Has anybody had a partial thyroidectomy?

[CrustyRollWithSaladCream]

Hi all,

I have a 4.5CM grade U2/3 tumour on my thyroid. It's only on the right side and the left side appears to be spared of anything. I was diagnosed with an incurable cancer at 23 (I'm now 31) and my medical team take any sign of tumour seriously and even though they don't think it's harmful yet they have decided it's best for me to have it removed.

Apparently they are quite common, especially in someone who's had a lot of radiation (X-rays and CTs in my case, not radiotherapy) they don't know if I'll have to take thyroxine yet until after and have walked me through the surgery. I guess I'm just here to see if anyone has been through this surgery and let me know their experiences? I'm not nervous about the surgery, I've had so many operations. It's more so the experience and recovery. When will I be able to go back to work etc? I'm a single mum to 5 year old DD but will organise for some help for recovery and may well go and stay with my parents for the week.

Thanks all and happy Easter!

Hemithyroidectomy I think is the word I'm looking for!

Bump

Yes. I had a benign tumor on one side and went for a hemi as I didnt want to end up taking thyroxine everyday. Surgery went perfectly but 3 months.after I had to start taking throxine as the half that was left wasnt making enough. Then1 year later they found another 2 tumors growing fast in the side that was left in. So I went back for a second surgery to take it out. That surgery didnt go so well, my parathyroid was bruised so I had a bumpy few weeks with calcium ups and downs, and my vocal chords also got bruised so I lost my voice for 3 months (very helpful when you have 4 dc under 10).
After all of that, I am fine now and taking thyroxine daily is very easy

If I could do it again, I would have had it all out in one go (as my surgeon suggested originally). The second surgery complications were likely because there had already been a surgery in that exact place,and I think that the chances of more tumors growing have to be higher as soon as you have had one in that location. But this is just my opinion.

Yes, I had this op 3 years ago. Big lump, they planned to take the whole thyroid out, but ended up only taking half. I eventually found out it was Hashimoto's thyroiditis, because they didn't tell me until I went for a follow up to check on my vocal chords. Having been told at biopsy it was probably cancer, you can imagine the state I was in.

Recovery wasn't as bad as I'd been led to expect. I don't remember a great deal due to said state. Had to source my own painkillers (yeah, great hospital!) and then try to swallow them. Antibiotic ointment - the one they use for conjunctivitis - applied with a cotton bud. Slept upright for about a week.

I was already on Levothyroxine, so they just doubled it. Barely notice the scar.

Had one 22 years ago when I was 20 so I’m afraid it’s a bit blurry. My op site got infected in the few days after but other than that was a smooth op experience. I’ve never had to take thyroxine or had any issues hormonally with it.

I had one in 2017. It was compressing my trachea so needed to come out! I was on Levo after about 3 months for 9 years, just 100mcg for 5 days and then no Levo at all on weekend days. Just had the remaining lobe out two weeks ago (during surgery to cure primary hyperparathyroidism) a different Endocrine disease and after one week I’ve already gone a bit underactive so will need to increase Levo.

What kind of work do you do?

Ive had a complete in my twenties. Back at bar work in a couple of weeks. Wore scarves to stop knobheads commenting.
Been stable on 225 levothyroxine for 25 years.

Thank all, really appreciate it! Did everyone have drains? I've had them before for my cancer but not in my neck. Glad everyone had seemingly smooth recoveries as a whole

I'm a business analyst. So not customer facing and not a lot of talking thankfully

How long did everyone's surgery take if you know?

I had a hemithyroidectomy for thyroid cancer, but after the histology came back had to have a second op for the other side, so be aware of that possibility. Recovery was better than anticipated. Only needed thyroxine after the second op.