My Experience

I had my thyroid and parathyroid removed. I had hurt myself weightlifting, and when the orthopedist took an X-ray of my shoulder, he saw some lumps on my thyroid gland. I had a follow up ultrasound, and the lumps were again seen, though I was told not to worry about it. Six months later I went to an internist and endocrinologist, who took an aspiration/biopsy. He took a needle and aspirated five or six different places. The results came back as “suspicious.” I choose surgery. The surgeon told me that during the surgery they would prop me up and tilt my head way back. From doing yoga, I knew that my neck hurt significantly after being tilted back in a particular way. So tell your surgeon if you know this is an issue and they can try to decrease the torque put on your neck during the surgery. For my surgery, they were able to reduce the degree of the position, and I had no problem with my neck or back after surgery. The only pain came from a sore throat for a week. This was due to the intubation tube during the surgery. Examination of the thyroid tissue did not find any cancer cells.

I also had my parathyroid removed during the surgery, as it had been enlarged. Five years previously an internist said I had a high calcium count, which apparently can contribute to sleeplessness, irritability and difficulty concentrating.

Within one day after the surgery, I was able to go back to work, though I had enough energy for only half a day. Two days after surgery, my wife said I was like a different person because I was less irritable. It took a week to get back to my usual daily activities. In the first several weeks, I had some tingling in my fingers and lips. After three months, you can hardly see a scar. The only ongoing discomfort I have is a rawness and hoarseness in my throat. I take the synthetic thyroid hormone Synthroid. I started at a dose of 125, and I am now up to 150. I feel like I’m 80 percent where I was. The only thing I find annoying is normalizing the amount of thyroid hormone I need.