second surgery

butterfly11

well on friday i go in for the second surgery to remove the rt. side of the thyroid. left side came back with follicular cancer. will be looking forward to rai(LOL). will this every end? I feel that i am on a roller coaster that will never stop.I only pray that this will be it and it has not spread. Has anyone out there been on both sides of the fence. I would like to hear from people who are dealing with both the positive and negative of the body scan. I have to call tomorrow for the time to arrrive to the hospital for surgery..I need for this step to be over a step closer to where i want to be. I am tired of having cancer and I've only begun. Please give advice

sandykr

I can only give you MY point
I can only give you MY point of view. Its not so bad! I had the left side out the beginning of Sept. Pathology came back, papillary-follicular variant.............so out came the right side 3 months later. I think so far the worst part was waiting for the pathology reports. I was willing to just let them take out the right side so I wouldn't have to worry about things.
So now, I am 4 weeks post op and 2 days before RAI. Aside from a deepening voice (there are those that say its sexy) I feel good. I went back to work, sometimes feel like I'm wearing lead boots, but basically ok. Just so you are aware, with the second surgery, post op there sometimes are fluctuations in your calcium which can give you a strange tingling sensation around your mouth. They monitor your levels in the hospital, so no worry.
By the way, the pathology from my right side, also came back cancerous, so I'm just feeling "lucky" that it was found (by chance) and that now its out.

I will let you know how the RAI goes, and hope that my positive attitude continues. I just keep thinking that things could be worse, alot worse.
Hope this helps, just keep active and positive
sandy

jecklehyde

sandykr said:

I can only give you MY point
I can only give you MY point of view. Its not so bad! I had the left side out the beginning of Sept. Pathology came back, papillary-follicular variant.............so out came the right side 3 months later. I think so far the worst part was waiting for the pathology reports. I was willing to just let them take out the right side so I wouldn't have to worry about things.
So now, I am 4 weeks post op and 2 days before RAI. Aside from a deepening voice (there are those that say its sexy) I feel good. I went back to work, sometimes feel like I'm wearing lead boots, but basically ok. Just so you are aware, with the second surgery, post op there sometimes are fluctuations in your calcium which can give you a strange tingling sensation around your mouth. They monitor your levels in the hospital, so no worry.
By the way, the pathology from my right side, also came back cancerous, so I'm just feeling "lucky" that it was found (by chance) and that now its out.

I will let you know how the RAI goes, and hope that my positive attitude continues. I just keep thinking that things could be worse, alot worse.
Hope this helps, just keep active and positive
sandy

Take Care!
I also have had 2 surgeries. One side taken out, a week later, found out there was cancer and a week after that, the other side came out. I did have cancer on both sides. It has been 3 years now, everythin seems OK, but they are watching some lymph nodes that have enlarged.

Sandy - I wanted you to watch how your voice goes. If it stays raspy, get it checked out. I had the same problem, my surgeon sent me for speech therapy which did not help me. I was told that one of my nerves was nicked during surgery. In the 3 years, the surgeon really hasn't said too much, but with the help of some doctors at the ThyCa conference, I was given a voice specialist. It turns out that every nerve in my vocal chords are damaged. The specialist said that it could be from the surgery, but also from 3 years of trying to over compensate my voice. To make a long story shory, in March I will be getting implants on both sides of my vocal chords. Not happy, but I do all of my work on the phone and it has become very difficult. Keep on top of the voice. I thought I was doing the right thing listening to my surgeon and now I found out different. Not sure what to believe. We have to be our own doctor. If something seems wrong, get it checked.

Teri

sandykr

jecklehyde said:

Take Care!
I also have had 2 surgeries. One side taken out, a week later, found out there was cancer and a week after that, the other side came out. I did have cancer on both sides. It has been 3 years now, everythin seems OK, but they are watching some lymph nodes that have enlarged.

Sandy - I wanted you to watch how your voice goes. If it stays raspy, get it checked out. I had the same problem, my surgeon sent me for speech therapy which did not help me. I was told that one of my nerves was nicked during surgery. In the 3 years, the surgeon really hasn't said too much, but with the help of some doctors at the ThyCa conference, I was given a voice specialist. It turns out that every nerve in my vocal chords are damaged. The specialist said that it could be from the surgery, but also from 3 years of trying to over compensate my voice. To make a long story shory, in March I will be getting implants on both sides of my vocal chords. Not happy, but I do all of my work on the phone and it has become very difficult. Keep on top of the voice. I thought I was doing the right thing listening to my surgeon and now I found out different. Not sure what to believe. We have to be our own doctor. If something seems wrong, get it checked.

Teri

Thank you,
I will follow up
Thank you,
I will follow up on my voice if it doesn't improve. I am now one day post RAI, and aside from feeling wiped out, I feel fine. Tomorrow I start on the thyroid replacement drug and then we'll see how my level of energy goes.........and also my voice. I know that it all takes time.
Just one question, they had checked and told you after surgery that your vocal cords were not damaged???

Sandy

jecklehyde

sandykr said:

Thank you,
I will follow up
Thank you,
I will follow up on my voice if it doesn't improve. I am now one day post RAI, and aside from feeling wiped out, I feel fine. Tomorrow I start on the thyroid replacement drug and then we'll see how my level of energy goes.........and also my voice. I know that it all takes time.
Just one question, they had checked and told you after surgery that your vocal cords were not damaged???

Sandy

You will start to feel better
Sandy - You will start to feel better as the replacement drug gets back into your system. Just take one day at a time, suck on the lemon drops and drink plenty of fluids.

I was not told right away about my vocal chords. I would have my voice and lose it, then get it back etc. My surgeon said it would take time. After 9 months or so, I said it seems to be getting worse and he did a test where he saw that my recurrent nerve was damaged. Just sent me to speech therapy. It always sounds like I have a really bad sore throat, but it does not hurt at all.
Teri