# Six days post surgery - feeling better - pathology results tomorrow!



## mari20 (Jan 8, 2015)

Hi everybody, I wanted to give an update since reading other experiences has been so useful for me. Plus I still have questions (and I am sure I will continue to do so) and I would appreciate any input I can get.

So today was the first day after surgery that I started feeling significantly better! It doesn't hurt that much when I swallow, it is more uncomfortable than painful and I don't even feel it most of the time. I can move my head and neck a lot more and the hardest is looking up but range of motion is improving a lot.

However, the not so good things I am feeling: I feel tightness around incision and it hurts when I move or I get a stabbing pain sometimes if I move suddenly (but not terrible - tolerable); if I start doing too much and get tired, I feel pain in my right clavicle and it goes down my chest; I get tired very quickly and start getting very dizzy and out of breath; and finally, I get so tired of talking! It just feels like such a task to talk and if I talk for more than a few sentences, my voice feels weak and tired. It is hard to explain since I had not experienced this before. I was hoarse on and off for the first two days and now my voice sounds normal, but I get this weird feeling.

So I wanted to know if any of you experienced any of these symptoms and if you have any advice or words of wisdom.

Also, I have my post op appointment tomorrow when I will learn pathology results....I am starting to feel nervous about it and I feel unprepared. I have not had the energy to think or plan my questions so if you have any advice for me I would appreciate it greatly! I am especially wondering how to bring up the question of medication or not if it turns out that I do not need TT and decision is that I just get to keep my left lobe and keep monitoring. I have read something about Free T3 test but I still don't understand it well and when I mentioned it to my dr he did not acknowledge my comment and he just seemed pretty confident I would not need medication - but this was before surgery. Is this something you have to fight for? Getting right tests and getting medication? I am not usually vocal about things so I need encouragement....

Wow! Sorry this was longer than I planned so thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice!


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I'm sorry you are feeling sore still. Sometimes it's just a matter of time. Is your incision site raised or red looking at all?

I don't think it makes much sense to assume you won't need meds. Your whole thyroid gland made enough hormones to support your body, if you remove half of it, it makes sense that you'll need meds to replace that half. If your surgeon won't do the tests (which won't mean much unless you wait a full eight weeks) ask your primary care practitioner.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> I can move my head and neck a lot more and the hardest is looking up but range of motion is improving a lot.


My neck was extremely stiff and painful post TT. I had a massage and a chairopractic adjustment to get it back to where it needed to be.

Your incision may be forming some adhesion's - a good massage therapist can break those without damaging anything in the surgical area.

As far as how you feel, I assume you have not been started on any replacement medications. I highly doubt that 1/2 a thyroid will perform as well as a whole thyroid and you will need some dose of replacement.

You will need to SPEAK UP and insist they run the proper tests - FT-4 and FT-3 are absolutely necessary to properly dose yourself.

You can take the easy way out - order the tests yourself online and have them run. DO research and walk into the endo appointment ( next time) armed with information as to why these tests matter. Doctors can be resistant - it's your $$ that pays them so you need to be insistent they run what you want to see,


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## jade (Aug 6, 2013)

It took a few tries for me to get my dr.'s to do the Free T3 test. They finally did it, but some will try to tell you it's not necessary. I felt better knowing the results.

As far as your voice, it will likely improve in time. After my thyroid surgery, my voice felt flat, sort of monotone and it was hard to talk very loud. I was worried for a while, but by 3.5 to 4 weeks after surgery, it went completely back to normal.


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