Afraid of total thyroidectomy comlications

[Fiaxseed]

On wed. I am referred to general surgery at my local clinic. I have done research on the general surgeon i am referred to. I dont have private healthcare cover. I want to ask this surgeon questions about his experiece in total thyroidectomy on thyrotoxic goiter. Why do i feel nervous about asking qurstions when i really have no other choice of surgeon. It seems i have to go ahead with a surgeon i have little confidence in so far. I want to ask him how many hed done and about his personal compliction raye etc.

[Greekchick]

Hi Flaxseed,

First, I am so sorry you need surgery. I had a TT 6 months ago and I fully understand how you must be feeling. I had a multinodular toxic goiter and have Graves.

The fact that you have been assigned a surgeon does not mean you should be afraid to ask him about his surgical record. What have you found out about him that makes you lack confidence in him? Is it his bedside manner or the number of complications he gets?

[Fiaxseed in reply to Greekchick]

Hi greekchick. Its because when I saw him few months ago and asked how many of these he does a year he just said -I do most of them here... He's not a thyroid surgeon tho..mostly anti obesity (lap band) I'm told by others he can't tick his numbers up for thyroid . I'm mostly freaking out because there was a court case against him a few years back after a death. I didn't want to mention that but it is worrying me. I read it on google. Perhaps I'm over reacting. I need questions to ask and not leave his office until I get them answered.

[cjrsquared in reply to Fiaxseed]

I see you are in Australia, it is a little different in the uk. We no longer have ‘general surgeons’ so surgeons specialise in a particular area, even down to splitting the gut in half to upper GI and lower GI surgeons. This doesn’t mean that they are all brilliant, but that you have a greater chance of an experienced surgeon who has performed that operation a fair number of times.

My surgeon in the uk, told me how many TT’s he did in a year, what the national complication rate was for laryngeal nerve damage, parathyroid damage and mortality. He then gave me his percentages from the previous 5 years he had been at the nhs trust. I think you need to ask these questions before you can realistically decide to go forward. I hope someone more knowledgeable about the Australian system will also comment. Good luck.

[Fiaxseed in reply to cjrsquared]

Thank you for reply. I only wish I'd taken out private insurance when I was younger. I've hardly ever been sick. I also wish I'd stayed home in Wales after what you said, instead of being lugged off by my ex to Australia. I take on board what you say about your surgeon. And I hope all is well with you. Thanx again. I appreciate IIT very much.

[Batty1 in reply to Fiaxseed]

I had thyroidectomy 3yrs ago for cancer by a surgeon who is a reproductive surgeon has done some thyroid surgeries and I must say my neck healed beautifully and without complications....actually he was pretty darn compassionate.

[Greekchick in reply to Batty1]

I’m so glad it worked out for you. You obviously had a talented surgeon and nice person too.

[Fiaxseed]

Oh dear. The public health system here is rather shocking.cheers.

[Greekchick in reply to Fiaxseed]

Cjraquared has given you very good advice. I would not let anyone operate on me unless they were an experienced thyroid surgeon . Public or not, I would ask if you can reassigned if you are uncomfortable for any reason. I’m not sure they can legally force you to accept a physician who you feel uncomfortable with. There must be a surgeon who does thyroids in the public system - we have that here in Canada too but you still can get a head and neck surgeon who does thyroids. At least check it out. We have “General” surgeons even they have their specialty, like gallbladders etc. And you should still ask him the questions you have and get the answers you want and are legally entitled to. At least in Canada, they must answer those questions. Wishing you all the best and keep us posted.

[Hidden]

Although I have a great deal of anger to display towards endocrinologists and the medical organisations who dictate appallingly rotten instructions to them on how to treat patients with thyroid problems, I have the greatest respect for surgeons - in the UK that is, I know nothing about Australia. They have, quite literally, saved my life 3 times, twice for goitres that would have succeeded if left alone, also for kidney cancer.

The most memorable incident was to have my 1st op for a benign multinodular goitre when the very experienced surgeon had to abandon the operation as he felt himself to be not skilled enough to continue; the next surgeon, the most skilled in the entire region, admitted to me the day after that it was the most complicated op he had done in 13 years of thyroid surgery. I feel privileged to even have survived, let alone to have prospered. A great pity the numbskull endocrinologists will only give me levothyroxine, as NDT for me is the ONLY medicine that works.

Surgeons are to be trusted, endocrinologists are not to be trusted.

[SilverAvocado in reply to Hidden]

I tend to think the same. It's amazing what they can accomplish once they've got your body opened up! I think surgery is one of those marvels of medical achievement.

The problem is it makes them arrogant and think they are good at everything, but for chronic illness they absolutely rubbish.