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Partial thyroidectomy should I do it? How long off from work?
Hello, I am a 61 year old female who had my right tonsil removed in February 2024 as a precaution, as it was larger than the other one, and I was having some discomfort on the right side only when I yawned. It came back positive for HPV 16 cancer. I underwent 33 treatments of radiation and am doing quite well. I’ve had 2 PET scans since which showed hot spots on the left portion of my thyroid, after the first PET scan I had an ultrasound in April 2024 and was told to watch it for a year. This revealed a 1.3 cm nodule with a TI-RADS score of 4. In September my ENT suggested we do a FNA and test it just to see so we could rule out cancer more of a peace of mind scenario. Afirma testing showed Bethesda 3. The Afirma genomic sequencing came back suspicious which leads to a 50% chance it is cancer and is recommending a partial thyroidectomy. Has anyone here elected to a wait and see approach? I’m scheduled for surgery on Dec. 3.
For those who have had surgery how was recovery? How much time did you need off work? My ENT is saying 3-5 days. I manage a restaurant so I’m on my feet, moving and talking a lot. Grateful for any input on your experience and thanks in advance.
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I had 1/2 of my thyroid out.. the quick frozen section looked at by path while I was still in OR was negative, so the other side was left in. When I went to get my stitches out , the final path said I had follicular thryoid cancer and I had to go back in to surgery to have the rest of the thryoid removed. Not fun.
You could prob go back to work in 3 days, but anesthesia makes you very tired and it takes the body time to eliminate it from all your cells. And the tube that is in your throat during surgery can irritate the throat and make it uncomfortable to talk a lot .
I had a small tube in my in the lower neck (called a jackson pratt) to collect blood for about a week. If you have that you will prob not want to work but you could.
Wishing you well. There is a support group Thyca.org you could join for more questions/answers.
That was probably a miracle.