# appointment tomorrow possible surgery have a few questions please read xx



## shorty85 (Aug 25, 2012)

Hi I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas. tomorrow I have an appointment with my new doctor who specialises in thyroids especially surgery. I have 4 lumps biggest haven grown to now 4.9cm. I am going with my dad who I will know will push for removal if the doctor doesnt say I need it, its been a long journey for me as i have had the biggest lump nearly 3 years now and had skin cancer to which i believe increases my chances of developing another I also have hasimotos. Questions do any of you regret having your surgery, how long does it take to recover and do you be off work long I have 2 young kids and work in retail to. Thanks for reading xx


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

It is so good to hear from you and I hope that doc agrees to yank your thyroid! It's about time; you have suffered waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much!

Shorty, I did not have the surgery so I am not one to knowingly comment. I will say that I just know you will do well because the surgery is nothing compared to all your years of suffering.

You will be sooooooooooooooooo glad!!

Hopefully, others will be along but it is slow now due to the holiday activities.

Many hugs,


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

No, I did not and do not regret it.

I had an easy time with recovery - that seems to be the case with me and surgeries. No kids here, but I was able to do most normal things within a week, in terms of getting over pain & soreness. The hormonal upheaval was tough at times as was regulating meds, but it was manageable. In the long run, any bad days I had are outnumbered by the good days by far.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Oh, I was off did two weeks. I could have easily gone back at one week (again, I had an easy time...I think two weeks is probably more of a standard time frame). I started working from hind two days after surgery...answering emails & taking calls, etc.

I started taking care of the horses (my kids!) at the one week mark.


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

No regrets here either. I imagine you must be uncomfortable. Best wishes!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

I'm almost 3 months out from surgery and I don't have any regrets so far. My recovery took a little longer than I expected because the surgeon had to "wrestle" my thyroid out of my neck because it was so damaged and had grown backwards into my neck. I really couldn't turn my head fully for a few weeks, so I had to be really careful when driving. You'll definitely need help with the kiddos for a week or so, you won't be able to pick heavy things up and you'll probably be pretty sore and tired.


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## shorty85 (Aug 25, 2012)

Thanks for your replies, in my job I have to pull cages lift heavy boxes reach up high fill and move shelves guess if they decide to remove it will be a while till I could go back x


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## Kenwood (Aug 18, 2013)

No regrets at ALL with my TT (9/6). I had two goiters on each side that were growing and crushing my windpipe - restricting my ability to breathe. 6+ hour surgery and lost a pint of blood. My recovery was fairly easy. I was back at work a week later. 100+ days later, my voice is still jacked up - as anything outside of face-to-face conversation and I cannot be heard. The doc's still haven't dialed in my meds and my labs are still messed up (especially my TSH). My brother had the same TT (10/31), and he is doing terible - still has RAI next month.


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## shorty85 (Aug 25, 2012)

Just home from my appointment now with my new doctor he was concerned about the lump at the front of my neck he said that having neck lumps in women with hasimotos is quite common but with my history and the fact it has grown is concerning. So I had to have a camera up my nose and down my throat so unpleasant and a blood test to check for anything suspicious, I have to go back for a biopsy to check if it is benign or contains pre or cancerious cells. If its cancerous then will be removed asap if its not then they may leave it and do follow ups every year


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## KeepOnGoing (Jan 2, 2013)

So, how do you feel about this approach? Will you be happy to leave such a big nodule (and its friends!) and monitor them every year?

It's all very personal at this point. My experience was that I had a solitary nodule (no hashimoto's) which was only 2cm and 3 biopsies, none of which came back malignant. I couldn't live with not knowing exactly what it was so I had that half of my thyroid removed. In my case, it was a good thing I did as it was in fact malignant. However, there are lots of others out there (a pretty substantial majority at that) who have things removed which turn out to be entirely innocent. You will have to see what they think of their decision, but most on here don't seem to regret it. Strange, that - I'd have been cross if I'd gone through the op and then found out it wasn't necessary (no pleasing some folk - I wasn't exactly happy to find out it was cancer either!). Then again, the ones who had hashimotos do seem jolly delighted to have got rid of theirs!

I presume that the lump doesn't interfere in any way? Swallowing etc? I can understand leaving it alone if it's not causing any trouble and is shown to be benign...

Let us know how it turns out - as I say, I've had 3 FNA biopsies and it was never half as bad as I was expecting (the camera up the nose was definitely worse, in my opinion!) Hopefully you will then be able to forget all about it and get on with life.


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## Carmen315 (May 17, 2013)

I think you'll find that most of us here don't regret it. I do not regret my partial TT. 2 weeks post op today and feel way better than I did before the surgery. I also have Hashimoto's. Currently I'm in grad school so I've done this during my winter break. I see how some can go back to work in a week, but 2 weeks seems better. I had energy after a week, but it was limited. Tomorrow I plan on going running for the first time in two weeks. Wanted to ease back into it once I felt strong enough. I'm still afraid of heaving lifting though.

Good luck!


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## shorty85 (Aug 25, 2012)

KeepOnGoing said:


> So, how do you feel about this approach? Will you be happy to leave such a big nodule (and its friends!) and monitor them every year?
> 
> It's all very personal at this point. My experience was that I had a solitary nodule (no hashimoto's) which was only 2cm and 3 biopsies, none of which came back malignant. I couldn't live with not knowing exactly what it was so I had that half of my thyroid removed. In my case, it was a good thing I did as it was in fact malignant. However, there are lots of others out there (a pretty substantial majority at that) who have things removed which turn out to be entirely innocent. You will have to see what they think of their decision, but most on here don't seem to regret it. Strange, that - I'd have been cross if I'd gone through the op and then found out it wasn't necessary (no pleasing some folk - I wasn't exactly happy to find out it was cancer either!). Then again, the ones who had hashimotos do seem jolly delighted to have got rid of theirs!
> 
> ...


 I am not sure to be honest after already been told I had skin cancer 2 months before I found out I had this lump I am not sure I want to take a chance and leave it in but I am not sure my consultant will want to remove it if its benign but I have for 2 days now my neck is in agony not my throat around my lumps feels like its going to explode


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## KeepOnGoing (Jan 2, 2013)

Is there an argument for removing it just based on the size of the nodules?

Or you could ask about the accuracy of FNAs on large nodules (my consultant described it as a "needle in a haystack" which seemed apt and was his way of explaining why 3 FNAs had failed to spot a cancer which was 2cm across...)

I think I decided that I definitely couldn't live with not knowing for sure when an insensitive surgeon told me there was nothing wrong with me and he couldn't even see a cosmetic reason for removal. It's remarkable how being told you can't do something can concentrate the mind beautifully!

Do you have a date for the biopsy yet?


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## shorty85 (Aug 25, 2012)

No still awaiting my appointment hopefully shouldn't be long for 2 days there I had a very sore neck pains all over is this normal


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## shorty85 (Aug 25, 2012)

A picture of my lump


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