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For those of you who read my earlier post or follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that I underwent surgery on my thyroid last month.
One thing I noticed when frantically googling in a pre-op panic was there didn’t seem to be much information on people’s personal experience with having a thryoidectomy.
I don’t know if I was just looking in the wrong places, but for those of you who are facing a similar situation to me, I wanted to provide an insight into my surgery and my personal experience of having a thryoidectomy (thyroid removal).
I’m sorry for those of you who think it’s slightly irrelevant and a deviation from the coeliac theme of this blog but hey, variety is the spice of life!
After suffering years of an over-active thyroid, which can be linked to coeliac disease, I finally had my thyroid removed on 14th December.
Because I had a bit of a goiter (lump) where my thyroid was – a big part of the reason I was having it removed – the incision ended up being relatively low down on my neck – nearer my collar bone.
The transformation has been amazing – I may have a scar (which is healing remarkably well) but for once I feel like my neck is normal and there’s no lump!
I stayed in hospital for four days, had half of my staples removed the day after my op and had the other half removed a few days later along with my drain.
For those of you that are curious (as I was) having staples removed sounds far worse than it actually is – I couldn’t even feel half of them coming out and the relief I felt afterwards made it worth it!
The drain however, was slightly less pleasant and having that removed was probably the worst part of my experience!
Now, three weeks later, my scar has improved a lot – I still have some numbness around that area and it’s still a bit sore but I figure that’s only to be expected after having major surgery!
Bio-Oil has also been my saviour – I would DEFINITELY reccommend this to anyone as it has stopped my scar itching or hurting as much and it is healing up so well already, I can’t believe it.
It took about two weeks for me to be able to drive and move my head properly again. Now I still have a little trouble moving my head enough to reverse and if I’m around a lot of people I can get a bit of an achey neck but I’ve found moving it has helped a lot with feeling better.
So there you have it – it’s not the most comprehensive view on my surgery (I didn’t want to bore/scare you all!) but I am feeling so much better for it and now I only have my coeliacs to think about!
If anyone has any questions or wants to share their experiences of thyroid surgery, comment below or email me on: [email protected].
Also I forgot to mention (I think?) that I contracted a nasty cold/flu thing as soon as I left hospital so that meant I took a lot longer to get better!
hiya sarah thank you for writing about your experience..im 23 and had a total thydroidectomy a week ago i too googled absolutly everything from scars to proceedures i’d just rather know every detail! my operation went well also stayed in for 3nights when they said i would only be in for 1 but in all honesty i really needed to stay put! when i was in hospital all i kept thinking was im never going to b bk at work in 2weeks but after getting home and taking meds and having some good food in me i feel 100 times better!! my scar is very similar to yours maybe slightly higher on my neck but i am so happy after having a massive lump on my neck for 3years..when did you start using bio oil on your scar?
Hi, I had my total thyroidectomy 3 weeks ago and I feel great. I could find nothing but horror stories when I was looking for info,so much so that I had second thought of having it done. I’ve been hypothyroid since 2001,was on synthroid for 4 years and after doing research switched to dessicated thyroid (erfa). My family dr didnt want to put me on but I insisted and he made me sign something that he didn’t agree with it lol. Anyway for the last year i was choking on food and choking i my sleep so bad it felt like I was suffocating, the heartburn was so bad I could feel in burning inside my ears at night, I went to my dr who said it was acid reflux and gave me prescription which i didn’t take, she didn’t feel my neck either !!!!!. After watching on dr. Oz about gluten allergies and doing my own research i discovered I had a gluten allergy,after I cut out gluten 90% of the choking stopped.
So in April I was watching dr. Oz again (around Jan 22nd) and he was talking about thyroid cancer and was doing the water test (you drink water infront of a mirror and watch your throat as you swallow). Well I watched as this huge lump went up and down so I went to the drs and he sent me for a scan which showed a complex nodule the size of a golfball,I then had to have a fine needle biopsy which came back negative for the most dangerous cancer (can’t remember what its called). They said I should have a total thyroidectomy as the lump grew while I was on medication (which is used to shrink nodules) and I had small ones growing on the other side.
So I had it removed on April 1st, the surgeon who did it was Dr. Joseph Wong,he had performed over 3000 so I knew I was in good hands. One of the other surgeons working on me (there were 3) told me just before surgery that thyroid tumours are like icebergs,what you see on the scan is usually just the tip which turned out to be very true. It had grown into my chest,was the size of a large potato,had pushed my trachea over and was restricting it and was on top of my aorta which would have caused big problems if it had had a chance to grow more and explained the heart palpitations I was getting.. The scar has healed so well,its less than 3 inches .I would post a pic but there’s not an option to add one) I feel great,so much better than before, I am taking my same dose but may have to have it increased. After surgery I felt really sick to my stomach and was in recovery for nearly 5 hours.I could only whisper and was in a lot of pain. I didn’t want anymore pain killers because I knew they would have made me throw up which wasn’t a very nice prospect considering the stitches in my neck. Apparently they put in 4 layers of stitches because they cut though 4 layers of muscles. I stayed in hospital for 2 days/nights so they could watch my calcium level which dropped a bit but didn’t go under 200 .My voice came back stronger after a day although it was deeper but now is close to what it was before but definately weaker ,that can take up to 3 months to get back to normal. I felt pretty weak and unsteady but by the second day I was walking round the hospital. I had a drain which they would suck out with a syringe a few times a day,it was a weird uncomfortable feeling but didn’t really hurt. I had the drain out the second day which I was dreading but it didn’t hurt at all, the nurse did it so quick. I had dissolvable stitches which I had to take of in the shower 10 days later, I was really happy with the scar. I kept a photo log of the scar which i can post. I take a lot of supplements and was taking them for about a month before which I think has a lot to do with me feeling so healthy so quickly . I take iodine,selenium,iron vitamin C and D,biotone EFA,calcium and magnesium s well as my desiccated thyroid. My experience was a really good one and I feel so much better,I was worried about putting on loads of weight as that was all i was reading about,I haven;t in fact I’ve lost weight, I think if you eat healthy and are on the right medication you won’t gain weight. I have a lot of energy and need sleep less than i did before. I had to sleep with a neck pillow for a while which helped and I didn’t drive for 2 weeks as my neck was still stiff. I just wanted to put out my positive experience out because I couldn’t find any,everything I read made me not want to get it done but I’m so glad I did 🙂 Lorraine
I loved to hear tour stories i will undergo total thyroidectomy this 21st of July, please pray for my fast recovery. I really need this inspiration now
thank you
Hi hun how are u feeling today ? Still no major weight gain?