# I'm back!



## haimia (May 9, 2012)

*Well, after my DD#2 wedding and a vacation trip to Germany, I have returned to the real world and its thyroid problems!!

I am scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, August 8. No time has been set, yet! I will find that out sometime Tuesday when the doctor's office or the hospital calls me to tell me when to be there! I (and my DH) do not like that! I hope I am ready for the surgery/recovery. If not, oh well; I don't have a lot of choice at this point.

I get the feeling that there is more going on with my thyroid than the doctors have told me. Both the surgeon (ENT) and his nursing assistant (that does the pre-admit office visit) have told me that cancer cannot be ruled out. I have a 2.1 and a 1.7 nodule and had FNA biopsy that did not show anything. However, was not a problem to tell doctor to take the entire thyroid out (I am hypo).

Any thoughts?? Any encouragement?? I have only four short, little days left before I will be completely spazzing~!! *


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Welcome back!

Well, I agree...if you are already hypo (and hence in need of meds) and have two reasonably large nodules plus an inconclusive FNA, get the dang thing out and forget about it!

Don't spaz...you may be surprised how relatively easy the surgery is. Not trying to minimize it, but it's not nearly as bad as other surgeries, as surgeries go. I enjoyed my partial so much, I went back to have the rest out a few weeks later.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

haimia said:


> *Well, after my DD#2 wedding and a vacation trip to Germany, I have returned to the real world and its thyroid problems!!
> 
> I am scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, August 8. No time has been set, yet! I will find that out sometime Tuesday when the doctor's office or the hospital calls me to tell me when to be there! I (and my DH) do not like that! I hope I am ready for the surgery/recovery. If not, oh well; I don't have a lot of choice at this point.
> 
> ...


haimia.......................when it's over; you are going to be so so glad it is out. And your doctors have been upfront with so it appears that they are really on top of this big time.

Just remember that we have lots of good folks who are here for you at all times and they have plenty of experience as well!


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

I think it is pretty common that they cannot rule out cancer for sure until the path report. Recovery is most likely a lot easier than you are imagining! Just get your self some comfy clothes. Some people have said drinking with a straw is helpful. I got hooked on ice water after my surgery. Pamper yourself for a bit.

I love Germany, lived there for 7 years..


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## haimia (May 9, 2012)

*Thanks for the replies.

Octavia - that is why I asked for a total. Do not want to have second surgery, especially if they keep hinting at cancer!!

Andros and Webster2 - thanks for the thoughts and I'll let you all know when I get a chance after I get home from the hospital,*


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Hang in there!

From what everyone has said (and the two people I personally know who have had TT's), the surgery was a lot easier than they thought it would be. Plus, once you get your meds right, it seems like you won't believe how great you feel (and how badly you felt before). Good luck!


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## totallygone (Jul 9, 2012)

hi!! hope to be an encouragement to you, i had a TT on july 5..for the same reason you are having one. I had 2 inconclusive biopsies, several nodules, and one was large enough to cause some compression problems when i swallowed or laid on my back. Both my endo and surgeon said cancer was a possiblility. Thankfully all my pathology reports came back benign. The surgery itself wasnt as bad as i anticipated. When i woke in recovery, i was able to talk, and my throat was more sore from the tubes put down there during the surgery than from the surgery itself. The incision was numb, and quite swollen...when they tell you to be sure to ICE it, do so...it helps. all 4 parathyroids were kept intact and my calcium levels were normal so i was released the next day. It took a couple of weeks to get my meds regulated, but Im feeling great on 75mcg synthroid daily. Unfortunately over the weekend, i noticed that the left tip of my incision was looking a bit red and swollen and tender(it looks just like a zit!)...i also noticed a fine black line right above the swelling ..so i called the surgeon today, and spoke with his nurse, she assured me its nothing serious, just that one of the internal sutures didnt dissolve as it should have, and now my body is trying to expel the "foreign object"...i am going in tomorrow to have them remove it and drain if necessary. Other than that i feel good, other than this slight setback. The rest of the incision is healing nicely and i must say its good to be able to eat and not feel like food is getting stuck in my throat!!! Best of luck to you....try not to stress...i know my surgeon said there was only a 5-10% chance it could be cancer so the odds are greatly in your favor! Stay positive, pamper yourself after the surgery and you will do fine!


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## haimia (May 9, 2012)

*Well, I am still alive and kicking, but not very hard! I had the total thyroidectomy last Wednesday (August 8). Scheduled for 3:00 pm but did not go into the surgery room until 5:30 - 6:00 pm. This is so typical of all that was to come!!!!!!!!!!! All went well with the surgery and I was to my room by 8:30 pm.

That's when the fun began!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Discussion prior to surgery with the doctor, I was to have one type of pain meds, due to the others making me sick. Of course, doctor ordered wrong pain med. So that had to be reordered and obtained from the pharmacy. Also, my nurse was in the middle of discharges, so I had to wait to be "checked in" until he was done with the discharges. It all boils down to the fact I did not get ANY pain meds until 1:30 am. Five hours after I hit the hospital floor. Okay, major comedy of oops's! I ask him when I can get the next dose (this is me telling him I do not want to miss it!) and he tells me in six hours, which would be 7:30 am.

