Done!

So I am back in the real world staying with my parents for a while whilst I recover.

How did it go? I hear you ask. Fine as far as we can tell and according to the lovely man it only took him 30 mins! So that's it, thyroid gone - forever and now I have a new friend for life - thyroxine, the thyroid replacement hormone.

So that's the overview - here's the details. My lovely PC friend arrived at my parents just before 7.30am on a grey Wednesday morning to take me to the hospital. Seems there was quite a few of us having surgery, 7 in all and I was number 6 on the list. Time passed sitting in the day room and we get chatting. Made friends with another lady, same age, similar interests etc. and we sat and bemoaned the fact that we were both there due to doctor error!!!! She was number 7 on the list and was told her surgery could take upto 5 hours - glad I was me at that point. Gradually we were both seen by the lovely consultant, the anaesthetist and the nurse and then told we would not be in theatre until the afternoon! So that's no food since 9pm night before and nothing to drink since 6.30am and waiting until the afternoon. My stomach tried to eat itself!

Time ticked by and the 2 hours parking came round so my friend went and moved the car and then suggested we went to the museum opposite the hospital - fab idea! Got the OK from the officious nurse having given her my mobile number and off we trot. What a great distraction and a very interesting visit, followed by a quick coffee in the cafe - for my friend, not me, nil by mouth you know - still!

So back on the ward at midday and my friend decided to get back to work - I now of course had a new hospital friend, mrs no 7 on the list!! Staff came and went, more time passed and finally I think about 2.40pm I was escorted to theatre, only to find that the nurse had failed to give me my pre-meds and it was far too late for them!!!! She wrote an apologetic note to send to theatre and then mumbled something about patients not staying in their room.... What sort of excuse was that, every other nurse had managed to find me in the day room directly opposite my single ensuite room.

Mr anaesthetic was lovely and the theatre nurse was a Christian so we briefly shared our church details etc. and that was a great reassurance to me. I had a little sleepy stuff in the back of my hand and then the gas mask! I think I then spent a short time ranting about "the man" whilst I was drifting off...

I awoke later in recovery but was very groggy and was taken back to my room, still completely out of it to see my sister waiting for me - that was lovely. Felt rough, had drip in still which was precariously balanced on top of the wall mounted TV as they didn't have a drip stand! Kept having observations every 15 mins and gradually I came round. My beauty and her Dad then came and it was lovely to see her and then Mum and Dad came for the last slot of the evening. Then decided I would try some soup - bad plan, was doing very well when nausea and headache hit and I continued to feel like that for the next 4 - 6 hours. That was bad, bad, bad. About 2am I finally felt more human and got a little sleep. I think the combination of painkillers had made me feel gross. Woken at 6.50am for obs that should have been done every 4 hours in the night but weren't.

Morning hospital routines then kick into action. Breakfast was two weetabix with gallons of milk to soften it and very slow and careful tiny mouthfuls so as not to choke myself. Mug of tea was delicious but again had to remember not to swig too much as my body seemed to have forgotten how to coordinate breathing and swallowing! My throat was definitely much more delicate than last time and my voice more hoarse but as least I had a voice as the junior doctor went on to say on his rounds - hum very positive! Then a little chat about low calcium from previous nights blood test which the nurse had called the doctor about in the night. The consensus had been to have a supplement with breakfast but the junior doctor knew better and declined such a thing. However, the lovely man came to see me after his morning surgery and deemed it necessary for me to have calcium as my morning blood test was still low. So 6 chewy calcium tablets for me a day for now, blood test again on Sunday and then the GP can decide on Monday whether I need to stay on the calcium or not.

Drugs round and I got to meet my new friend - currently liothyronine 20 micrograms. For the tekkies, this is T3 which I believe I will be on until withdrawal prior to my radioactive iodine treatment in november. After that I will be on a T4 replacement I think.

Got news that if the lovely man happy then I can go home after lunch - which he was. So I go and swap notes with my neighbour who in the end was only in surgery for 2.5 hours but she had big cuts in the right side of her face to fix her saliva glad tumour issue along with a drain - I had it easy obviously! She was woozy and wobbly and stayed another night - I am very glad that wasn't me. At least she was told all the tumour was gone and hopefully in two weeks she will get the all clear. We will both be at our follow up appointments so hopefully we'll be able to catch up then with our progress.

Finally I get discharged and my drugs get delivered. Instructions given and off I go with my sister. Thank goodness that's over!

Thanks for praying and positive vibes etc. Keep them coming and hope to see some of you soon too
x