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Thrroid Surgery
I had my left thyroid removed on 03-06-2008. I have a hard time talking, my voice is almost like a whisper, I try to clear my throat all the time, I have to tuck my head down to swallow. I choke a little when I take a drink. I take a breath in the middle of a sentence.
The doctor said my nodule was laying on top of the nerve to my voice box. He tested the nerve and said it was working. He stated he "thought" my voice would come back. It could take up to four months before we would know for sure.
The lab found a tiny tiny spot of cancer in the left side of my thyroid after it was removed. It was smaller than a letter on a piece of paper. Doctor felt we did not have to remove the right side of my thyroid since the cancer found on the left side was so small.
Does this seem to be on track with other people who had their thyroid removed? This is kind of scary. Should I be doing something else? Will I have to take the right side out down the road?
The doctor said my nodule was laying on top of the nerve to my voice box. He tested the nerve and said it was working. He stated he "thought" my voice would come back. It could take up to four months before we would know for sure.
The lab found a tiny tiny spot of cancer in the left side of my thyroid after it was removed. It was smaller than a letter on a piece of paper. Doctor felt we did not have to remove the right side of my thyroid since the cancer found on the left side was so small.
Does this seem to be on track with other people who had their thyroid removed? This is kind of scary. Should I be doing something else? Will I have to take the right side out down the road?
On some cases, the connective tissue forms between the scar and voice box, affecting the voice but in about 3 weeks it should disappear.
I went through the same thing, except I had a total thyroidectomy. When I woke up after the surgery, I was having a really hard time breathing. I thought it was from the anesthetic. After trying to drink, I realized that I couldn't. I choked on anything liquid. It was horrible.
I was sent to an ENT doc at the hospital a few hours later. Upon looking at my vocal cords, he determined that neither one was moving. Hence my problems. It affected my voice, swallowing and breathing. It took about a month for things to improve. It was a very long month, as you can imagine.
In going through it, I was amazed at what we take for granted.....talking for instance. It really takes a lot of breath to say some words, and I did the same as you. I would run out of air in the middle of a sentence. I was so scared that it was not going to get better! But it did. It just took time.
The ENT doc said that it was nerve trauma and that nerves take a long time to heal. He said it could take up to a year (thank God it didn't!). He also said that whatever I was left with at the one year mark was what it would be like forever. He assured me that there are procedures that can be done if the vocal cords decide not to work (under local anesthesia - no big operations).
Your surgery is very recent, and I know it's really hard, but like utah said - give it some time. By the way, my profile picture came from one of my good friends out here (thanks Dac!!) while I was going through my troubles. I had posted that I figured out a way to drink without choking too much. This happened quite by accident, as I was really thirsty and decided I would stand over the sink and try to drink as much water as I could. I knew I would choke, but I figured I may be able to get SOME down. Well, I found that if I took a drink and held it in my mouth, then bent at the waist, I could swallow with only a little choking!! Dac said it reminded her of that drinking bird. Haven't been able to ditch the profile picture since.
As far as follow-up, again - utah is right. Stay on top of your scans and labs for the other half that's still there. Since the nodule tested positive for cancer, they'll most likely be keeping a close eye on you for the next 5 years or so.
Take care and let us know how you're doing!
Lori
I was sent to an ENT doc at the hospital a few hours later. Upon looking at my vocal cords, he determined that neither one was moving. Hence my problems. It affected my voice, swallowing and breathing. It took about a month for things to improve. It was a very long month, as you can imagine.
In going through it, I was amazed at what we take for granted.....talking for instance. It really takes a lot of breath to say some words, and I did the same as you. I would run out of air in the middle of a sentence. I was so scared that it was not going to get better! But it did. It just took time.
The ENT doc said that it was nerve trauma and that nerves take a long time to heal. He said it could take up to a year (thank God it didn't!). He also said that whatever I was left with at the one year mark was what it would be like forever. He assured me that there are procedures that can be done if the vocal cords decide not to work (under local anesthesia - no big operations).
Your surgery is very recent, and I know it's really hard, but like utah said - give it some time. By the way, my profile picture came from one of my good friends out here (thanks Dac!!) while I was going through my troubles. I had posted that I figured out a way to drink without choking too much. This happened quite by accident, as I was really thirsty and decided I would stand over the sink and try to drink as much water as I could. I knew I would choke, but I figured I may be able to get SOME down. Well, I found that if I took a drink and held it in my mouth, then bent at the waist, I could swallow with only a little choking!! Dac said it reminded her of that drinking bird. Haven't been able to ditch the profile picture since.
As far as follow-up, again - utah is right. Stay on top of your scans and labs for the other half that's still there. Since the nodule tested positive for cancer, they'll most likely be keeping a close eye on you for the next 5 years or so.
Take care and let us know how you're doing!
Lori
I went through something very similar with the cancer. Didn't have the voice problems (although one of my sisters did and it took about 6 months for her voice to come back which was tough since she's a middle school teacher).
I had one 5mm spot of papillary carcinoma on my right lobe - left lobe perfectly clean according to the ultrasound. Because the cancer wasn't found until I was in recovery I only had a lobectomy. It would have stayed like that forever but over the next twelve months three of my sisters were also found to have papillary carcinoma; the other sister had atypical cells (precancerous); and my 16-year old daughter also had atypical cells. I opted to have the left half out the following year.
Two years after the 2nd surgery I had a cancer recurrence.
Just make sure that you have ultrasounds and labs run every 3 - 6 months from here on out to ensure that there is no recurrence. Mine recurred on some of the remaining tissue that was left on the nerves.
Give it some time. There are quite a few on here who have had temporary voice problems after surgery.
I had one 5mm spot of papillary carcinoma on my right lobe - left lobe perfectly clean according to the ultrasound. Because the cancer wasn't found until I was in recovery I only had a lobectomy. It would have stayed like that forever but over the next twelve months three of my sisters were also found to have papillary carcinoma; the other sister had atypical cells (precancerous); and my 16-year old daughter also had atypical cells. I opted to have the left half out the following year.
Two years after the 2nd surgery I had a cancer recurrence.
Just make sure that you have ultrasounds and labs run every 3 - 6 months from here on out to ensure that there is no recurrence. Mine recurred on some of the remaining tissue that was left on the nerves.
Give it some time. There are quite a few on here who have had temporary voice problems after surgery.
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