# Surgery's in the bag!



## shellebean (Oct 12, 2011)

Well, surgery was Thursday and came home Friday afternoon. Have a fat lip, think they cut the heck outta the inside of my lip when taking out the breathing tube. I have this HUGE dressing on it, covering the incision and where ever the drain is coming out of. The initial test in surgery said benign. YEA. Now off to pathology. Nodules were substantially larger than thought, I don't have any report though. My surgeon has a very strong accent and is very hard to understand. He said Benign, something about a disection, and very important to keep the tube in until Monday. Besides that, i'm kinda in the dark as to what he did.
Have to tell this story. There were two other families in the waiting room with my husband and mom during surgery. Todd said all the sudden there was a code blue and people went running everywhere. He said my mom didn't really pick up on it, but he freaked out, waiting for someone to come out and talk to one of the three families in waiting. He said it was horrible, longest 20 minutes until someone came out and talked to an other family. They brought him back thank god. Todd about crapped his pants though!!!
The drain for me is the worst right now, that and not looking at the incision. Maybe I should just pull all this off and look? Just worried I'll mess up the drain.


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## shellebean (Oct 12, 2011)

Also, the ENT has me on 112MCG. Isn't that kinda low after having a total TT? The morning after i woke up, I asked when they would take blood for a calcium/phosp. test and they said they already did. I said, no, they hadn't. She looked it up and sure enough there was an order put in, but no blood drawn yet. So they did and it was just slightly low. They sure didn't seem worried, but I've been taking tums, just in case. I have a follow up appt monday afternoon and can't wait to ask a whole list of questions I have. They will take out drain then, too. Can't WAIT!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Yay, shellebean, I'm glad it's over and you seem to be doing well!

I think 112mcg (of Synthroid) is a good starting dose to be on. A lady I work with who recently had a TT was started out on that--it actually turned out to be too much for her, so she's down to 75mcg now to see how that works.


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## DonnaK (Mar 22, 2011)

Oh my gosh, the drain was the worst part for me, too although I am still having a lot of trouble swallowing. They took mine out before I went home yesterday. Before the drain came out I had to crush my pills to take them and now I can cut them in half or quarters and get them down.

They only started me on 100mcg of synthroid. I told my dr. I couldn't get in for an Endo until July 31st so he is going to monitor things until then. He actually called me at home today to see how I was and gave me his cell phone number if I needed anything. I'm impressed!


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## DonnaK (Mar 22, 2011)

Oh - sorry about the fat lip, too! Nothing like having one more thing when it's bad enough they are cutting you open! I posted a link to a pic of my incision on sickofmythyroid's thread if you wanna see. Hers is on there too. I had a bit of additional bleeding up until this morning, but have been okay all day now.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

shellebean said:


> Also, the ENT has me on 112MCG. Isn't that kinda low after having a total TT? The morning after i woke up, I asked when they would take blood for a calcium/phosp. test and they said they already did. I said, no, they hadn't. She looked it up and sure enough there was an order put in, but no blood drawn yet. So they did and it was just slightly low. They sure didn't seem worried, but I've been taking tums, just in case. I have a follow up appt monday afternoon and can't wait to ask a whole list of questions I have. They will take out drain then, too. Can't WAIT!


Considering what you have been through, you sound great! I think hubby needs a vacation after the "code blue" incident!

So glad that all's well that ends well.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Yay!! Glad its all over. Now, listen up....don't go mesing with your drains and bandages. My surgeon told my husband "they only guy who gets to touch those stitches is the guy who put them in." 

112 will prob be too low, but its a good starting point. You don't want to overshoot!


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

I _coded_ all by myself one time! I took my father to the hospital for a colonoscopy. Daddy's father died of stomach cancer so I was *REALLY *on edge about the test. After the test the staff took Daddy back to a little recovery room that had a curtain for privacy.

I could see out through the slightly open curtain to the nurses' station area and became fixated on the doctor coming in to explain whatever he'd found with the test.

Then I saw the doctor enter the open area and he was walking toward Daddy's room _AND HE LOOKED DEAD SERIOUS! _

I fainted and fell out of my chair!! :ashamed0002:

The whole staff came rushing in to help me. When I eventually pulled myself together, the doctor said Daddy was fine!!


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

shellebean said:


> Also, the ENT has me on 112MCG. Isn't that kinda low after having a total TT? The morning after i woke up, I asked when they would take blood for a calcium/phosp. test and they said they already did. I said, no, they hadn't. She looked it up and sure enough there was an order put in, but no blood drawn yet. So they did and it was just slightly low. They sure didn't seem worried, but I've been taking tums, just in case. I have a follow up appt monday afternoon and can't wait to ask a whole list of questions I have. They will take out drain then, too. Can't WAIT!


Manufacturer recommendation is 1.7mcg per kilogram of weight.

Figure out your dose and if you are not taking the recommended dose ask at your next visit.


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## DonnaK (Mar 22, 2011)

Hey shelle - how's your recovery going? Hope you are making good progress. I am feeling tons better today, especially finally having a bath and washing my hair. Woohoo!

With the dosing recommendation, it looks like I will have to increase mine quite a bit as we go. The girl that came and took my first blood after surgery said she had a TT a few years ago and that I would feel great for about a week and then I would probably crash and have to start the increase in my medication until it was optimized. Not looking forward to that as I actually feel better today than I have in over a year.


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## shellebean (Oct 12, 2011)

Here's the progress report...I went back in Monday for a follow up with my ENT. Right before the appt, I could see under the bandage a bit and it freaked me out...metal staples! I guess I had an idea he may do that, but hadn't really pictured it. It was 4 days after surgery, so finally time for drain to come out and removal of those staples! There were 16 staples and I felt and looked like Herman Munster...really! It is so great to have that darn drain out, 4 days of lugging it around was horrible. Just couldn't even lay down without worrying where it was hanging. So much better now, feel at least mobile. We got the paperwork for the house done monday, too. YES, with a drain hanging outta my neck! EEEK. What a freak I must have been. 
First my ENT said I'd go back in 8 weeks for bloodwork, but at the Monday appt, he said 2 weeks. I like that follow up better. I'm doing ok on the 112, but don't know that it has really even kicked in since its only been a week. I think i will be upped, but at least he is on top of it. I really feel pretty darn good. Gonna take a few vacation days from work. Work said they would only allow one week off, I COULD go back, but really want to heal a bit more since i work with the public.


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## shellebean (Oct 12, 2011)

ah, YES, Donna, I couldn't wait to wash my hair! Makes a girl feel much better! I've got a narley pic of my scar after the staples were removed, but not sure if I can figure out how to post. The first thing my husband said when the bandage was removed was, "it's bigger than I expected".


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