TT Jan. 3rd

What To Expect
Hi Christy,

The Thyroidectomy is really not a big deal. You may have a "drain tube" from near your incision to get rid of any excess blood etc. They will place it while you are under sedation after the TT. Mine was very small and I didn't feel a thing when the doctor removed it the next day. No stitches or anything needed to close the hole, just a band-aid. Plan to wear something you can button or zip up to go home in so that you don't have to pull something over your head. Some surgeons place the drain tubes and some don't. I had one for my first two surgeries and the last one I didn't. My new surgeon is very progressive and just measured my neck every few hours to be sure I wasn't swelling. He also didn't use the Steristrips, just glue that pealed off after about five days. For all of my surgeries I was only there a total of 24 hours so that they could monitor my calcium levels. If it weren't for needing to do that, it would be out-patient surgery, that's how standard of an operation it is. You will be sent home with some narcotic pain killers and may have a sore throat for a while. See if they can call in your pain killers before you leave the hospital so that you can pick them up after you leave the hospital. Have them dose you right before you leave so you don't have a gap where you aren't on pain meds. Vicodin i.e. Hydrocodone is typically prescribed and can be called in. It's been reclassified as of this year so that it can be called in instead of bringing the paper script to the pharmacy and having to wait for it to be filled. I was off of school/work for about a week and a half after my TT. You will be put on your Thyroid medications also before you leave. It will take a while to get the build up in your system and you may experience some shaking. Don't worry, this is normal. Try to relax, trust your health care providers and ask for a nice "cocktail" in your IV to help relax you while you are in pre-op. They will be more than happy to help. I will be thinking of you on Monday and sending positive thought and prayers. You are going to be just fine.
Julie-SunnyAZ

TT
Hi Christy: I had my thyroid out in September. I did have a drainage tube and stayed in hospital for 2 days.(my surgery took over 4 hours and they needed to remove a few lymph nodes) Removing the tube was almost painless - just felt like a pinch. I did have some swelling that lasted for a couple of weeks - nothing too bad - more uncomfortable than sore. I had very little pain from the surgery though I did have some good drugs! Swallowing was hard for a while and I did cough a lot - though if you check this forum you'll see that's normal. My voice was a bit rough for awhile - its back to normal.
Everyone's recovery is different - just give youself time to rest and heal. I stayed off work for 6 weeks(during that time I did my RadioIodine treatment too).

Listen to your body, dont push yourself, and if you have questions about how you are feeling or should be feeling ASK your doctors or someone who's been through this.

Try to relax - you'll be fine in a few weeks.

Take care

Andree

swt_reyes said:

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH
I just want to say thank you everyone for such great advice it really has calmed me somewhat. As you can see it's 11:31 here, I have to be up at 3:30 am and I cannot sleep but eh' I'm sure ill get plenty of sleep tomorrow, lol. You guys are great support!!!

Sincerely,
~Christy~

Many of us...
will be thinking of you tomorrow and wishing you a speedy and smooth recovery.

sunnyaz said:

Best for Today
Christy,

You are in my prayers today. Remember to relax, trust your health care providers and not worry. You are going to do just fine. It will be over before you know it. Strange part is that it's mostly the fear of the unknown.

Julie-SunnyAZ

How are you doing?
Hi Christy,

How are you doing? Did the surgery go well? Did you have any problems with calcium? Would love to hear from you.

Julie-SunnyAZ

swt_reyes said:

~Hello~
I posted a seperate link for this as well but I didnt want you to think I was ignoring you. So here is how I am doig, rather well given everything, still very tired and sore but other than that I'm fine.

I wanted to let you guys know my surgery went very well. It only my surgeon an 1 ½ to complete my TT. When they woke me in recovery my blood pressure shot up sky high and they had to give me 3 different kinds of medz to bring it back down, however they said this was normal after surgery. My Calcium levels were fine, which I take calcium supplements with vitamin D in it on a regular basis because it is good for you, as well I take iron and women’s one a day regular vitamins. They also had the nurses giving me calcium while I was in the hospital; which was about 24 hrs. My surgeon removed my whole thyroid and lymph nodes.

I hope you guys do not kick me out of your discussion board, yet I am proud to say they found NO CANCER I am very happy about that, however it did surprise me given all the signs of the testing’s that had been done were leaning towards cancer, so YEAH for ME, I am very HAPPY.

One thing I have had problems with since the surgery is using the bathroom. Urination is so hard I practically have to force myself to go and my bladder is so full my stomach is bloated yet the urine doesn’t want to come out =( I was thinking that maybe it might just be my kidneys going into shock from removal of the thyroid, but a week later it is still hard to go! I am on 125mcg of synthroid and I weigh 175 lbs. Does this sound about right? I do not know too much about the medicine part of this process. Why is it so hard for me to urinate? I see my Doc on tomorrow so hopefully she can figure out for sure what’s going on with my kidneys.

Thanks so much for all the thoughts, wishes and prayers from you ALL,
Sincerely,
~Christy~

--- pulls out the boot
--- pulls out the boot ---

no we wouldn't kick you out cause you got to the area we all want to be Cancer free.

sorry no clue about the urination issue.

as for synthroid level sounds about right.. they currently have me on 250 mcg and i weigh 300. besides right now you still have natural thyroid hormones in your body it will take a while before they know how much your body will need.

only thing i can think of for the urination is have they tried water pills.

please feel free to hang around it will be nice to have a person who has a TT with no cancer so we can compare notes and see how much the cancer treatments um.. made differences in our life.

not to mention you still will have most the same blood tests being needed as well as same medication (synthroid). I expect alot of similar adjustments to make as well.

good luck and thanks for keeping us up to date