The Surgery - Continued

So the first night was just a lot of restless sleep and getting adjusted to the hospital. Every 6 hours, they are required to check your blood for calcium levels etc. I began to feel like a pincushion, but I knew it was only for my own good.

Getting up to go to the bathroom was a process. I had to call the nurse who would have to unhook me from the drainage cup in the wall, pin the drainage "blood" bag to my nightgown and help me wheel the big IV unit in the bathroom with me. Being pregnant, I urinate frequently, so it was becoming a nuisance. They also came in all night long to take my blood pressure, check my oxygen (finger) and ask me how I was feeling. When you are hospitalized, you feel like such a child. You are not in control, I guess it is comforting, but can be annoying.

The next morning I was up early. I turned on Food TV and waited for breakfast. I was surprised, but I was not required to be on a low iodine diet! When they take out your thyroid, they give you replacement hormones, the same hormones your body makes, so you can go right back to your normal life. I was happy about that and my father brought me a big piece of cheese pizza to celebrate this happy news. Of course, you have to be careful coming out of anesthesia and eating, you can vomit easily. So I ate my pizza the next day with no problems. It did hurt to swallow, but when you are pregnant and hungry, you don't care.

This was the way it went until discharge day, day 3. I was beginning to get bed sores on my back. Going from being a person who rarely sits down to being a person who just lays there in a bed with plastic sheets does that. I was anxious to have that damn drainage tube removed. I kept asking and asking for them to take it out. Finally the doctor came in and was ready, it hadn't drained much at all and he felt it was time. After he cut the stitches that held it in place, he looked at me and said, "Now this is the uncomfortable part". He pulled that tube out of my neck and it was really a bizarre, uncomfortable, somewhat painful experience. It was over so fast that by the time I had time to think about what was happening, it was over. Honestly, that drainage tube was the worst part of the whole surgery and recovery process. The stitches were and still are tight, but I just had a major organ removed, there are bound to be some stitches!

Honestly, after all I read on the Internet, I was so scared walking into that hospital. Now here I am, done with it all and everything I read on the Internet just scared me more than it needed to. I feel fine, just a little tired, but fine. My voice is small, I can not shout, but my husband and I think it is funny. he thinks it is cute, I think it is no big deal.

My hair is not falling out, I am not bald, not fat and not depressed. Just a little tired.

Don't be afraid.

If you have thyroid cancer, the surgery is saving your life. They are taking out a diseased organ that will kill you if left in. Think of it life saving surgery and be happy they found it in time. Stay positive.