My Experience

I had been having hearing difficulties and dizziness. My doctor referred me to a head and neck specialist, who determined that the dizziness was a side effect of a medication, but during the exam the doctor felt a lump on my throat. He immediately did a needle biopsy and found abnormal cells in the thyroid in the right lobe. We scheduled surgery, and he said that during the operation the surgeon would remove the right lobe and do a biopsy of the left side. Going into surgery, I had two options: they would remove entire thyroid, or they would remove the right lobe and we would watch the left side with the possibility of a second surgery. During surgery, they took a biopsy the left side and found abnormal cells so they removed the entire thyroid. My recovery period was fantastic; I very little pain and was just tired. My surgeon used staples, not stitches to close the wound, and I would recommend asking the surgeon about this approach. The surgery was on a Monday morning and I had the staples removed Tuesday morning. I was off from work for the rest of the week. My major complaint was I had difficulty swallowing. On Friday I saw the endocrinologist and he put me on the thyroid hormone cytomel. After I healed, I had no scarring; people, including me, can’t even see where the incision was made. I am very thankful to the nurse who recommended that I put vitamin E ointment on the scar during healing. I had the surgery in February, and in April I had radiation to eliminate any residual abnormal cells. I was not supposed to be near people for four days so they wouldn’t be exposed to radiation. I was supposed to stay at arms length from everyone, and be careful to wash anything I touched. Just to be safe, I stayed at home alone for the four days, doing a lot of reading.