Hello Inkypinky, 

I just wanted to welcome you to our forum. I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis and I hope that via this forum you will be able to connect with other people your age who have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. You've been through a lot recently so it's normal that it is all hitting you now and that you are feeling more anxious at the moment than before the surgery. 

I thought I would put you in touch with others here who have also been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. [@SophieN]‍  for example would be a great person for you to talk to as she will be able to relate to what you are going through at the moment having herself been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had the same type of surgery. 

It is a shame that your appetite has been affected by this and that you have suffered from nausea it must be really debilitating on a daily basis and is probably making you feel down too. It might be worth talking to your doctor about this as they may be able to prescribe something to help you cope with the nausea. They may also have tips to help improve your appetite. 

We have some useful information on our website about what to expect after a thyroidectomy which you can read here. You can also find out more about ways to treat and control sickness on this page. We also have some great tips to help you with loss of appetite.  I hope this helps a little and that you will soon be chatting here with others who are or have been in a similar boat. 

Wishing you a speedy recovery from these operations. 

Best wishes, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Inkypinky. 

I had half of my thyroid out in January and got my diagnosis 6 weeks later. 

I’m older than you at 35! My whole life has been turned upside down- I have some other crazy *** health issues that have caught me at the same time. Unfortunately, due to them my surgeon won’t do my completion surgery yet. 

Are you having RAI soon? How’s your scar healing? Take your time to recover and be nice to yourself. xxx

Feel free to PM at any time. Much love xxx 

Brill! Thank you very much for the links and another person. I will give the links a read hopefully though this forum is can start to feel more normal with myself.

Hi Sophie pleased to meet you!

I'm sorry you have other health issues ontop of this situation, it's already so complicated with out other bits and bobs thrown into the mix  

I genuinely thought I was prepared enough for the surgery met with the surgeon and few times and talked openly about the scar beforehand... and I did get a bit of a fright as it is a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be, was surprised it goes all the way around the front and sides can I ask tho have you been having to deal with numbness around the area since your op? 

I should be getting my consultation in about a week to discuss the where and when of the RAI. Kinda anxious about it think the plan is to stay in the hospital through the treatment as I can't really go home between treatments but hopefully I'll find out for definite all the ins and outs, especially side effects don't really fancy another bout of sickness spells  

Thank you for getting in touch with me I appreciate it I will definitely keep in touch xxx

Hi. 

Yes- very numb for at least the first month, maybe even longer. Then I used to get what felt like bolts of electricity through my scar (I’m told that’s the nerves reconnecting). I still get it now some 6 months on. 

I believe you have to stay in for RAI for about 4 days. 

Let me know how you get on. 

Also, if you’re on Facebook there’s a thyroid cancer support group that has been really helfpful xxx 

Sending love xxx 

Hey!

So im 24, about a year ago my stepmum noticed a lump and after a few weeks (when it didn't disappear) went to the GP. I had a blood test, an ultrasound and finally a fine needle aspiration and all came back pretty inconclusive. 

Throughout I was reasured 'this is probably fine, you're really young, most of these are fine'. I can understand of course why, but think it later didn't prepare me well at all. I of course considered it could have been cancerous but figured no news is good and everything just felt fine. My biopsy came back as inconclusive again. Sooo after now, about a year (the investigations all took a while with referrals) everyone all of a sudden got a move on and wanted me to have a partial thyroidectomy pretty quick. 

My biggest considerations we're not smoking before anaesthesia and getting enough shifts in! I was told 2 weeks off and minor operation!!! Well I have really, really struggled post op. As a nurse myself that works in A and E I was pretty freaked out being a patient and super paranoid. I was able to eat and drink later that day, although found the first night pretty hard, it took a while to sort my pain out and I ended up collapsing and didn't sleep. The next night was much better, I had a little too much blood draining so was kept in a tad longer, having not had surgery or GA before this suited me well. 

I'm now at 3 weeks, recovery has been ok, I am up and about and am regaining full movements bit by bit. I can now also sleep in my normal position which is amaze! I'm doing light things like walking the dog and cooking, but still that's about it. No where near ready to go back to work, but probably could if it was a desk job. I'm focusing on lots of neck exercises and scar massage WHICH FREAKS ME OUT I haven't really wanted to touch my neck or scar site (maybe I haven't wanted to confront it and again that nursing paranoia with AIRWAY) but it's now healing tight so just move move move.

I saw my surgeon and really it's good news, it was all confined and encapsulated to one nodule and I don't need any further treatment. Lots of regular check ups and potentially a future op depending on what happens with my last lobe left in. This is good news and if I had known what I was dealing with throughout I would have taken it as so. Just a big shock to find it all out as once, whilst still feeling weak and recovering. It currently feels like this is never ending. 

Good news is that I'm still smoke free and just need to focus on recocery. 

I underatand that the success rate with thyroid cancer is really good and I'm hoping it will all become a non issue. I mean apparently 1 in 2 people are getting cancer nowadays, seems like it just might be the cancer to have. I hope this is helpful to anyone reading. X

Hey! 

Hope you’re doing ok. What size was your tumour if you don’t mind me asking. Great you are now smoke free.

How regular did they say your check ups would be? 

The scar massage used to freak me out too but now I just feel like I want to hurt it! It’s  a strange pain. 

Love that you’re a nurse. Don’t rush to go back to work though! :)

I was supposed to have completion surgery in May- it was cancelled due to more blood clots in my lung! Just want it done. Xxx 

Hey! 

Omg you wont believe it! I had read what you had said about the electricity feeling and at the time thought that sounded so odd, a few days later and I have it Soo bad atm!!! Lots of pain at the site now as well as a swollen/hard to swallow feeling! So iv been better, but I'm really hoping this is the last bit of this recovery!

No ofc I don't, so it increased in time throughout the year but at point of removal it was 2cm. It probably wouldn't have been noticeable if it was in one of my sides but it was quite central really, looked like an Adams apple! My next check up is in 6 months. I'm really hoping I don't have to have the surgery ever again, although maybe for a second time round you'll recover better and know what to do. Apparently small neck exersizes early on helps with pain and recovery. I don't blame you wanting it done with though. 

Oh that sucks! Not a nice complication to have! Although free socks on the plus side?!