Hi I have to have thyroid surgery for papillary carcinoma. Not sure when this will be yet. I have dentist appointment on Thursday for fillings should I cancel and wait for surgeon appointment first. Don't want surgery to be delayed. Maybe seeing a surgeon in the next 2 weeks.
Hi Miss mole
Thanks for reaching out to us at Ask a Nurse. I’m Gemma and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists here at the Macmillan support line.
I understand that you are considering cancelling your dental appointment in case it ends up clashing with an appointment you are waiting for, with a surgeon, for your upcoming thyroid surgery.
It’s natural to want to make sure that there are no unnecessary delays at a time like this.
It may be best to have the dental work completed before the surgery, so that the issues with your teeth don’t worsen or become infected, which could impact the surgery itself. Your dentist should be able to let you know how likely this is.
It might be worth calling your dental practice and explaining the situation, they should be able to guide you as to how late they would be happy to have you cancel their appointment should you hear from the thyroid clinic and may even be able to be more flexible given the situation.
It may also be possible to find out what days of the week you are likely to be called to the thyroid clinic, as most surgeons will consult on set days. This way you would know if Thursday were a potential clinic day. To do this you could call the hospital switchboard and ask to be transferred to your thyroid surgeon’s secretary, or the thyroid nurse specialist. If you don’t know the surgeon’s name, you could ask to be transferred to any secretary on the thyroid team.
You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm), contact us by webchat, or send us an email.
Ref/KHe
