# Home from the hospital



## JudithP3 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hi everyone, I had my surgery on Tuesday AM and came home late yesterday afternoon. Can't say I feel the best but the doctor told me the mass was 2 x larger than the ultrasound showed and he had to dig to get it from behind my collarbone. I felt like someone broke my neck the first night.. Now I just feel like I have to worst sore throat. No more pain pills cuz they make me sick to my stomach. Sucking it up with extra strength Tylenol for now. Will know the pathology report by Friday and then we'll know where we go from here.

Thanks for all the information you gave me ahead of time
*Judy


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Take care of yourself and rest up. You'll feel better soon!


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## Nowensmama (Mar 28, 2013)

Glad you're home! Hope you get lots of rest so you feel better soon!


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## Airmid (Apr 24, 2013)

Big hugs to you!

And you don't need to 'suck it up' if you can't take your pain medication due to nausea. It sounds like you had a more extensive surgery and from experience that does hurt more. There are so many nausea medications out there and there's no reason for you to suffer either from pain or nausea. Your surgeon gets paid good money and part of it is to make you as comfortable as possible. Make him work for it and give his office a call. :tongue0013:

I wish you a very speedy recovery. hugs1


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## jsgarden1 (Aug 29, 2009)

So glad it's over for you Judith  Sorry it was more extensive than they thought though. Just keep telling yourself everyday it will be a little better. I'm 9 days out and almost feel normal again! Take care of yourself!


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## JudithP3 (Apr 6, 2013)

Doctor just called the huge mass was NOT CANCER... so the subtotal was the way to go. No more surgery needed for this... But I have no voice so he is going to check my vocal cords next week when he takes the stitches out on Tuesday. He thinks because he had to dig so deep that he may have hit the nerve too hard and it might take awhile to come back... hope it comes back though... ekkk

Resting my voice until Tuesday he said only texts and emails no talking... nice trick if you knew me haha (chatty cathy here)


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## jsgarden1 (Aug 29, 2009)

Oh Judith, what good news!!!!!! Some of us have been so lucky!!! I'm so happy for you. Hopefully your voice will come back quickly! Make sure you rest that throat!


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Fantastic!!!!


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

Excellent news!!


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

JudithP3 said:


> Hi everyone, I had my surgery on Tuesday AM and came home late yesterday afternoon. Can't say I feel the best but the doctor told me the mass was 2 x larger than the ultrasound showed and he had to dig to get it from behind my collarbone. I felt like someone broke my neck the first night.. Now I just feel like I have to worst sore throat. No more pain pills cuz they make me sick to my stomach. Sucking it up with extra strength Tylenol for now. Will know the pathology report by Friday and then we'll know where we go from here.
> 
> Thanks for all the information you gave me ahead of time
> *Judy


Hoh, boy! More than you expected, I am sure!! Can you ice down? That should help w/ the pain a lot!!!

Hope the path report is good.


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## JudithP3 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hi everyone, still recovering here baby steps day by day. Tomorrow is a week and I have a question and wondered if anyone would know. I have my follow up appt tomorrow and I'm thinking of waiting until then to ask the doctor but I'm a little concerned if I should have called him already. (dah is me). I have stitches in my neck rather than tape, glue etc..and the swelling went down over the weekend some and I can see under the line of stitches (yes 3 inch line across my neck) there is a hard lump right over my trachea about an inch wide and like a smile down under the line of stitches, the skin is red, not bright red just discolored and it's hard. if I move my head the wrong way or lay back on my back I can't take a deep breath. Feels like I have something stuck in my throat when I swallow too. So could that be serious or would waiting until tomorrow afternoon be ok? Not sure what to do don't want to be the pesty patient or be told we'll look at it on Tuesday and feel like a dumb axx... but then don't want to blow off something if it could be dangerous for me. fuzzy headed doesn't work for me I'm usually so good at making decisions. Help!


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Provided you can breathe normally as long as you don't lie on your back, I think it's ok to wait until tomorrow.

I also had stitches. I didn't know have that hard bump/line you describe, but I will say that I felt a weird pulling sensation that prevented me from turning me head much or really feeling comfortable. Once the stitches were out, I felt exceptionally better.


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## Nowensmama (Mar 28, 2013)

I have stitches as well (though they're internal and stay in). I had swelling under the incision, but no where else. My surgeon told me at follow-up that it's bruising internally and should clear up in 2-3 months completely. I already notice a huge difference and I'm almost 3 weeks post-op.

He also said, if anything concerns me, to call. That's what he's there for. So if you're worried.. just call =) I called cause I felt like I had an ear infection. They were super nice and said it was most likely caused from the stretching of my neck for the breathing tube (I was a little difficult as my trachea was moved quite a bit to the right due to the huge size of my goiter) but that if it didn't get better to call. And they've called to check on me since then to make sure it's better.


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## next2normal (Apr 10, 2013)

Glad you're home and doing relatively well! Especially glad that there's no cancer!


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## JudithP3 (Apr 6, 2013)

Well I had my week follow up visit today and the doctor extended my leave from work for 2 more weeks.  It seems that my choking on my food Friday night caused a blood vessel to burst and it's sitting there (hence the lump I described earlier) under the stitches. He wants to see if it will reabsorb itself. He said if he goes in the aspirate it we could be in more trouble so just better to leave in contained and let it do it's own thing but I'm to call him *immediately* if it starts seeping or gets bigger. So I am on 'couch arrest' and 'voice arrest' for 2 more weeks. 50 words a day (haha that will be tough for me but I'll try) Can't do anything to raise my heart rate (don't want a bulging blood vessel pounding which makes sense.) Good thing I like to read!!! so back to the couch I go to finish my book I started last night. Hope everyone else is doing well. I feel much better physically just having trouble talking and swallowing This is a great weight loss plan, lost 7 lbs since I came home last Wed afternoon (yes the doctor frowned on that)


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Oh, that's a bummer. I hope the arrest works.

:hugs:


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Oh man...rest up and we'll hope that you bounce back ASAP.


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## JudithP3 (Apr 6, 2013)

Thanks.. I'm on strict orders to 'behave' so I guess I will so I can get better and back to life as I knew it before minus a 'huge' goiter as he called it again today. He said it was so big that it was stuck under my collar bone (I may have said that already) So anyone reading this that is wondering if they should or shouldn't have something removed... Do it!! Recovery time is a little difficult for some of us but the damage that a big thing like that in your neck can do is far worse..

Thank you to all who helped to ease my anxiety and answer my questions along the way. hugs1


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