The time of my surgery was changed 5 times. 4 times over the phone the day before and the day of, and again once I was already there and checked in. It was a crazy day and everyone was running late and there were no bed for anyone and there was a huge group of people waiting for eye surgery. Totally nuts.
Because there were no beds I didn’t have a room yet so I had to wait in this pre-op room which was full of people in beds and chairs waiting for their surgery time. I definitely wasn’t as nervous this time around and really just wanted to get it over with.
It was finally my time to go for surgery; I think I was one of the last of the day. We were sent to the next room which is the room you wait in while they prep the OR. There was an older Easter European lady in the bed beside me who was there with her daughter who translated for her. Her Anesthetist came to see her and I noticed that on his name tag it said ‘Dr. Darcy’. Then he opened his mouth and a British accent came out. I almost died. MR. DARCY IS THAT YOU!? Unfortunately he wasn’t my Anesthetist.
Finally my Dr. came in to see how I was doing. He told me how the surgery would run and then what I could expect after. We talked about my medicine and the fact anything Tylenol destroys my stomach. He suggested 292′s which I thought I had had before and were fine with so I opted for those. Then my Anesthetist came in, he was a strange British man, and I told him how sick I was after my last surgery. He told me he would make me a Martini of all the good medicines he had so I would feel OK once I woke up.
Chad kissed me good-bye and it was time to get all chopped up again. The worst part about the whole thing was that they left me to lay in the OR fully conscience for about 15 minutes. Last time I was basically put under right away so I didn’t have the opportunity to lay their surrounded by operating tools thinking about what was about to happen. This time they couldn’t find some plug they needed so they left me there, on this tiny skinny bed that I thought I was going to fall off of, to think about what the hell was about to happen. That was not very comforting.
The one thing I always wondered about surgery and being put under was whether or not you had dreams while asleep. It always worried me that I would have a bad dream and then not be able to wake up from it like I would normally when sleeping because I was put out. The first surgery I had this didn’t happen. This second time, it almost kind of did.
My first conscious memory was actually a dream. I was dreaming about myself sitting on the couch pondering this exact question. Then all of a sudden I woke up and my body started shaking. I was shivering like a mad woman and the nurses ran over to me and cover me in blankets from head to toe. I then realized my throat was clogged with mucus and other yummy things so I started coughing like a nut case.
The first time I had surgery they warned me that because I was having a breathing tube put down my throat there was a possibility I would wake up with a sore throat and raspy voice. It didn’t happen then but it definitely happened this time. My throat was killing me, when I tried to talk my voice was so raspy I could have sung a Blues song about scotch and I also realized the top right hand of my lip was completely swollen and fat.I mentioned this to the nurse and she said my lip may have been caught between my teeth and the tube and that’s what caused it to become swollen. That was definitely the case because it was very cut up and raw and I was left with a fat lip for quite a few days. It was damn painful.
My stomach actually felt alright once I woke up and the only annoying part was being groggy from the anesthetic. I had to wait a while in the Post-Op room before a bed was available for me, but I eventually got moved. The bed ride to my room actually did upset my stomach and it was only at that point that I unloaded the small amount of fluid that was in my stomach. I asked for Gravol right away and then everything was fine.
My parents came to visit me right away and I was feeling pretty good despite the grogginess and fat lip.
I didn’t sleep for much of the night, only in half hour intervals. There were times when I was actually in a lot of pain so I asked for some medicine and they gave me morphine, which I thought could be just put through my IV but apparently it doesn’t work very well when they do that so that had to shot me in the arm. Needles don’t hurt me but omg was that painful. The feeling of them actually PUSHING the medicine through the needle into my arm was excruciating.
The next morning my cousin Francesca came to visit me as she was just finishing her night shift at one of the hospitals in Vancouver. Chad showed up about an hour after that and I had to wait to get a blood test before I could go home. Apparently, during the surgery, when removing the Thyroid there is a possibility of damaging one of the Para-Thyroids which controls the Calcium in your body. If it is damaged your Calcium gets all messed up until the Para-Thyroid fixes itself. If my Calcium was really low then I would have to spend a couple extra days in the hospital. Thankfully it wasn’t and I was able to go home right away.
I tried the 292′s when I got home but my stomach reacted the same way so I decided that if the pain was REALLY bad I would take some Advil, even though its a blood thinner, and if not I would just not take anything. I was not about to spend the next five days throwing up. As soon as I took the 292′s I started to feel that feeling in my stomach and I knew I couldn’t do this again.
I started feeling pretty good right away. It’s amazing how fast you recover when your stomach is not trying to escape your body. While tired and sore, not having an upset stomach made me feel like a million bucks. I was actually up and walking around on Friday, which compared to last time is just NUTS. I can slowly feel the energy coming back to me and I think by the end of the week I should feel pretty good.
As far as my medication goes, I just have to take a small Thyroid replacement pill every morning when I get up and it should do me just fine. I go in to the Dr. office in 3 weeks and if I feel OK then I know the dose is right for me. If not they adjust it. I also have to take 2 Tums after lunch and dinner to help with my Calcium. I will have to do that for about a month and then hopefully everything should be OK.
Chads been really cute and checks out my neck wound each morning to make sure its OK and then gets me my pills and everything ready for me. He’s been absolutely awesome through all of this.
I’m so glad everything went well this time around. It was such a relief not to feel so sick. It must have been all those people praying and thinking about me. I don’t think I’ve had such an put pouring of love. <3
