[Rebecca17]

in reply to: Introduction #1072759

Has anyone had vocal cord or nerve damage. My case was extreme and am very very thankful for the skilled surgeon . But I do now find myself dealing with permanent vocal differences and would like to connect with others who have had similar experiences.

[Rebecca17]

in reply to: Hi, from Sherry! #1074921

Hi Sherry & Daughter,

I am just connecting with this wonderful bullentin board after all my stuff is hopefully all recently behind me. I did outline my surgical experiences under a topic of surgery. As for my situation I had gone past the point where RAI was an option. I liked the idea of having the surgery and being done with it rather than the slowly dying off of the thyroid which I was told can take up to two years and possibly require additional treatment. Also I had some cold nodules and those needed to be assessed. Also was one of the ones who gained weight – lots. Despite the fact that I had shifted my eating habits to a largely protein-based diet with protein shakes etc. What I found after the surgery is the once revved up body began to slow down to normal – didn’t go to bathroom every 10 minutes, nails/hair grew slower thus thicker, lost 12 lbs w/o even knowing or TRYING…. and still at that very same weight w/o even TRYING. Will start consiously working on my weight before too long. For me, the lessons learned:
(1) sooner is better than later
(2) must have good relationship with ENT Surgeon
(3) had talked with several before deciding on ENT Surgeon – questions had been advised to ask by others were How many surgeries of my type do you do; How many problems; What are the risks; Do you perform parathyroid surgery (to insure they know the value of saving them); and What else can you tell me about your experiences with this type of surgery. For me, the one I went with was also an airway specialist – which turned out to be a necessary skill in my case. And he was very calm. As advanced hyper even with med’s I was still hyper and tearful and fearful.
(4) get the right beta blockers while waiting – certain ones caused up to a handfull of hair loss a day – I was in shock until isolating the culprit. Some beta blockers have side effects of wt gain – so for me they were a trial and error approach.
(5) Have a wonderful primary care PA or MD and endo – they could even give you something to calm your nerves.

[Rebecca17]

in reply to: Surgery #1074928

I have just had two surgeries this year and one in 1980. For my circumstances it was the route to go. There are risks which mean most surgeries go ok but in my case the conditions were beyond normal. In 1980 it was to remove a 3cm cold nodule so a partial left thyroidectomy was done. I recovered fine. A few years later was diagnosed with adult onset asthma and given inhalers. My voice was fine. Normal activity fine. Inhalers never helped. The hidden component was the surgeon failed to tell me he had permanently paralyzed the left vocal cord which was the limiting aspect on air flow. Now that I have had excellent care – I know what scope is. The surgeon from 1980 never scoped my throat after surgery or revealed the situation after the fact. He nor the endo never mentioned nodular disease or to keep an eye open for other possible thyroid conditions.

So I was caught totally off-guard when last year moving from a cold-dry climate to hot-humid climate brought what seemed at first heart attacks to the forefront. Soon learned about Graves and had a extremely large goiter w/nodules (cold) growing inside my neck and over the windpipe/esophagus. The second and third surgeries last Aug & Dec went remarkably different due to the high skill level and professionalism of the current ENT Surgeon

It’s been tough. I am still struggling with the emotional effects.

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