Doc Wants Partial Thyroid Lobectomy. Need Advice?

[Ray]

I don't know exactly what it is I have, He said that most people have nodules on their thyroid, and a few grow abnormally large, as in my case. Right now, it doesn't seem to be much concern, I did have it drained, mostly blood from what I saw, there are solid parts to it. Doc says chance of hypothyroidism from surgery is 50/50. His justification is its starting to push other structures, like my windpipe, and it filled back up relatively quickly after being drained. Plus, although the biopsy came back negative for cancer, the accuracy drops off after it reaches a certain size. Exercise is kinda a big thing for me, plus, from experience, I don't think I can manage in an office environment or a skilled trade in general. I don't know if I can cope with a huge life change. But I really don't know a lot about hypothyroidism. My doctor says its not a huge issue, hypothyroidism is easily treated with a generic drug, some initial research I just did seems to indicate just the opposite. I'm starting to think this isn't worth it. Plus, will I be able to afford the medical care I need in the future? I don't know but I don't think so. I'm 22. There were things I wanted to do in my life I'm afraid I might be out of luck.

[Tilden]

I am not an expert but the following is my understanding of this.

It's not as bad as it sounds.
You will have half of your thyroid removed, but the remaining half can increase it's hormone production and be perfectly sufficient to produce enough for a healthy life.
If it does not you can take a thyroxine to supplement what it can produce, which comes in tablet form.
Thyroxine is cheap and very safe.
People who have had their entire thyroid removed take thyroxine for life and they can live long and healthy lives.
Thyroxine is a synthetic form of the hormone your body produces and is not toxic at all and will not reduce your lifespan.
The only side effect is that you may take too much and become hyperthyroid (too much hormone).
The symptoms of this are easy to spot (fast pulse, feeling very hot, shaking) and you simply reduce the dose if this is the case.

The operation will minimally invasive and will leave a scar on your neck of an inch or 2.
Necks heal very well and it will be noticeable at first but will fade. Initially ,after the operation, you will feel pretty low for a while.
You will have lost at least half of your natural thyroxine and it will take a few months for the remaining thyroid to produce as much as you need or as much as it can.
You cannot take synthetic thyroxine at this time as if you do the thyroid will stop trying to produce more and you will be taking it for life. You may put on a bit of weight and feel sluggish.
But the remaining thyroid will gradually increase production and you will either get back to normal or your doctor will decide that you need a bit of thyroxine to top it up.
The only post operation cost if you need thyroxine is the drug itself and a blood test to every now and then to ensure that your dosage is correct.

If you do not need thyroxine, then there is no cost at all.

It is important to ensure that you use a surgeon who does a lot of thyroid operations a year (150+ if possible).
The worst things that can go wrong are damage to your vocal chords or parathyroids, both of which are very close to your thyroid. So you do not want a general surgeon who only does a thyroid once every now and then.