# How did you find your surgeon?



## fugaziman (Apr 5, 2013)

Hi,

I'm a 32 year old male, and I've been diagnosed with very large thyroid nodules - clearly visible on my neck. The FNA came back clear, but my ENT is saying that I should consider surgery - which based upon the size and number of nodules, seems like the general best practice.

I am getting a second opinion from an endocrinologist ASAP to validate the opinion.

In the meantime, I am starting to research surgeons and everything else I need to know. Based upon everything I've read, you want to select a surgeon with:
- A good reputation (obviously) 
- that does a lot of thyroid surgery (4 or 5 a week?)

Can anyone comment on how they found a surgeon that meets this criteria? I can find all of the surgeons that accept my insurance, and work my way down the list - but it seems like information is hard to find on surgeons - or maybe I am just not looking in the right place?

Also, does anyone have any comments on quality of surgeon vs. wait time and how they balanced the two? I could find the best one in the country, but I would prefer not to wait 2 years.

I am located in Washington DC, btw.

Appreciate all the help, I have been reading through this forum a ton - a great resource.
Thanks


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I'm lucky in that all my relatives are in medicine, so they asked around for me. I followed their recommendations.

I would ask how often their patients have parathyroid or voice issues (my guy's response: "so far, it's never happened"), how they close the wound (I'd stay far away from anyone using staples), and, yes, how many they do a week (mine did four on the day of my surgery).

My best friend is a urologist. She put me in contact with a meds school classmate of hers, an endocrine surgeon at Columbia. That woman told me the surgery isn't HARD, but that it's very technical and you don't want mistakes. She said to go to the best and if that means waiting, so be it. Thankfully, I only had to wait a month.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Honestly, your best bet is to ask people. You'll be amazed at how many people have had TTs and are willing to share their experiences.


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

I would ask around too. Thursday was thyroidectomy day for the ENT I had, he does a lot. The parathyroid and voice are big concerns too. Look on the hospital's web page, there should be bios of the doctors on there. My cousin is my ENT's secretary. I asked her if she had any apprehension that I should worry about. She said no. My ENT was written up in US News & World Report's Top 20 but that was after!


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

Here's a database you can search to help narrow down your choices. It's where I found mine; http://endocrinesurgery.org/membership/findmember.html I then hit the internet and looked for patient reviews. I knew that I didn't want any of the surgeons in my current town so I ended up doing a statewide search.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

fugaziman said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm a 32 year old male, and I've been diagnosed with very large thyroid nodules - clearly visible on my neck. The FNA came back clear, but my ENT is saying that I should consider surgery - which based upon the size and number of nodules, seems like the general best practice.
> 
> ...


Most here have seen an ENT. I did not have the surgery so am unable to comment further but many here have and they will comment!!


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## Ptbrwn (Feb 3, 2013)

I agree with StormFinch. I went with the only surgeon listed with The American Association of Endocrine Surgeons in Charlotte NC along with the advice of my endo. After my consultation with the surgeon, I felt confident that she was the right surgeon, primarily because her practice was almost exclusively thyroid related, and that she performed a large number of thyroidectomies. I was extremely pleased with her. I had a TT in a hospital one day surgery center, didn't need any pain medication, had no problems at all except for being very tired for 3 or 4 days.


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

joplin1975 said:


> Honestly, your best bet is to ask people. You'll be amazed at how many people have had TTs and are willing to share their experiences.


This is how I found my surgeon. I asked everyone I knew who'd had thyroid surgery and most people told me how bad their experience had been. Only a couple recommended the doctor I went with but once I had his name I began asking people I knew who would have reason to be familiar with his work - namely friends associated with a huge staterun hospital where he worked and taught before going into private practice.

Then, when I met him, I KNEW I'd met someone who would do a good job. In the waiting room that day another patient, someone who'd had advanced thyroid cancer, told me this doctor took the cases no other doctors would take. At that time I had no idea my own surgery would be so complicated but, as things turned out, I felt blessed to have this doctor helping me!!

I, too, had nodules - everytime, every 6 months, when I had new labs and tests, new nodules were visible and old nodules were growing. It turned out I had a tiny papillary cancer inside my thyroid itself (which was three times bigger than expected and the surgeon described it as "filled with" nodules and cysts.

I never had anything much more than mild discomfort from my incision, I never had any swelling, never used ice packs or even took pain pills.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

StormFinch said:


> Here's a database you can search to help narrow down your choices. It's where I found mine; http://endocrinesurgery.org/membership/findmember.html I then hit the internet and looked for patient reviews. I knew that I didn't want any of the surgeons in my current town so I ended up doing a statewide search.


Great link!

My surgeon was on the top of the list for my area. Very cool.

I had a friend who was married to a surgeon - his office happened to hire a star surgeon out of residency. Referral is always a good idea and when you interview the surgeon ask alot of questions you already know the answer to and see how they answer them.

I actually think my friends husband felt slighted I did not use him but he was old school and wanted to make a 3" incision while the younger surgeon got it out in less than 1"


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## fugaziman (Apr 5, 2013)

Thank you for the replies everyone. This board has been an invaluable resource for me....

Appreciate it again!


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## fugaziman (Apr 5, 2013)

I just wanted to follow up on this and what my experience was. I talked to a number of different people scouting around for those with experience having thyroid surgery. Maybe its my age or what not, but I had trouble finding a ton of people that had had thyroid surgery or had had thyroid surgery in the area. I felt very uncomfortable with this because the sample size was so small.

Luckily, I just chained together doctor recommendations. So, I found my ENT via Yelp (not a great resource for doctors, but what are you going to do) - gave him a B rating. My ENT recommended the best endocrinologist in the area, who I really liked - gave him an A+. My endocrinologist helped me put together his list of top 10 surgeons across the area, which I am using to cross check. This ended up being the best way for me to get a true list of some qualified thyroid surgeons in the area.

Anyways, that method worked the best for me in the end.

Appreciate all of the suggestions and support - my surgery is happening in the next 2 months, so I am sure I will be asking some more questions.

thanks again,


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