Hi Frankie,

Reading your posting, brought back so many memories, I had forgotten
I had!!!

You should have been warned prior to your surgery that because your
thyroid is so close to your vocal chords there is a slight chance
that your voice could change.

As it happens I could not speak at all for the first week, and then
slowly over the second week my voice became stronger, and by the
third week I was back to normal. (Much to the dissapointment of my
husband who would have preferred the struggling, low, husky QUIET
first week variety!!)

I did not have any unfortunate after affects of the surgery, it
sounds like you are experiencing a problem with your chest and
phlem. This obviously will not help your post surgical problems,
which will be soreness around the site of the surgery, and especially
neck muscle ache. The muscle ache will be a result of the need to
move your neck muscles out of the way in order for the surgeons to
see clearly enough to remove your thyroid.

My neck and particularly the area surrounding my thyroid scar were
very sore for at least 2 weeks, stretching into the third before I
started feeling I could move my neck freely again.

As for the particular pain you are experiencing just above your
incision, you may have developed a slight infection. I was forbidden
to remove my 'band aid' for the first week. I had just one spot at
the end of my incision that became slightly inflamed. I now have a
more or less invisible scar with the exception of a sunken spot at
the end of it. Annoying really, but quite livable!

So from what you have mentioned and from what I can remember, I have
to say you are probably experiencing normal reactions to the surgery.

I am so pleased you contacted this site again, to let us know how you
are. So do you know what your next steps are? Are your doctors
being a little more forthcoming with inforamtion?

And again I cannot stress enough that no matter how trivial you think
your question(s) are. If you are thinking about it, then there is
more than one person here, willing to help.

Take care

Bye for now

Debbie






--- In ThyroidDisease2@yahoogroups.com, Frankie <unicorn@g...> wrote:
>
> Deb,
>
> Had my thyroidectomy a little over a week ago, and am noticing a
real
> improvement in the symptoms that have been bothering me - fatigue
is
> easing off, fingers warming up, dark circles under my eyes are
going.
> I've been sick and sidelined from my own life for three years -
this
> is the first hope I've had in a long time.
>
> So my question seems trivial in comparison - but I couldn't swallow
> right for the first few days - dumped a lot of crap down my lungs
> which caused a hard time breathing. Couldn't cough or bring stuff
up
> well. A week later, my throat is still sore, still bringing up a
> lot of phlegm and my voice is still pretty scratchy. Did you have
> any of these problems? How long did it take you to recover? Also
> have a pain on the right side, above the incision, that seems to be
> getting worse instead of better, and feel a little shortness of
> breath.
>
> I will see my surgeon on Thursday and find out then what she
thinks.
> Just curious about your experience.
>
> frankie
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]