May 2018 4 weeks after thyroid surgery

16th May 2018

Rushed to Emergency Centre, unable to breathe properly, choking feeling, pressure feeling in throat/neck. Can’t stop coughing and coughing. I was at the Brisbane North side Emergency Centre, then they admitted me into Holy Spirit Private Hospital.

I kept saying something is wrong in my throat, “help me”. I can’t take deep breaths in, I am struggling to take in deep breaths. I can breathe in but not out properly.

I was in hospital for 3 days, had different doctors come and see me, gave me large doses of cortisone. I said it’s not my Asthma, it’s a different feeling, I am not responding to the cortisone, so that proves it’s not my Asthma.

They released me after 3 days, but I was still I’ll, just kept coughing and choking at home, slept upright, felt so weak.

Sunday 20th May 2018

Its Sunday 20th of the May 2018 and its been 4 weeks since my thyroid surgery & my neck area feels so chokee and my throat is so sore and my swallowing is tight.

The scar area incision is causing me pain and sharp jabs and tightness. A choker hold on my neck.

I got out of hospital on Friday recently because I spent 3 days in hospital not being able to breathe. Cannula injections of cortisone whilst in hospital I am a also having 3 to 4 hrly salbutomol mask inhalation nebulizer. Feeling very weak and fragile.

My chin is numb in parts and also my lips in parts. Feeling and looking so sick. My neck feels like someone is pushing fingers into my neck pressure and choking feeling.

Tightening feeling likes spasms, constant press then it releases over and over again this spasm feeling.

Prickly feeling behind scar area. When I swallow I am feeling the tightness, even spit feels tight to swallow.

When I feel my face, my left cheek is numb.

This is how I am feeling daily and it May 2018, waiting for these feelings to stop.

It’s Tuesday 21st May and something is h a opening in my thro say it’s all in my th throat neck area. Swallowing is tight Dr L is coming for a home visit to give me a referral, I have a terrible Barkey cough all the time.

Wednesday 23rd May 2018, it’s 1.25am and I am feeling emotional and fragile and the pressing feeling in my neck is so bad. I washed my hair and parts of my chin and face still feel numb.

Very tired, OMG so tired and my throat just strangled me. The spasms are so bad.

Thursday 24th May, my coughing is still very barking and my breathing is space and breathy.

It’s early hours Thursday night, woke suddenly, throat closing off, not able to breathe and I just keep coughing and coughing.

That of course was over 1 year ago, so i am writing this blog month by month since then cause it August 2019 and i am still suffering since thyroid surgery in April 2018.

So stay tuned the rest of my blogging will come, as I believe the nerve damage that was done during surgery has effected my life in so many ways, so be careful who you get to cut your throat.

In fact, if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t have had this surgery. They took my right thyroid because of two tumours.

All was benign, I should have just been monitored every month and maybe they wouldn’t have grown or maybe they would have got smaller.

I just wish my doctor or my specialist suggested this, cause I don’t believe I needed surgery. Not at that point, not so quick but surgeons are always keen to cut and look at it from a dollarview instead of a patient’s needs case by case.

I should have not been rushed by surgeon to have surgery and talked into having my throat cut. But hind sight is priceless..and we put our faith and trust into the medical system.

I feel I have been let down. My surgeons comment back in July 2018, after I sent her numerous emails and went to her office twice crying and trying to explain how I am feeling was “I have done thousands of these surgeries and I don’t know what is wrong with you”. She could have said let’s see what’s wrong and work it out, but she decided to ignore me, and I heard no more from her. In fact, she doesn’t want to know at all, she is not interested in my suffering.

So here I am, 16 months later and still suffering with tightness in neck, my upper esophageal spincther spasms on and off and I feel like I am being choked. If I eat solid food, it stays in my throat at top of my eosophagus for 45 mins to 3 hrs then I throw up. Vomit it all up, doesn’t reach my stomach.

I will list all of my symptoms later on in my posts, but since thyroid surgery, I haven’t been the same. I have dysphagia which is a swallowing problem and tightness and choking feeling in neck. I can still swallow liquids just food gets stuck. I am unable to eat solid food, have to have pureed food, or food soaked in mayonaise.

I also have dysphonia as my voice gets hoarse and changes tone on and off all day and tires easily.

So my life is very different now and I am still unable to get answers so that I can be fixed.

I just feel something and everything is happening in my throat/neck area right behind scar. I also have a swelling on neck right side, exactly where clip is.

In fact, I never knew a clip was left inside me, surgeon didn’t tell me, I found out from Bupa. So something happened in surgery and something is causing all of my symptoms.

Also prickle sensation sometimes right behind scar, a clip that was left there and I was never told why, (only found out in October 2018, surgeon never told me) i believe is pressing on a nerve and causing me all of my problems.

When I had a swallowing test done in July 2018, the speech pathologist said your vagus nerve may have been compressed in surgery. Apparently that’s to do with tenth cranial nerve, but she also mentioned ninth cranial nerve as well.

So nerve damage may have been done in surgery, (noone will admit that of course).

Also I can’t wee as I retain my wee and it dribbles out then stops. Also because of the parasympathetic nerve structure, I now have to self catheter cause my spincther for my bladder won’t open to let the wee out. I have urinary retention and this has been going on since December 2018.

Some literature says the vagus nerve also is related to the spincter muscle of your bladder, letting it open when ready to wee. As it is a parasympathetic nerve, it’s all related. Some doctors don’t agree and it’s only because they don’t know much about the vagus nerve.

Everything relates back to whatever happened in surgery.