surgery

[rr80]

i had thyroid surgery in england on 3rd jan 07. i had suffered with graves disease for over 5 yrs and my surgeon said i'm one of the youngest patients he has operated on as i'm only 26. my illness had been severe for about the last 9 months, i had problems with eye disease and white cell loss when i reacted the the drugs i had been on, i also developed a severe goitre. my surgerys took twice as long as my surgeon predicted and i had to stay in for an extra 2 nights. in total i was in hospital 5 days. i had 2 drains fitted, one each side of my scar, which stayed in for 2 days. It all sounds pretty gruesome but i must admit i was comfortable and only had very little pain. My scar looks great, very faint. The only problem i have at the minute is a very stiff neck and shoulder and i'm looking to the right plus a hourse voice. I have picked up a chest infection from the hospital which i'm on medication for. As for thyroid medication i'm drug free for the first time in over 5 years. I'm sure over the coming weeks i may end up on long term meds again, but i'm getting my life back and i no longer have a life sentance over my head. I found every aspect of life difficult before surgery, from walking up stairs to socialising with my friends. We have different names for the meds in the uk so i'm not familiar with what you guys are taking. I gave them all a go over the years and for me surgery was the last resort but it really wasn't as terrifying as i thought.

[rr80]

Having my drains out was pain free, they take only a couple of seconds to come out. The drains look pretty gruesome but i didnt have any problem with them. i didnt have any problems with calcium levels after surgerys and havent had any problems since

[carea]

Hello,
This is my first posting.  Still not sure of the terminology here. I had my left thyroid removed on Jan 29.  It took about 2 hours. Thankfully, the pathologist on hand stated that it appeared benign, so I still have my right thyroid that will hopefully carry on with all the functioning since I no longer have the left one in place.  I found this site by accident and read a lot of the postings and I believe it helped me so much, because I really did not know what to expect with a surgery like this. The surgeon informed me that my neck was glued back together....not stapled or sutured.  I was not given an activity order iniitally as the anesthesia had me out of it for about 2 days.  It all feels like a really bad case of strep throat. Although there is still pain, it is bearable, and it is best to take it easy and increase activity a little each day instead trying to be super woman just because you had a trickle of your old self shine through for a moment.  I had a relapse last night and felt naseated and about to vomit.  Got extremely hot and very weak.  My mom was here to nurse me back to health.  Still a bit weak, but will take it much easier.  I am not sure what to expect now.  I never had any abnormal TSH tests, etc.  Medical doc stumbled upon my enlarged thyroid and after ultrasounds and a biopsy that came back abnormal, surgery was the next step.  I do admit that I no longer choke and can lay comfortably on my back without gasping for air.  Just concerned about my thyroid future and hoping that I will not have to be on medications for this. My follow up appt is on the 13th of Feb.  Please let me know if there are questions I should be asking, or things I should look for.  Thanks!

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

glad you are doing well after surgery - make sure they are testing you for hypothyroidism to see if you need meds to replace thyroid function.

[kath214]

I AM HAVING SURGERY SOON FOR THE SAME THING AS YOU.  I WAS TOLD I MIGHT HAVE 2 DRAINS DID THEY HURT COMING OUT? DID YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLE WITH CALCIUM? I HOPE I FEEL AS GOOD AS YOU DO AFTER I HAVE THIS THING OUT. THANKS KATHY