# Thyroid disaster!



## Lbc (May 12, 2016)

Hi guys!
So long story short... I had a partial thyroid ectomy on a small nodule on my right side only due to family history of cancer. The surgeon told me it could turn cancerous any day but my choice to remove it. Being 26, that scared me so chose to do the surgery. Everything will be fine, blah, blah... Now I think to myself, I should have done some research before but even if I had there is almost NO info about what happened to me after.

Surgery was done on March 10th, 2016. I had thirteen stitches to be removed and on the last visit a week after, I was complaining about how it didn't feel right. I was dismissed with oh everything is fine, it's normal. He told me by Monday I could go SKY DIVING! Instead me, my hubby and our dog went for a car ride, then came home and watched a movie and I cried at the end. Nice day, but still wasn't feeling well. Then it happened... I noticed a huge amount of pressure in my throat on my surgery line. I called my hubby in from the other room and his mouth just dropped open. My neck looked like someone had stuffed a giant softball inside the front of my neck under my incision. Well, so much for going sky diving later that night. Being late I chose to wait till the morning and see if the swelling goes down because I had an appointment with the surgeon for results. Well stupid me! In the morning on March 22nd, 2016 it was worse, went to the hospital and was admitted till April 5th. So...

THE SURGEON CUT A HOLE IN MY WINDPIPE AND RESULTED IN SUBCUTANEOUS ENFAZEMA. Apperently no one had ever seen this or most had never heard about it in the hospital. Subcutaneous enfazema is when air gets trapped inside the body and mine decided to spread into my neck, ear, shoulders and breastplate. I had a Penrose inserted back into my incision, stitched there and then was tortured for the first week of my stay. Every two hours day and night I was given heavy drugs and then brutally massaged by kind and sweet nurses to let the air from my body escape out of my neck through the Penrose. I never have heard a neck sound like it could fart before, but I did get a lot of laughs when the air came out. After 1 week I chose to replace my surgeon and thankfully I did. The second Dr. is the only reason I'm home now and I didn't have to argue with him to put on gloves before touching me.
Found out from the Dr. that I could have died, so I'm thankful to be here... even if after everything I still don't feel well...

I write this not to scare you out of surgery, especially sine the chance of this happening is 0.06%, but to finally put some information from a patient on the Web incase someone else goes through this or have gone through it before.
I will admit, today on May 11th, 2016. I am still in pain, I feel like I'm going emotionally crazy most of the time, tired etc. but my thyroid blood test is normal.

In all, I hope whatever you are going through ends up well!


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Welcome to the board!

I am sorry to hear you have had such a negative experience. How much research did you do on your surgeon's experience level? We like to suggest that people find an experienced surgeon who performs at least 4-5 thyroid surgeries weekly.

What you describe is a rare complication - so sorry you have had to go through all this suffering.



> my thyroid blood test is normal.


Would you mind posting your thyroid labs with ranges please.


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Holy cow, I'm glad you're okay! There are definitely surgeons out there that should not be handling a scalpel. In this case, I might look into some kind of legal action. This is not normal and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through what you've dealt with.


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## Lbc (May 12, 2016)

I will put my lab results up as soon as I can. The surgeon was one well known and is one of the "best" at Toronto East general hospital. I looked him up while in the hospital and saw reviews about don't let him touch you...great! Too late! In the hospital my father in law came to visit me. He saw the surgeons name and then remembered that he was the surgeon who caused a deviated septum in his nose. He has a hole from one nostril to the other side from his procedure. A shame he didn't remember before my operation and a shame I didn't pay more attention to patient review regarding him..


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## Lbc (May 12, 2016)

Has anyone ever heard of Wilson's syndrome? Had to do with thyroid issues while you're blood tests are normal...?


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## Lbc (May 12, 2016)

jenny v said:


> Holy cow, I'm glad you're okay! In this case, I might look into some kind of legal action. This is not normal and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through what you've dealt with.


Thank yo! I am considering legal action and if anything comes out of it I will add it on here.
I hope everything is going well with you!!


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Wow...what a crazy story! I'm so glad you're around to share it.

