "funny" maybe numb with slight feeling. And a little tightness somedays more than other. It feels better when I massage lotion into it. On bad days I use a little icey hot type stuff. I just started using the icy Hot stuff- dont use it right after surgery or Im sure it will hurt. However once you are healed pretty good you can use a good moisturizer. I used Palmers cocoa butter with vitamin E. It helps with the scar and tightness. My scar is pretty big and can barely see it a year later. Good luck!

[sleepy75]

Thanks. I am rather nervous. How long did it take for you to start healing? I think  my Doctor said I could have numbness for 2 years. Did you?

[Totie]

Yes. I also had my TT removed 16yrs ago. I had to have a neck dissection about 1.5yrs ago due too an infected submandibular gland, they also had to remove to enlarged lymp nodes & a calcified ligament. I did not have any problems, & my scar you don't even know it is there. I did have to stay the night due to having a tube for the draining, but other than that I did not have any issues.

Wishing you the best ...