Post-Surgery Update

Hi everyone! I wanted to thank you again for all of your support and fill you in on the happenings of late.  2 weeks ago Thursday, I went in to remove my thyroid.  Everything happened really quickly, as my doctor had finished his first surgery early.  Within 5 minutes of arriving, I was in the room, changed, and meeting with all of the docs.  Within 20 minutes, they administered happy juice, which I felt immediately.  All I remember asking was if the drug was like heroine, because of the rush I felt - everywhere!  What I didn't know was that I continued the conversation down the hall as they were rolling me into surgery.  At least that is what my husband tells me happened.  The next thing I knew is that I woke up feeling nauseous after the surgery and they pumped me with some anti-nasuea medication.  Out I went again.  I know my sister, brother and husband were there at the hospital that afternoon to early evening, but I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I was pooped after my 2.5 hours of surgery.  I spent the night at the hospital - sleeping and being woken up.  You know how it is to sleep on an airplane sitting up?  Well, that describes my night.  The nurse made me sit up, to keep my neck from swelling, and while it was NOT comfy, it worked.  By 7 am, my doctor came in and I was given the okay to go home.  Yippeee!  Except it took the hospital another 3.5 hours to dismiss me.  It was so great to get home and be in my own bed. 

Saturday morning, after a pretty good night of sleep, my husband asked me, "What's your plan?  I think you need to get out of the house."  This is from a man who went to work 1.5 days after hip surgery on crutches.  So I immediately put in a call to my sister telling her to drop her kids here and to take me to a movie.  For some reason, I wanted to see Black Swan.  Little did I know that it was like a horror movie.  I just thought it was a dark ballet movie.  I had no idea it was so disturbing.  But the good thing is that while I woke up feeling a little blue about the whole situation, I walked out of the movie thinking "post-surgery pain from thyroid cancer wasn't - not so bad."  Truly!  And I have to say, my recovery has been smooth sailing ever since.  I went back to work on Monday (from my home, that is) - even hitting book club in the city Monday night.  And by Tuesday, my busy life resumed.  I have been really lucky in that my body has adjusted really well to the thyroid supplement I am taking and that the dosage they started me on feels spot on.  No sluggishness yet! 

I went to the doctor's yesterday for my post-op and the doc said that all looked REALLY good. They had removed a lymph node along with my thyroid because they thought it looked cancerous, but luckily it was negative.  Because of the size of the lump (fairly small) and the fact that I JUST turned 45, my doc said my chances of reoccurance are really slim.  He doesn't even think I will need the iodine radiation treatment that is often the second stage of treatment.  I will be seeing an endocronologist before getting to final on this decision, but I was really happy with the news.  Then I am just monitoring it for the rest of my life with occasional ultrasounds and blood tests.  How awesome would that be??!

So, all is looking very good.  I am thrilled, and happy to be feeling so well so quickly.  If something changes, i will let you know!  Otherwise,  I will have to change the name of my blog so that I can write about...well, I don't know yet.  What is my take away today?  Hmmmm.  I guess I will just have to say it - thyroid cancer really is the BEST cancer ever (if you have to get cancer)!

Until next time - be happy and don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today!