Hi friend, I certainly can relate. I had a massive thyroid, 7 hour surgery to remove, 3 day hospital stay. Surgeon states largest thyroid he had ever seen in his 40 year career. He said my thyroid was size of cow's heart, Rofl !!!!! Thyroid was crushing my trachea, practically suffocating me, food would get stuck in my throat. If my thyroid would have continued to grow, thyroid would have completely crushed my trachea causing axphyxiation/death. Due to my crushed trachea I now use cpap to breathe during sleep. I had 2 consultatiions with surgeon. I was confident he would perform outstanding surgery. We discussed every detail. This was 7 years ago. I didn't have any issues post surgery, none, zippo !!
cept rebalancing of hormones, which is now finally optimized. I was super happy, I was able to breathe, eat, sleep normally again. Try not to worry friend, eat well, rest much as possible for surgey. Wishing you well before/after surgery.
Hi there... I don't think we have anyone on the forum right now that's had anything that large removed; however, we've had some in the past who have had substernal goiter removed. The ones I'm familiar with/can recall have turned out fine.
I know it's very scary, but try not to think the worst. If you have a good surgeon, trust them to do the best they can. I know it's a possibility to have voice box damage, but I believe it's rare to actually have it happen. If it's any consolation, I've actually had surgery on my vocal cords and came through with them in better shape than they were prior to surgery - I credit that to the excellent doctor I had, for sure.
When will you be having your surgery? We're here to help you in any way we can.