Surgery Update

Sorry I haven't posted an update sooner. Things have been a little...well, shall we say hectic? I am home now. I talked them into letting me go a day early because I didn't want to sit in the hospital for another day, getting poked and prodded every time I happened to doze off, just so they could take my drain out tomorrow. Instead, I will go into the clinic and have them remove my drain and get to rest in peace and quiet at home. Ahhh. So nice.

The surgery took 7.5 hours. They were only expecting it to take 4, but the surgeon was really careful to make sure he got every thing out without cutting any nerves and other important body parts. There was one cluster of lymph nodes that was three inches into the muscle, so it took him a while to get all of those out. I felt so bad for him. Can you imagine almost a full days work, standing on your feet, digging around in someone's neck, trying not to cause any permanent damage, and this, after already having performed several operations before mine? Needless to say, we are very impressed with and thankful for our doctor. I wish all of you could meet him. He's just the nicest, sweetest, most humble guy.

As you can imagine, it took me a lot longer to recover than it had for the last surgery. I did have some trouble with the anesthesia, but we will spare you those details for now. You can thank me later for that. I had excellent help and care though. Everyone was just wonderful. My husband stayed with me the first night, in which he got no sleep. He had enough of that and went home to sleep last night. I missed him so much. He has been right by my side through all of this. I don't know if I'll ever be able to explain how much he helped me. It wasn't so much physically as it was emotionally. He talked me through a lot and fielded many, many questions which come in all shapes and sizes when I get going with my anxiety. He is such a patient man.

The incision is humongous, so we will have to contend with that. I thought maybe I would get to lose a few pounds out of the whole deal, but I don't think the thyroid and lymph nodes weigh enough to make any big impact on my overall size. You'd of thought I could have at least dropped a few dress sizes out of the deal.

The next step is to start me on Synthroid, and then take me off Synthroid so they can do the radioactive iodine. I will have to be quarantined for a few days while I glow. We shall see how long when I go see the endocronologist in a few weeks.

Thanks to all of you for coming along on this journey with me. I am learning so much more about myself and God through this whole process. I feel honored that he is still working on me.