# Sept. 10th surgery, not so bad.



## CS2310 (Aug 6, 2013)

Hello all,
My surgery was on Tuesday. TT with possible lymph node dissection. Surgery was supposed to be at 2:30 but I wasn't wheeled into the operating room until 3:40. Anesthesia administered and I didn't wake up until around 9PM. Surgery took about 3 1/2 hours. Successfully removed thyroid and a couple lymph nodes and I have all 4 para-thyroid glands still in place (bonus). Calcium levels are good. Follow up appointment with surgeon is this Monday. They want to see me again in about a month to do another US and possible FNA on 2 other lymph nodes which at the time "seemed" to be too large. However, they are waiting to see if they were enlarged for reasons other then cancer (praying). 
After surgery; swallowing anything was quite a task (Ask for as much cold hospital jello as they will give you, it will be your best friend). In fact, the worst was when I would go to take a pill and some of the liquid seemed to go down the wrong tube. The coughing was quite painful. Other then that I have lost a good portion of my voice. It is now 3 days after and, all joking aside, I sound like Batman from The Dark Knight when I talk (really gruff, strained sound). So, assuming major damage was not done to vocal nerve is this normal? Is there an average time table of when voice comes back after surgery? 
Meds prescribed: Norco 325mg for pain (only took about 3), Synthroid 0.1 MG (for the rest of my life assuming dosage does not change).
Anyone have similar experience? I went back to work today and stuck to e-mailing clients as there is no way I could carry a conversation.
Anyhow, if anyone has input on the whole voice coming back thing I would love to hear from you. 
Respectfully,
Clint


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Hi Clint - rest and healing will help your voice. Take it easy and give yourself some time to heal - your surgery was fairly long at 3.5 hours so there may be some swelling around your vocal cords.

Be aware that 100mcg of replacement is standard starting dose and for a 129lb person. If you had cancer they will want to suppress your TSH - this can be done with T-4 only med's or a combination of T-4 and Cytomel.

Be sure to insist they run FT-4 and FT-3 on your post op labs - this will be important for dosing.


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## Kenwood (Aug 18, 2013)

CS2310 said:


> It is now 3 days after and, all joking aside, I sound like Batman from The Dark Knight when I talk (really gruff, strained sound)


You nailed it.....I do sound like The Dark Knight's Batman!!!

I'm 8 days post TT and my surgery was almost six hours long (se my thread). My voice has improved from the "whisper" I started out as. Yesterday, my voice sounded stronger (everyone said so), but by end of day, sounded like a raspy 3-pack-a-day smoker.


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## CS2310 (Aug 6, 2013)

Thank you for the feedback Lovlkn and Kenwood.
And Kenwood, I did read your thread and wow, was eating a challenge for you? I am glad to hear your goiters are a thing of the past. 
So, today is day 6 since surgery and my voice is still about a whisper for clear communication. Trying to talk louder then a whisper comes out as strained. Follow up appt. with surgeon is today so I will ask about the FT-4 and FT-3 tests for future synthroid dosage. 
Respectfully,
Clint


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