Surgery's Done!

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone -- I hadn't posted while I was patiently waiting my

thyroidectomy. A brief history -- I had difficult to control Graves

for 3 years and decided to go for the surgery instead of the RAI. I

had the surgery on Monday, flew home on Wednesday and ended up in our

local hospital on Friday with hypocalcemia. I am fine now, back at

home and feeling good. I have two questions:

Question Number #1:

I was wondering if anyone else out there that has gone through a

total thyroidectomy remembers how they felt emotionally after the

surgery. I am feeling a bit unsettled and perhaps a bit remorseful.

Is this normal?

My thyroid had enlarged so much that it had to be separated from 2 of

my parathyroid glands. They were reimplanted and that is why I had

the low calcium. I am doing okay.

Question Number #2:

How quickly did you start the replacement medication after the

surgery? My endocrinologist wanted to wait at least 3 weeks before

starting the hormone replacement. However, the surgeon prescribed

levothyroxine right away and I followed his advise instead. I guess

I was worried that I would crash by the time 3 weeks rolls

around and then it would be that much harder to regulate me and

ultimately get pregnant.

I saw my endo before I left the hospital today and I told him that I

had started the levothyroxine -- he just said, " Oh, I guess you

didn't want to gain any weight " . I just looked at him and said, " No,

its not about weight, I just want to get better. " Comments like

that make me loose trust in specialists, physicians, etc and I think

that is why I am feeling unsettled.

The endo did order a lot of blood work including calcium, TSH and FT4

for me to have on Monday.

Take care,

Carmel