My Thyroidectomy

Last Thursday, Jamie and I headed south to Birmingham for my pre-op appointment.  My mom took off work to watch Collier and pick Noah up from school, then as soon as my dad got off work, the four of them joined us in Birmingham.  However, they didn't arrive until later that night, so Jamie and I took advantage of an evening sans kids and ran some errands following my pre-op appointment.  We bought the boys some new bedding at Pottery Barn Kids and returned a few things at the Galleria.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a yummy dinner at J. Alexander's and topped it off with coffee and Creme Brulee.  YUM.

I had a bit of excitement to get my mind off of my impending surgery.  Brooke Burke-Charvet (you know, the gorgeous host of Dancing With The Stars, yeah HER) went through THE SAME THING that I'm going through with her thyroid.  In fact, she just had her surgery at the beginning of December.  However, since she's a celebrity and gets special privileges and everything, she was able to do some new state-of-the-art tests that confirmed she had cancer before actually having the surgery.  So she went in to surgery KNOWING that her entire thyroid had to come out.  Since I (and most everyone else) don't have those resources, our game plan was that I would go into surgery and they would remove the right side of my thyroid and while I'm still on the operating table, freeze the nodule and test it immediately.  If it was cancer, the rest of my thyroid would come out, if not, they would close me up with the left side of my thyroid still intact.  Anywhoo, I tweeted her (yes, I realize this makes me look like a dork) and to my SURPRISE, she tweeted me back AND retweeted my message.  Needless to say, it made my night. 

 

In fact, I'm pretty sure we are now BFF's. I mean, how could we NOT be when we shared such beautiful energy?  My surgery was scheduled for 7am on Friday morning, which required me being at the hospital at 5am.  BLAH.  My goal was to get in the bed fairly early however, my kids weren't exactly on board with that.  My boys are GREAT sleepers and go to bed easily... as in, I lay them down and they go to sleep. No rocking or prolonging the process on their part. It's wonderful when we are home however, those times when we are out of town, it presents problems.  Collier has never slept in the bed with us and I'm not sure that he would... he just plays and talks.  They have also never slept in the same room together so we decided to put Collier in the pack-n-play in the computer room at my aunt's house.  He cried and cried (but honestly can you blame him? He did get the short end of the stick). I had to wait until he quit crying before laying Noah down, since Noah's room was right beside Collier's "room" and I knew Noah wouldn't go to sleep with Collier screaming.  Finally after Collier settled down, I had to lay with Noah and get him to sleep. I only have to lay with him when we are somewhere other than home.  Anyways, an hour later, I got to lay down in mine and Jamie's bedroom and attempt to fall asleep.  However sleep never really came for me that night... I pretty much laid there until my alarm went off at the glorious hour of 3am. 

I got to the hospital by 5 and was back in my room by 5:45 getting hooked up and ready to go for surgery.  Honestly, I wasn't the least bit nervous, which I was surprised by, considering how nervous I had been during both of my C-sections.  I feel certain it was all the prayers from back home that helped keep my nerves in check.  They had a hard time getting my IV in (apparently I have small veins because this is always the case) and after 1 failed attempt in my left hand, she got it in my right hand.  I HATE IV's... they sting SO  BAD.  After getting my IV in, Jamie and my parents were able to hang out with me for a little bit before they took me back to surgery.  They gave me something to help neutralize my stomach and a little medicine to calm me, then put the other medicine in my IV to put me to sleep.  I remember them wheeling me out of the room down the hall and I said, "wow that stuff starts working fast..." and I must've fallen asleep before we even got to the OR. 

Next thing I remember was waking up in Recovery and feeling nauseated.  I couldn't talk and my throat hurt REALLY bad.  I threw up a little bit from the nausea but they gave me some additional medicine to help with that.  Dr. Peters came by and told me that the nodule was benign so they only had to take half of my thyroid.  All I could do was nod and mouth 'thank you!' Praise the Lord!!!  Since I didn't have my eye glasses with me (I had to leave them with Jamie) and I couldn't talk, I just laid there and dozed in and out for what felt like 30 minutes, however Jamie said I was in recovery for 1 1/2 hr.  I had a terrible metallicky/plasticky taste in my mouth that kept making me feel sick but I was later told it was from the breathing tube that had to put down my throat.  Also my throat was KILLING me.  After recovery, they wheeled me back to another room where my parents and Jamie were able to join me.  She took out my IV and said if I felt like it, I could get dressed and be on my way.  I knew it was day surgery but I was kind of surprised how quickly they released me because I did NOT feel like getting up and getting dressed.  Jamie had to dress me because I was so shaky on my feet and couldn't bend over.  My parents went to my aunt's house to get the boys and Jamie and I drove straight home, in which I slept the entire way.  As soon as we got home, I popped a pain pill and got straight in the bed and slept pretty much the whole day.  My throat was so sore that it hurt to swallow, move or talk.  Finally later on that evening, I drank a milkshake.  The nurse told me to stick to soft foods so might as well take advantage of that! Jamocha Shake from Arby's, please! 

(WARNING: If blood/incisions makes you squeamish,

you might want to scroll past my next picture....)
 

 Here it is... my incision just an hour or so after surgery.

I was a bit surprised when I saw it because it's bigger than I expected it to be. 

No stitches on the outside, just glue to help with minimal scarring.



