After TT - Symptoms - What did you have?

wendybyrd74
wendybyrd74 Member Posts: 18
in Thyroid Cancer #1
Hello Y'all.
I had my TT on 2/7/11 so it is going on my 3rd week.
I am having an issue with swallowing... I find myself at the tail end of swalling food, liquid or just the everyday deal... trying to hard to complete the motion.
Even a wide "yawn" hurts.
It appears that the I have a permnant "frog" in my throat.
This annoyance is not within my incision, but something internal.

Did this happen to you ?
Or what kinds of symptoms did you have, for how long?

Comments

  • nasher
    nasher Member Posts: 505 Member
    #2
    hard to describe
    honestly it is a bit hard to remember things around that time they made me hypo and were working on geting me lined up for RAI treatment so honestly i dont remember but i wrote much of it down on my blog

    http://csn.cancer.org/node/204377 is my blog for my first year from diagnosis
    My experiance with thyroid cancer nov 2009-oct 2010 (LONG)


    its on the 2nd page of this board now

    in may be the intubation tube scratched your throat I had hicups for almost 10 days after each surgery caused by the tube... may be related to that

    since your going on your 3rd week i recomend you talk to your ENT doctor and see if there is some complication that happened.. good luck
    Craig
  • sunnyaz
    sunnyaz Member Posts: 582
    #3
    Symptoms after TT
    I had some scratchy throat symptoms. It was difficult to swallow for the first three weeks or so. I also had a I do remember that the intubation caused some of this. It wasn't great pain however. I would have your ENT do a scope to see if there was any damage to the throat or vocal cords. When I had a scope I just gargled with a bit of Lidocaine and in a little less than a half a minute the doctor could see my entire throat and any damage that might have been done. There could be a bit of swelling still and this may be causing your difficulty in swallowing. I hope this helps.
    Julie-SunnyAZ
  • wendybyrd74
    wendybyrd74 Member Posts: 18
    #4
    sunnyaz said:

    Symptoms after TT
    I had some scratchy throat symptoms. It was difficult to swallow for the first three weeks or so. I also had a I do remember that the intubation caused some of this. It wasn't great pain however. I would have your ENT do a scope to see if there was any damage to the throat or vocal cords. When I had a scope I just gargled with a bit of Lidocaine and in a little less than a half a minute the doctor could see my entire throat and any damage that might have been done. There could be a bit of swelling still and this may be causing your difficulty in swallowing. I hope this helps.
    Julie-SunnyAZ

    Ok, so I still have that
    Ok, so I still have that "frog" in the throat. The type of job I do requires that I talk on the phone quite a bit, after about 2-3 hours, I loose my voice. Annoying.
    The incision is looking good. Neck stiffness gone away for the most part. At my last appointment with my Surgeon he agreed....
    Anxiety and stress is still present. I am having a hard time fighting it off when it does come into my life. Lately, I have been getting emotional and moody, and really aren't sure why....

    My radiology consultation is on March 15 to draw up the plan for the RAI treatment....

    From the postings on the boards, I see that folks have similar cases and eventually disappeared... so I, too, am hopeful when everything is all said and done, I will be back to my old self.
  • Baldy
    Baldy Member Posts: 243
    #5
    wendybyrd74 said:

    Ok, so I still have that
    Ok, so I still have that "frog" in the throat. The type of job I do requires that I talk on the phone quite a bit, after about 2-3 hours, I loose my voice. Annoying.
    The incision is looking good. Neck stiffness gone away for the most part. At my last appointment with my Surgeon he agreed....
    Anxiety and stress is still present. I am having a hard time fighting it off when it does come into my life. Lately, I have been getting emotional and moody, and really aren't sure why....

    My radiology consultation is on March 15 to draw up the plan for the RAI treatment....

    From the postings on the boards, I see that folks have similar cases and eventually disappeared... so I, too, am hopeful when everything is all said and done, I will be back to my old self.

    Frog
    Hi Wendy,

    I had mine the day after yours. I have the same symptom but not nearly as bad as you do. I'm assuming your neck is swollen from the surgery. I've been told, you should ask your surgeon or maybe your endo, the swelling is both internal and external. In other words the swelling from the surgery has reduced the size of your trachea. I've also been told the swelling will last at least two months and maybe more. My swelling has been very slowly decreasing for two weeks now. I can feel it when I swallow, but it isn't limiting in any way.

    I don't know, but I think the PT exercises are helping with it. I also had a modified radical neck dissection done at the same time, so the PT exercises they gave me were actually for my shoulder. On my own I added the big circle neck exercise Arnold Schwartzenager had the little kids doing in Kindergarten Cop which also seems to help.

    I hope this is helpful!

    Alan

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