Hi,
Today I met with a surgeon(who has done over 4000 TT’s) that I was referred to by another surgeon whom I met with at the end of October this year. He took the time to ask me relevant questions like, “How is your health?”, “How are you was feeling?”, “What medication(s) are you on?”(I was honest and told him that due to results of my last lab I increased my dosage), “How long have you had Graves an TED?”, and then he proceeded to tell me about the different kinds of treatment. I got the feeling that he could somehow tell that I was only interested in talking about the TT. He told me that he wanted to do another ultra sound (I had one done when I met with the previous surgeon).
He told me that I have a “fairly” large goiter, which by the way does not look that big to me when I look in the mirror but of course he was telling me this meanwhile “he” was doing the ultra sound<<<
To continue, He said that “technically” it was be an easy procedure, that there where no lumps and bumps-I think he called it “homogeneous”-Does that sound familiar to anyone? After the ultra sound, he spoke about the risk of damage to the vocal cords (1 in 1000) and risk to parathyroids (4 in 1000) and medications required there after. He said that 50% of people with TED, their eyes improve. Since I have already made up my mind, he had me complete the required forms; consent, preregistration etc. He gave me a prescription for a solution/iodine I think? to take 1 week before surgery- the name starts with an “L” but it escapes me at the moment. Apparently this will slow down or thin the blood flow to my neck I guess that makes for a cleaner surgery.
Unfortunately, this surgeon is very busy and surgery would be at least 3-4 months away. Which means I have to deal and be like this for that much longer. But at least I’ve made the arrangements.
P.S. I for got to mention that the surgeon wondered why my endocrinologist hadn’t discussed beta blockers for the crazy anxiety I’ve been experiencing,
