My Little Ordeal- Part Three

If you haven't been keeping up with my story you probably want to read here and then here. Now you are ready for an update.

I went in on Thursday July 23rd for my surgery. It was early but not really that early when my husband and I headed out. I was coffee and breakfast deprived which may or may not have made me irritable. I checked in and then got sent across the hospital for labs. I'm not sure about you but getting to run across the hospital to get pricked with a needle isn't my idea of a good time. Then, I ran back across the way to check in again.

I went back in to a room and put on my stunning hospital gown, compression boot thingys, socks, and hat to hold my hair back. Then, they brought Rusty in to sit with me while we waited and about a million people came in to hook me up to some sort of monitor. I then started to get incredibly scared. "I don't want to do this," I told my husband. I want to explore other options.
"Okay. What do you want to do right now?"
"Let's unplug this stuff off of me and leave."
"Let's pray first and then we will do whatever you want."
We prayed and I knew for a fact that I had to have surgery, darn it!
Yes, I almost left the hospital literally ten minutes before I got rolled in for surgery.

Then the fun started. The nurse with "margaritas arrived. Unfortunately the margaritas were inserted into my IV and I never got to taste them. I was then wheeled into surgery and I remember nothing until I woke up screaming randomness in recovery and then I woke up again in my room. The rest of this is from what my husband told me afterwards.

When my surgery was supposed to be over the surgeon came in to tell my husband that I did indeed have Cancer. This was quite the shock to the surgeon and everybody because this was supposed to be more of a precaution than anything. I had told Rusty repeatedly that I did not want to have two surgeries and our prayer had been that I would only ever have to have one. Therefore, my whole Thyroid was taken out. My "simple" day surgery turned into an overnight stay in the hospital. My surgery lasted about six hours instead of the three to four that it was supposed to.

When I woke up in my room I was pretty out of it and my throat hurt a lot. Rusty told me that I had Cancer and I just stared at him. Then I teared up. However, they don't let you mourn for long when you've been in surgery for six hours. I was given some soup and a slushy to eat along with tons of water. They got me up to go to the bathroom and then I sent Rusty home to see the kids with the plans of him coming back later that night.

Then, shift change happened and I got the Terror Nurse. She gave me a shot of Morphine and I told Rusty to come back in the morning. I then gave in to the tears and woke up several hours later in the worst pain of my life. I asked for pain meds and got them several hours later. People were in and out of my room and I don't remember most of the night.

At 5:30 in the morning the nurse and tech came in and turned on my overhead light to draw blood. I may or may not have yelled at them both. Seriously, 5:30 AM to pull blood! I was given the first of many pills to stimulate Thyroid function, these pills will be part of my life for the rest of my life, and then they turned off my lights and told me to go back to sleep. At that point I couldn't go back to sleep so I played on Facebook for a while and responded to my messages, texts, etc.

At 7 I got a new nurse, yay! I was also allowed to order breakfast (side note, have you ever noticed that hospitals and jails are somewhat similar?). My new nurse even brought me a cup of coffee freshly brewed from the nurse's station, I really loved this nurse. After breakfast I was allowed to shower and get dressed which helped me feel like a whole new person. Then, Rusty arrived and I was discharged.

The ride home was horrible. I got nauseous and felt like I had been hit by a truck. I don't remember the ride home but I do remember seeing my kids when I got home. They were a welcome sight, I missed them so much!

I am now a week and a half out from surgery and recovering. I'm getting stronger and waiting on what happens next. For some Thyroid Cancer patients that means a Radiation Pill called RAI (radiation ablation iodine) for others that means that labwork and scans are done to determine if the Cancer was all removed.

I do know one thing, I'm happy that I went ahead with my surgery and I'm happy that I took my Thyroid Coaching course in the Spring. This gives me the ability to  help more people with Thyroid Imbalance and Thyroid Cancer. I know that this is the path that God has for me to walk right now. If you have Thyroid problems or Cancer you can schedule a complimentary consultation with me here.