So, when was the hole made--during the surgery, or during the suture removal? So odd! I mean, how inattentive does a surgeon have to be to A) Put a hole in someone's windpipe, and B) NOT NOTICE DOING IT!!!!!?????


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## Lbc (May 12, 2016)

Thank you Octavia! The hole was made during surgery. The only other medical information I can find on the web is one gentleman had it happen similar to me but 4 weeks after his surgery. It was a medical report not from the patient himself.


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## Lbc (May 12, 2016)

Lovlkn said:


> Welcome to the board!
> 
> 1) How much research did you do on your surgeon's experience level?
> 
> 2) Would you mind posting your thyroid labs with ranges please.


1) I did a little research before the operation but I didn't look at a lot of patient reviews on multiple sites. I looked at one site and only 3 reviews on that site. No one suggested that I look online and have been told not to do so from people to avoid freaking myself out. But I did anyways, only not as much as I should have. I checked his profile online at Toronto East General Hospital, my family doctor knew him and I had been going to him for over a year monitoring my thyroid. I wish I had of looked around.. I never wrote about what happened on my surgery day. But he never came to my family in the waiting room to inform them after. I had three people waiting and constantly asking about me. He claims he came to the waiting room and no one was there... My husband demanded to speak to my doctor after I was recovering in the room and was told he had left for the day. The wonderful and amazing nurse called him at home, got my husband from my room to speak with him over the phone. That was the only communication to my family about the procedure on that day.

2) I'm not sure what to provide in regards to my blood work but I will try to provide as much information as possible for you.
I'm 27, Caucasian, 5ft 9in tall, and around 140lbs.

Blood taken on April 28th, 2016 while fasting
Hemoglobin- 137 Range- 120-160 g/L KL
Hematocrit- 0.416 Range- 0.350/- 0.450 L/L
White blood cell count- 5.0 Range- 4.0-11.0 x E9/L
Red blood cell count- 4.33 Range- 4.00-5.10 x E12/L
Mcv- 96 Range- 80-100 fL
Mch- 31.6 Range- 27.5- 33.0 pg
Mchc- 329 Range- 305-360 g/L
Rdw- 13.2 Range- 11.5-14.5%
Platelet count- 215 Range- 150-400 x E9/L
Absolute: Neuts- 3.2 Range- 2.0-7.5 x E9/L
(A) Lymph- 1.2 Range- 1.0-3.5 x E9/L
(A) Mono- 0.4 Range- 0.2-1.0 x E9/L
(A) Eos- 0.1 Range- 0.0-0.5 x E9/L
(A) Baso- 0.0 Range- 0.0- 0.2 x E9/L
Vitamin B12- 425 Range- >133 pmol/L KL
Glucose-fasting plasma- 4.8 Range- 3.3-6.0 mmol/L KL
Creatinine- 68 Range- 60-115 umol/L
Egrf- 106 
Urate- 212 Range- 120-400 umol/L
Sodium- 141 Range- 135-146 mmol/L
Potassium- 5.0 Range- 3.5-5.2 mmol/L
Alkaline phosphatase- 51 Range- 30-110 U/L
Alt- 13 Range- 4-43 U/L
Hba1c- 5.0 Range- <6.0%
Cardiovascular risk assessment 
Cholesterol- 5.14 HIGH Range- below 4.60 mmol/L
Triglycerides- 0.90 Range- <1.71 mmol/L
Hdl cholesterol- 1.75 Range- >1.29 mmol/L
Non help cholesterol- 3.39 
Ldl cholesterol (calculated)- 2.98 
Cholesterol/hdl ratio- 2.9
Tsh- 5.38 Range- 0.30-5.60 mlU/L KL
T4 free- 9.4 Range- 7.2-21.0 pmol/L
Free T3- 4.5 Range- 2.9-6.0 pmol/L
Ferritin- 56 Range- 11-145 ug/L KL

I hope that is helpful!


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## blackngold (Oct 28, 2011)

Wow that's very frightening I'm so sad to have seen this happen to you very scary so how's everything going now ?


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