I've spent the past several days taking it easy and resting.  My parents had the kids through the weekend and Jamie's taken off work this whole week.  I'm gradually feeling better, however, being up, talking and moving around wears me out pretty easily.  I thought I was feeling/doing much better as of today, but my whole family and my grandmother came over this evening and I quickly realized that I still don't have my endurance back.  I got achy and tired pretty quickly.  My actual incision doesn't bother me too bad. It pulls when I move my neck or try to turn my head but its still pretty numb to the touch.  I have a lot of pressure on the inside of my throat and it feels like when you are holding back tears, how you get that big ball in your throat, that's what I feel constantly.  Talking for a long period of time starts to strain my voice/throat. The incision is pretty swollen and starting to bruise but is healing pretty well.  What hurts the most is I feel constant tension in my shoulders and neck from not being able to move my neck around.  I was told this is very normal and the biggest complaint with this type of surgery.


And here it is today.  Still looks pretty rough and my whole neck is swollen.

My sister told me it was a shame it wasn't Halloween because I could go as Frankenstein. 

She is the only person who can get away with saying that to me! :)

 

One benefit to having surgery is all of the food people bring you! It's so awesome and so incredibly thoughtful! My kids are eating better this week than they ever have.  It makes me realize just how blessed I am to have so many sweet friends in my life.  Even one of my best friends, who lives in 100's of miles away in Virginia wanted to help out so she ordered a pizza and had it delivered to us for lunch this afternoon. 

 

I'll admit, I'm a bit conscious of this new adornment on my neck.  I answered the door to the pizza guy and the Fedex guy and I feel like it's all they could look at.  My only options are to resort to wearing turtlenecks the rest of my life or embrace it.  I guess I'll choose the latter.  After all, it does tell a chapter of my story.  Thankfully the ending was a good one and I didn't have cancer.  Hopefully as more time passes, my scar will heal and fade and look more like my new buddy, Brooke's does.  





Reflections & Anticipation

As I reflect back on 2012, I think of it fondly with a smile on my face (and it seems impossible that is already gone by).  2012 was good to us!  Really, really good.  Jamie and I traveled together several times and even visited some new places.  Such as getting to go early in the year to New Orleans to the National Championship game with friends.  That was definitely the best trip that we've ever been on with friends.  We both fell in love with New Orleans, ate some incredible 'Nawlins cuisine, had a BLAST and witnessed an awesome football game as Alabama claimed their 14th Championship title. 

A few months later, my dad was told that he was in remission.  Excited and grateful were an understatement for the way my whole family felt!  It was like a 500 lb boulder had been removed from all of our shoulders.  Even though he has to receive chemo injections every other week and have checkups periodically, we were so glad to have this scare behind us!  Noah turned 5 in April and how it's even possible is beyond me. Jamie and I traveled south for Memorial weekend and enjoyed some fun in the sun, sans kiddos, at our favorite vacation spot within driving distance, The Hilton at Sandestin.  And Noah graduated from preschool AND began walking on his own, completely unassisted.  What a blessing! 

Our summer kept us busy with days at the pool, VBS at church, a visit to the Memphis zoo, and grilling out with family and friends.  In early August, Jamie and I enjoyed a weekend away to Atlanta for our 9th Anniversary and Jamie's 33rd birthday, where we cheered on the Braves and played at Six Flags.  The next week on our actual anniversary, my sister gave birth to her beautiful baby girl and I became the very proud aunt to sweet little Harper.  Just a few weeks later, my sweet boy began his first day of Kindergarten.  What a milestone!  While initially it was a hard adjustment for him, it turned out to be a huge blessing and he is doing amazing.  We love his teacher and his school and I couldn't ask for a better first half of the school year.

 At the beginning on September, I found myself on a plane headed to the Big Apple with some of my dear friends for the trip of a lifetime.  We went to a Broadway play, saw Central Park, toured the Empire State Building, did an NBC Studio Tour, experienced China Town, ate some DELICIOUS  food, viewed the Statue of Liberty and the Freedom Towers and even had a crazy night out in the Meatpacking District.  We saw and did as much as possible in our 4 days there.  We all fell in love with the city and I can't wait until I get the opportunity to go back (with Jamie by my side).  Shortly after our trip, I turned 31 and Collier started preschool at King's Kids.  He loves his school and his new buddies and has learned so much.  October brought us a trip to the pumpkin patch, our church fall festival and Collier's Mickey Mouse Birthday Bash... and of course, Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night. 

Of course, the holidays were right around the corner with Thanksgiving and then Christmas and all the festivities in between and here we are at the beginning of 2013!

Despite being 9 days away from having surgery, I'm excited about what this year has in store.  Back in Februrary, Jamie and I purchased a lot in Heritage Village, a neighborhood on Cypress Creek, and sold our house in October.  We are closing in 26 days (yes 2 weeks after my surgery!!) and moving into our rental house.  While trying to get the whole house packed up before I have surgery and then dealing with moving while I'm still recovering from the surgery isn't an ideal situation, I'm still very excited about this next chapter.  Construction on our house will begin soon and I must say, building our own home has always been a dream of mine.  Also, we already have a couple of fun trips planned for this upcoming year, including one for our 10 year anniversary and a family trip to the Happiest Place on Earth in the fall!  So here's to 2013, to the things that we already have planned for this upcoming year and to the things that we are unaware of that lie ahead in the next 12 months.