At 3:00 am, I awoke to the worst headache I have ever had. On the top and front of my head. Called for nurse. He's busy, but will tell him. Called again after 15 minutes goes by. He finally wanders in and tells me nothing he can do! Okay, fine, give me morphine! He does and wanders away!

In the morning around 7 - 7:30 am, he introduces me to my "day" nurse. I tell them I am more than ready for the next pain med dose. Okay, we will be back in a few. A few what - minutes, HOURS, days!!! She returns and does my morning meds, including the pain med at 9:30 am!!!!! I am beyond livid! Needless to say, when the nurse manager made her rounds, I discussed this with her.

This post is long enough as it is. I am also getting worn out from being in my office all morning. I will continue the saga in the next few days' posts.

I know this is nothing compared to what others have gone through, but it feels good to get it off my mind and share. Please bear with me or just don't read my posts!*


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience.  That makes a hard process that much harder.

I had to opposite problem. They kept telling me I "needed" pain meds and I was all "Look, it's not in my nature to turn down drugs, but I really don't need them!!" (I was totally joking, by the way!!)


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

haimia said:


> *Well, I am still alive and kicking, but not very hard! I had the total thyroidectomy last Wednesday (August 8). Scheduled for 3:00 pm but did not go into the surgery room until 5:30 - 6:00 pm. This is so typical of all that was to come!!!!!!!!!!! All went well with the surgery and I was to my room by 8:30 pm.
> 
> That's when the fun began!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> ...


We will bear with you! We all like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly! Glad you are okay though; real glad.

We love sagas!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Goodness! Sounds like your experience would have been fine if it weren't for the idiot nurses you had to deal with!

How are you doing physically now?


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## haimia (May 9, 2012)

*Back with more!!

After the hassle of the first night after surgery, I did get to leave the hospital about 6:00 pm (however, discharge order came out at 3:00 pm but I had to wait!!! for new admits to be "checked-in" by my nurse before I could be discharged - took three hours before I got out of the hospital! - see prior entry where I had to wait to be "checked-in" while others were being discharged!) - a mere 24 hours after the start of my surgery. Home felt great. My DD#2 helped me shower on Friday. I had a bit of swelling, so pretty much spent the day with ice on my neck, resting. About 6:30 pm on Friday (day after I got out of hospital), I got up to go to bathroom. My neck was really swollen, hard and starting to go numb up my chin. Called the doctor and answering machine stated to call 911 or go to ER. So, off to the ER we went!

The doctor came into the ER, hooked my drain up to the wall suction and put it on high (I was on this through Sunday!). It did drain some, but I had a large hematoma (basically a bad bruise) at my surgery site. The doctor took me off of all blood thinners (warfarin, enoxiparin, sulfasalazine, diclofenac - anything with a tendency to bleeding) and admitted me. On Saturday, I had an Greenfield IVC filter inserted to help prevent a pulmonary embolism in the event of blood clots. I then had two hours I had to lay flat and not move my one leg (insertion site).

I got to spend Sunday and Monday in the hospital, also! I was promised Sunday night I would be out Monday by noon if I stayed and let the doctor remove my drain. Okay, but I want out by noon. DH works 12 hours at night, he needs his sleep, so he can run up and get me right after work and then get home to sleep. Oh, and I did get my pain meds in a timely manner during this visit.

Of course, noon Monday came and went. I was told the nurse practitioner would be in to see and release me after she was done with patients around 3:30 - 4:00 pm. Grrr! There goes the blood pressure! Too late to call DH as he was almost to the hospital already. I called the doctor's office and pitched a fit (bet they have my name on a slip of paper at their desks now!!!). The doctor was in surgery, but he managed to come and release me about 2:30 pm. Home and settled by 4:00 pm and I HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF GOING BACK for a really long time!

The following day was a little rough, but by Wednesday I was feeling a lot better. I have managed to sweep the house with the vacuum and do dishes and a little bit of grocery shopping with DH. Otherwise, I have been laying low or in my office. Have not taken any pain meds in the last day or two and I think (hope) the worse is over. I see my primary doctor on Monday to see about resuming blood thinners to prevent any blood clots, but in the mean time I have been moving around to help avoid them as much as possible.

Sorry, another long post, but thank you if you have taken the time to read it. I am feeling better and am glad it is all done for the most part. I need to get the records from the hospital to add to my files and check into the biopsy report to make sure all is good. Again, thank you and hope all have a good weekend!
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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Oh man....what an ordeal!!! I'm glad you seem to be feeling better!


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Wow....glad THAT'S all behind you now! Geez...


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## haimia (May 9, 2012)

*Okay, so now that I have scared everyone about this surgery, let me say that I did have a problem prior to the surgery that contributed to this mess. I was on warfarin, so the bleeding risk was much higher for me. I knew this, but still hoped it would not affect anything. Sorry if I scared anyone needlessly!!

I am back on all my regular meds. Gotta love those side effects!! :tongue0015:

Noticed something yesterday. Was telling my DH about the dogs next door and how they yipped when they got close to the yard border (wired fence). Only, I could not "yip" in a high-pitched voice. I tried again and it felt really strained to even try. I guess I have a little vocal cord healing to do!

I am feeling much better. I have been trying to keep busy, but tonight I really felt worn out. Guess I need to go to bed.

*


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