Thyroid Patient Sings through Surgery!

[wysewoman]

I thought some of you my find this interesting. It's about a singer who sang whilst they were removing her thyroid. She wanted to ensure that her voice was not damaged.

theguardian.com/world/video...

[Clutter]

Wysewoman, I heard the story on the World Service but they just said it was a throat op.

If they heard me sing they'd rip out my vocal chords as a kindness to humanity

[Hidden]

I don't think much of her hypnotist if she was still in pain!

[helvella Administrator]

There always seem to be mixed messages when we read stories like this. Of course, anyone like a singer would be devastated to lose their voice, or even just suffer damage to it. But it ends up sounding as if the surgeons will go to the ends of the earth for a singer whilst for the yous and mes of the world they will hack away without any care or consideration.

I'm sure that is excessively pessimistic, but thoughts like that regularly go through my head.

Were I ever to need such surgery, I think I would discuss the possibility of regional anaesthesia.

Rod

[Clutter in reply to helvella]

Rod, I was warned that there was a 2% chance of damage to my vocal chords. A camera was inserted to guide the surgeon. As it happens, there was no damage but removing the tumour relieved compression on the windpipe and the hoarseness disappeared so I'm quaite mellifluous. Still can't sing though

[wysewoman in reply to Clutter]

Alas I wasn't so lucky. My first op - no worries, but after completion I had a quiet/hoarse voice for weeks. My talking voice has come back in the last couple of weeks (8 weeks post op) but my singing voice still has a way to go... At my next endo appointment I'm going to request a voice therapist referral as Im sure there must be some exercises to help me but I wouldn't have a clue which ones!

My Endo Surgeon said that it could take months but it will return and was a consequence of vocal nerves getting stretched in surgery. I feel for those who get vocal nerves severed as I don't think time will sort that one out...

Melissa

[wysewoman]

Hi there,

I don't think I'd have fancied having my ops on a regional. I'd be too paranoid that I might cough or move at a critical point. Having said that, if this lady sung through her op then maybe absolute stillness is not as essential as I thought!

Melissa

[helvella Administrator in reply to wysewoman]

Maybe, but...

Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2010 Mar;14(1):49-50. doi: 10.1177/1089253210363010.

Postoperative recovery advantages in patients undergoing thyroid and parathyroid surgery under regional anesthesia.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/204...

Rod

Suri KB1, Hunter CW, Davidov T, Anderson MB, Dombrovskiy V, Trooskin SZ.

Author information

Abstract

Thyroid or parathyroid surgery may be performed using general anesthesia or regional anesthesia. Ninety-five (95) patients underwent thyroid or parathyroid surgery using general anesthesia (n=64) or bilateral superficial cervical plexus block with sedation (n=31) and completed a postoperative questionnaire regarding the perioperative experience. Patients undergoing parathyroid surgery under regional anesthesia (n=24) were more likely to experience better energy levels (p=0.012) and earlier return to work (p=0.045) postoperatively. Overall, 96% of patients undergoing either type of surgery with either type of anesthetic reported satisfaction with the anesthetic.

PMID:

20472626

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Glynisrose]

I had RAI many years back and still haven't regained my singing voice!!

[Hidden]

Wow. I see she was operated on in France. I can just see hypnotic anaethesia being provided on the NHS (not).