Thyroid Surgery/Lynne

[Guest guest]

>The surgeon said that she only wants to remove TWO of my parathyroid glands and

half of the thyroid (the part that has the adenoma.  She says if I have the two

parathyroid glands and the left half of my thyroid, I wouldn't need any

synthroid, and my thyroid would function pretty well.<

Hi Lynne,

I think you should be aware that the parathyroid glands can be destroyed during

thyroid surgery (even the ones that the surgeon intends to spare). That happened

to a friend of mine. Living without functioning parathyroid glands is a very

difficult balancing act, involving maintaining the correct amount of calcium in

the body.

Parathyroid glands are responsible for calcium metabolism. Without the

parathyroid, there is decreased calcium circulating in the blood, which causes

muscles to be hyperexcitable, leading to spams and tremors. It can also lead to

tetany, a condition marked by intermittent muscular spasms, caused by

malfunction or absence of the parathyroid glands and a consequent deficiency of

calcium.

My friend had severe tetany resulting in her entire body cramping.  I’m not

saying this will happen to you, but it sounds like your surgeon is assuming that

nothing can go wrong. I hope she’s right, but I think you should be fully

informed. >Also, I've been doing some more research and found one recent study

that showed that thyroid adenomas that are over 4 cm in size have an EIGHTY

percent chance of being malignant.  In the light of this new evidence (mine is

5 cm), I think that time is critical in making up my mind on what to do.<

I understand your concern. If I had the possibility of cancer, I would find out

what sort of timetable I have. I would also want to know FOR SURE whether my

thyroid was cancerous or not. I see no point in rushing into surgery if there is

no cancer present. I have had an adenoma on one of my kidneys for 10 years. So

far, there has been no problem.

Shomon is an expert on thyroid problems, including nodules. If I were you

I'd go to her website and do some research.

Hugs (and good luck), Dianne

http://thyroid.about.com/bio/-Shomon-350.htm