Hyperparathyroidism Parathyroidectomy Surgen

Hello. I am trying to decide if I should use doctor Owen to remove my thyroid. Can you please tell me how it all went and how you feel today

Hi, I found a message you wrote.regatding Dr. Owen and parathyroid surgery. I have an appt with him on the 27th and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.

I am scheduled to see Dr. Owen at Mt Sinai in a week. Doing some research he does seem like the real deal. Dr. James Norman in Tampa seems good but a bit far away for me. This high calcium is giving me bone pain, dizziness. I've been healthy my whole life and now I have this. Ultrasound and the Nuclear scan showed nothing. Dr. Owen is going to do a 24 hrs urine test and a bone density test. Wish me luck.

Stumbled on this site a month ago while looking for reviews for Dr. Owen. It helped me decide so, would like to play it forward 

To start off, I got diagnosed on April 14, 2014 with palpable nodule on the right side by a Sleep Apnea surgeon (I was planning on trying to do apnea surgery as a perm cure). Sent by said surgeon to a lab to get an Ultrasound and FNA (Fine needle aspiration) which was done April 15. Report came back with follicular neoplasm/ suspicious. (I got this info from looking at the lab report...not from the surgeon). Surgeon calls me up to tell me the results. His wording over the phone is that the FNA came back positive so we need to do surgery, next week, and quickly asks if I have any questions. I am a loss for a bit but I ask for the lab report. I get it and do some research. Find out what neoplasm is and that there are multiple methods for thyroid surgery. It felt weird that the surgeon did not offer information...hard to ask questions when you don't know what to ask. I hold off the surgery, and after getting more educated with my diagnosis, I search for a surgeon that does thyroid surgery vs a surgeon that does surgery for thyroids once in a blue moon. This leads me to find Dr. Owen

 

I set up an appointment with Dr Owen of Mt Sinai and get it for May 13(2 1/2 weeks was the earliest I could get). He is a busy guy, because he does this kind of surgery all the time. He also has two offices, one in Manhattan and the other in Bronx. I go to the Manhattan one which is actually a hospital dedicated to cancer. So, the actual appointment lasted a bit. Unlike the other surgeon, Dr Owen took his time. You did not get the feel that he was rushing to get to the next patient and that your just another surgery appointment. After looking at the lab report of the FNA and ultrasound, he then had an ultrasound machine in the room and used it himself on me to look at the nodule. This was big for me, having the surgeon actually look with his own eyes at the area he was going to operate on vs a lab report by a tech. Finally, he spent a good long time, one on one going over all the risks of the surgery and his opinion. His opinion was that the lab test that was done was inconclusive (FNA), but because of the size of it 3.2, we should operate. So I went with him for this surgery.

 

Surgery Day, May 21, 2014 - Dr. Owen performed the surgery (removal of the right thyroid) and one the risks of the surgery became a realty. It was explained by Dr. Owen that the thyroid was wrapped on the vocal chord (normally the thyroid is just lifted off). The end result was my vocal chord was damaged (not cut). He determine that the vocal chord was definitely in tact, they measured it at the start of the operation and the signal was good. After the operation, it was interrupted. So, my loudest setting is a hoarse whisper. Also, the pain level was terrible..when swallowing. 

 

May 27 (6 days after Operation) Followup with Dr Owen. Pain is all gone. (Really suggest doing neck exercise after the operation). Voice is still a whisper. Eta 2 weeks to 2 months. Any longer and Dr Owen recommends a voice specialist, but he expects within that time frame. Bandage came off the neck and it looks a lot better then I expected. Will see the full effect after it heals. Awaiting the test results of thyroid as it could not be tested until remove (should know in a few days)

 

Overall: Dr Owen is great. Awesome bedside manners. As for the complication with the vocal chords, mixed feelings. Its hard to second guess something like this. If I went with the other surgeon, would my vocal chords be fine or was it so messed up that only because of Dr Owen's expertise he was able to keep it intact (vs the other surgeon ending up cutting it). At the end of the day, I feel that I went with the correct surgeon.

 

Tips: Make sure you have some liquid tylenol for pain if you don't want to take the vicodin. Plenty of pillows as you should be sleeping at a 45 degree angle as breathing will be difficult from being put to sleep for the operation. Highly recommend scrambled egg sandwiches after the surgery.

how are you NOW iceman? I see lots of posts that people gain a ton of wt.. still tired and have numbness tingling and anxiety and their drs are done with them because they got the money for the surgery but not much follow up... help please.. thanks