Hi Teresa, thanks for telling your story. I guess I am worried about people
not actually looking at me anymore, but just at my scar. I feel like I will
have to invest in a lot of turtlenecks and scarves or something. How long
did it take before the scar truly started to fade? My nodule is really
small, so I guess I'm not dealing with any consequences except for the fact
that it may be cancerous (20% chance). Anyway, thanks again...it really
helps to hear about other people's experiences!

On 9/7/06, Teresa <braves_fan1974@...> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
>


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