Thyroid Surgery
If you experiencing certain problems with your thyroid you may need to have thyroid surgery. Women who are menopausal tend to have more problems with their thyroids.
Reasons for a thyroid operation
• Thyroid cancer
• Goiters
• Overactive thyroid
There are also different options for thyroid surgery
• Biopsy or lumpectomy
• Lobectomy
• Subtotal thyroidectomy - leaving a small amount of thyroid tissue
• Near-total thyroidectomy - leaving about a cm of tissue on one side
• Total thyroidectomy
Before your surgery you will be scheduled for preoperative evaluation, you will meet with the anesthesiologist, and will be instructed not to have anything to eat or drink after midnight on the day of your surgery. The procedure will take about 2 hours, sometimes a little longer, after your surgery you will spend some time in the recovery room. You will have an incision in your neck with a tube coming out called a surgical drain, it will be removed the day after your surgery, and you will have a breathing tube in your throat during surgery that will make your throat sore.
You'll remain in the recovery room until you have completely awaken, then you will be moved to your hospital room. You should be released the day after your surgery and you can begin normal activity that day, however, you won't be able to participate in any strenuous activities like swimming or working out at the gym, you will need to wait for at least 10 days after your surgery.
You will be able to do everything that you did before your surgery once you've completely healed. You need to be sure to keep all of your follow-up appointments with your doctor, because some people become hypothyroid after thyroid surgery. If this happens, you will need to start taking thyroid hormone. This occurs even more frequently when you've had thyroid cancer. If you've had thyroid cancer and that was the reason for your surgery, your doctor will have you start a radioactive therapy regime before he/she has you start thyroid hormone therapy.
There are a few risks involved when having thyroid surgery and they include bleeding that may cause acute respiratory distress, permanent hoarseness caused by injury to the recurrent laryngeal, and damage to the parathyroid glands that control calcium levels in your body.
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