# Thyroidectomy 6 months ago



## Epj2011 (Feb 19, 2011)

I'll give a little background first. Hope it is not too long. In January of this year I went to a doctor to establish status as a new patient. During a routine, exam, the doctor felt a lump on my thyroid. I was sent for an ultrasound which showed a 2.2 cm cyst on one side and a 3.4 cm solid mass on the other. I was scheduled for an FNA biopsy. I had the biopsy, waited several days, and got the results....inconclusive! I was immediately scheduled for another biopsy, waited, and low and behold...inconclusive again! This was all during a 6-7 week stretch of me not knowing whether or not I had cancer. Talk about stress and frustration! I was then sent to a surgeon. Due to the size, and a family history of thyroid cancer, it was determined that I should probably have it removed. I was told the only way to be 100% sure if it was malignant or not was to remove it and biopsy. By this point, I wanted it out. I was tired of worrying about it. I had the surgery. It was not too bad. I did get very nauseous afterwards and was sick most of the first day, but I was fine later in the week. I have 3 children under the age of 10 and I was on my own after a week. Thankfully, the biopsy came back benign! I cannot imagine if I would have had to keep going for repeat biopsies over the years. My parathyroid level dropped significantly low during the first 24 hours. I had to take 9 Oscal a day and have my parathyroid checked for several weeks until it returned to normal and it did. I was immediately prescribed .100 levothyroxine.

I had my thyroid levels checked again in July. Here is what it said. I have no idea what any of this really means, so if someone could help my decipher, I would really appreciate it. This is all new to me. I have never been on thyroid meds or had thyroid trouble before this.

T4 Free: 1.5
TSH 3RD GENERATION W/REFLEX TO FT4: 5.61
T4 FREE DIRECT DIALYSIS: 1.9

After this, they increased my dosage to .112. I had it rechecked 6 weeks later (which was about 1 month ago) and my TSH was 1.31. They told me to stay on the current dosage. My question is...how often should I have it checked this first year? No one has been really clear on that for me. Any other advice? Thanks for reading all of this if you made it through!


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## desrtbloom (May 23, 2010)

Since my thyroidectomy, I have blood work drawn every 6 to 8 weeks.


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## Epj2011 (Feb 19, 2011)

So I just e-mailed my doctor to find out how often I should be having my thyroid checked since my surgery and she said once a year. That doesn't seem quite right to me??


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Epj2011 said:


> So I just e-mailed my doctor to find out how often I should be having my thyroid checked since my surgery and she said once a year. That doesn't seem quite right to me??


Trust your instincts; this is NOT right. You should get labs every 8 weeks and med titrated until you feel well and stabilize. Once you are euthyroid (well and stabilized), you should see doc every 3 months for labs.

This is some serious stuff here and you should not allow yourself to be fluffed off. If necessary, find another doctor who "gets it!"

You don't need an endo; your GP could do this. Internal Medicine, Holistic Doctor......................just any doc who is willing to see you get the medical intervention you deserve to have.


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