David R. Byrd

In 2018, I was diagnosed with a thyroid cancer and went for a consultation with Dr. Byrd. Dr. Byrd was very knowledgeable and personal during our meeting and I decided not to go for a second opinion. Overall, the surgeries were a success and I am cancer free now, but I have a couple of reservations about the entire experience more than about Dr. Byrd himself. I hope my experience could help make necessary adjustments to avoid similar issues in the future. The most important thing is that my life was saved by a great and caring team at SCCA. I did not completely realize that the entire surgery would be done by residents supervised by Dr. Byrd. I do understand that future doctors have to be trained. They did they main job - removing cancer well. However, I am somewhat bitter that among several people I know who had the same surgery I have the most noticeable and rough scar (I am a woman in my mid 40s). My friend was operated by a surgeon at a different hospital a few… month after me and his scar became almost undetectable by touch and invisible in half a year. Mine, on the other hand, is very rough to the touch and is very visible a year later. I do not think any woman would like to have a mark like that on her neck for the years to some if it could be avoided. Also, while I had three nodes, only one was tested and found cancerous. Two other nodes were not tested prior to the surgery due to their smaller size. I decided to remove part of the thyroid gland in the hope of avoiding taking hormones for the rest of my life. We made an agreement that the entire gland could be removed if something else was discovered during the surgery. There were no new discoveries during the surgery and I was glad I still had part of my thyroid gland ... till my first post-surgery visit. I was told about a somewhat unusual discovery ... one of the smaller nodes that had not been tested prior to the surgery was also found cancerous (it had a different type of cancer). It was a bigger blow for me than the original cancer discovery. I was sure that everything was over by now. I had hoped this discovery would have been made during the surgery (as it was done for some other people I knew), not after the surgery. On the day of the surgery we had snow in Seattle and one of the two pathologists did not make it to the hospital, so the other one had to do a double load of work. Could it be related?! I do not know for sure, but it might. Based on the Board recommendation I went to the second surgery to remove the rest of my thyroid gland. The surgery went well, but the scar got worse after the second surgery. I am alive, I am healthy, I was helped at the right time. This matters most. But could it be a little bit better experience for me? I do not know for sure, but if "yes", I hope my story will help you.

I had melanoma surgery with Dr. Byrd eight months ago, and am anticipating the same with my liver ; Between he and Seattle Cancer Care Clinic, I have nothing but five-star responses and admiration. His prep talks leave nothing to be desired, as do the follow-up with family. God bless Dr. Byrd.