Thyroidectomy (because of goiter). Any personal experiences of the surgery?
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi, I'm 19 and living in England and I'm due to have a partial thyroidectomy at the end of June. I have a goiter (enlargement of the left side of my thyroid gland), which is non-cancerous, but it looks bad and is starting to cause me to feel like I'm choking when I lay in certain positions.
I'm a little worried about the surgery and all of the possible complications, as well as the appearance and healing time of the scar.
Any personal experiences or advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you,
Megan
0 likes, 11 replies
yvette97601 megan0044
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megan0044 yvette97601
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yvette97601 megan0044
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I'm in Shropshire where in England are you?
megan0044 yvette97601
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I'm in Devon x
yvette97601 megan0044
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I still think I have a thyroid disease as I've had loads of symptoms but my blood test came back as with in normal range my tsh was 1.76 xx I will be glad to have it done though xx
megan0044 yvette97601
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yvette97601 megan0044
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carole56642 megan0044
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I had my right thyroid out in February 15 due to benign nodules and a cyst that kept swelling up. They couldn't do biopsy so they took it out.
It wasn't too bad, took a couple of hours in theatre and woke up a bit sore and with a drain in. I had some pain relief and was soon sat in bed with a cup of tea and sandwich. I had drain out the next day and then sent home.
The wound was not pretty for a few weeks but it soon healed up. I had no complications and you can hardly see my scar. I have not needed any hormone replacement although I'm feeling tired and my thyroid levels were lower after than before the op. I should get my blood tested again really.
I now have similar nodules in my left thyroid and I may have to have that out at some point, which would then mean I'd have to take medication for life.
If you need a hemithyroidectomy don't worry about it, but just make sure your surgeon is experienced in doing thyroid surgery.
Good luck.
megan0044 carole56642
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This was really helpful, thank you!! Did you have a vocal chord test prior to the surgery? It's something my surgeon is making me do, to then compare to after the surgery - but I'm unsure of what that involves!
I also have a 'pre-op assessment' two weeks before my operation, where they said they would be taking blood and giving me an ECG scan. Did you have the same?
It's very reassuring to hear that everything went well for you though, thank you for commenting! x
yvette97601 carole56642
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carole56642 megan0044
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I don't think I had an ECG. I had the bloods and the vocal chord check. I think they do the VC check to make sure you won't have any problems. All they do is spray some local anaesthetic up your nose and put a tube in your nose to look at your throat and vocal chords. Only takes a couple of minutes. I was really worried about that test but really it was nothing. Try to make sure they leave it a few minutes after spray for anaesthetic to work. If they don't wait then you can feel it and it's a bit unpleasant. Quite interesting to watch on the screen.