Hi there- My name is Teresa and I had to have half of my thyroid
removed about 4 years ago. I was about 26 myself. I was just like
you didn't really want to go through the surgery but I was diagnosed
on Wed of one week with 3 large nodules on the left side. The doctor
had me in surgery the following Monday morning. As far as my scar
goes.. if you look hard enough.. you can see it because like you.. I
don't have any wrinkles in there yet. At first, I was real
embarrassed by the scar.. then it kinda started making me upset
because when people would be talking to me especially when the
bandages came off, they would be looking at my neck instead of
looking at me. But I realized that they were just courious. It isn't
something that you see everyday. The doctors let you know how big
the scar is and yes, it is in the middle of your neck, but it really
wasn't taht bad.. The first few days in the hospital was rough.. I
mean with the pain but they gave me constant pain meds and a
morphine pump to help. And it really does help. They may tell you
that you might not be able to talk for a few days afterwards because
they have to go right beside the vocal cords and sometimes it
bruises them but I didn't have any problem. I was a little raspy in
my throat when I talked but it was ok. You will also find that there
will be some things you just can't driink because it burns. Believe
it or not.. the only thing I could drink for several days was Choc.
Milk. They have it at the nurses desk.. all you have to do is ask
for it. Even though I only had half of mine removed, they eventually
had to put me on meds because the other half just couldn't keep up
enough. But, I have been doing alot better. It will take a while to
get over it... I guess it took me about a year...to get adjusted to
the meds and all. But, that nodule that you have will only get
bigger and it will eventually have to be removed. Mine was so big
when I finally went to the doctor because I thought I was having
panic attacks.. My heart was pounding.. I was tired all the time...
and it felt like I couldn't breathe sometimes. I found out that one
of the nodules had gotten big enough that it was actually pushing on
my trachea and cutting off my air. But, if you ever want to talk to
me about it or have any questions... feel free to send me a email or
pull me up on my messenger on yahoo at braves_fan1974. Ok.. I'm sure
everything will be fine... Teresa