Another chapter in the life of Jen has come to close and another one has begun; this has happened before. Before and After I Moved Out, Before and After Gabe, Before and After Nanaimo/BC, Before and After Living w my Inlaws, and now Before and After Having my Thyroid Out.
Surgery was last Wednesday and despite a slightly late start went about as well as can be expected. I was awake and not-sore enough to have some company that night from Ryan and the kids, my aunt (who was also a nurse on my floor) and my sister and neice. The less said of the night spent at the hospital after that the better; who can be expected to rest and recuperate when you have a nurse coming in every 2-4 hours to check your vitals or a 6:30am blood test? Still, I shouldn't see any bills so I can't really complain. Yay Canadian healthcare!
I've been started on a calcium supplement, a synthetic thyroid replacement and a third one that, from what I understand, boosts both of those things. My follow up appointment with the endocronologist is Thursday and then it's back to Sudbury on the weekend (with Gabe, finally!) and go from there. After a lifetime of being Healthy I now face the very real threat of not being able to live well or long without these medications. It is a very strange feeling. I forgot one dose of my calcium one night and woke up the next morning with tingly face, hands and arms. Despite taking all of the rest of my meds on time for the remainder of the day I still felt out of sorts and tingly for hours. In case of Zombie Apocalypse, I don't think I'm going to make it any more.
After Having My Thyroid Out is also a time for scarves. I had two ready to go and my mom in law gave me another one; now I have blue and white, pink and silver, and purple and silver. The scar along my neck looks pretty grisly even with steri-tape hiding half of it, and it's a lot longer than I was expecting. I'm not used to wearing scars where people can see them and my throat is numb in a very wide area as well. For the next little while I'll be covering up; even Katherine prefers it and I'm sure I'll get tired explaining to people what happened. Though my dad suggested that I make up a nice story, or just say "He lost." and smile.
In any case, now we're in the After part of another chapter and it's time for adjusting, processing and adapting. At Thursday's appointment we find out what exactly I had taken out of my throat-hopefully not cancer but we'll see. I've heard from a few people, nurses and a friend's mom, that compared to other types of cancer, thyroid is one of the easiest to beat because it doesn't spread. So yay? I guess? Then again, if I took my thyroid out for nothing I'm going to be a bit pissed to be on meds for the rest of my life for no good reason. It was a perfectly good organ that was taking care of me and now it's gone. I'm already finding my appetite is non-existant and that even missing one dose of something will throw off my day; there's a lifetime of this ahead? Could be worse I guess.
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