Day 7

And on the seventh day...even I rested. We didn't do much of anything. Jeff made breakfast, and we vegged on the couch watching rugby and football games.

Have doctor appointments tomorrow...big day.

Day 6

Saturday was a very busy day. My arm was feeling a bit better. It was such a pretty day, and there were errands that needed to be run, and I could use the sunshine...gotta get my vitamin D for that calcium!

I decided to get some Viactiv calcium chews last night at the pharmacy. It is getting hard to even think of putting another Tums into my mouth. So I got the little chocolate chews and while they aren't the tastiest they are better than the peppermint chalk. Plus they have vitamin D and K and while my issue isn't absorption the absorption help can't hurt.

So what's the deal with the calcium? Well the parathyroids sit behind the thyroid and they are the glands that control the amount of calcium in the blood, in the bones, tell the bones to release it or not. The little paras are sometimes in the thyroid so they have to be taken out, cleaned off and reconnected. Even them getting moved around can cause them to be a bit persnickety.

We decide to head out and get our what-nots done until I call it quits. My hands are still tingling off and on but for the most part, I'm a bit tired but over all feel okay. Our first mission is to get some new chairs for the yard. We head into town and decide to stop by Mom and Dad's since they are just a mile or so from Home Depot. We head over and get a few new chairs and then decide a nice drive would be in order since I was still feeling okay. So we drive over to Taylor to the Taylor Meat Market. We needed some bacon. Now you might think that's an awfully long way to go to get some bacon, but it is about the freshest bacon you can get. But unfortunately, being it was the end/first of the month they had been cleaned out. There wasn't even any in the back they could slice up or anything, but they did still have a little of the smoked black pepper bacon so we got some, a few weenies and a bit of summer sausage. Aaaahhh childhood happiness all wrapped up in butcher paper. Num-num!

We head back to the hill. I was still feeling pretty good so we decide to hit half price books in Cedar Park. And it hit me. I suddenly drained and worse, my fathers statement of how as my TSH levels rise people will irritate the living day lights out of me. Boy was he right. By the second little episode of...let's just call it stupidness, I found a chair a few rows over from the books I was interested in...thank you stupid couple for making the air in the area I wanted to be UNBREATHABLE! I sat and kind of chilled, after a while Jeff came and found me and we checked out and headed home. I was so ready.

I was so done. Jeff set up the new chairs in the yard and we sat out there for a little bit then went in and I crashed on the couch. I was one tired girl.

Day 5

Friday we slept late. Once we did get up, my arm was still in so much pain. I got a little breakfast and just curled up in big chair for a while. I called the ENT's office and talked with his nurse for a while. Then I called the Endo's office as I still did not have a post-op appt with him.

With in a few hours I was totally exhausted. I curled up in the big chair with my quilt and teddy bear and napped for a while. When I woke, we decided that we'd go into town and have my pain med script filled. Maybe it would help the pain in my arm.

It was my first trip out of the house since surgery so we hit the pharmacy, ran over across the road to Target for a few items, then grabbed some dinner before heading back out to the house. I took a pill and we watched tv for a bit then went to bed. After last nights' late hours and adventures we were both pretty exhausted.

Day 4 - ER from Hell

Thursday found me basking in the glow of the morning sun yet again. Other than the one little spell during the night I felt pretty good. I kind of think that I'm becoming addicted to my ice pack. Is that a bad thing? I'm only suppose to use it for 20 minutes every hour but it really does make my neck feel so much better that I find myself leaving it on for much longer. Even sleeping with it. I know the whole deal with ice packs for too long but it feels good. See I told you I was addicted.

The internals of my throat are off and on still pretty sore. I have to be sure that if and when I eat something that I have plenty of fluids to wash it down with. I had a little piece of lemon pound cake and didn't have enough milk or water with me and it really scratched things up. I'm not sure if the cake was made out of sand paper and wood shavings or it was me just still being raw. Either way, the cake was nummy but my throat is super raw now.

I have to eat Tums several times a day to ensure that my calcium intake is up enough to ensure that the parathryoid still have enough there to work with in case they continue to be finicky with their best fried being gone now. A Tums at the end of a rock night was like a bedtime treat. Right now, just the thought of one of those peppermint buggers just makes me taste bluk.

I spent most of the day snoosing and lounging about the house. I washed a few dishes but that was about it. Flipper, my old lab, does not let me go far without him.

The hospital nurse called to check-up on me to make sure that things were going well. I told her of my little leg spasm spell from the night before and agreed that it could have been a calcium drop that caused it and agreed that I had done the right thing by taking more Tums. And the fact that I was able to fall back to sleep was a good thing. But if it happened again and didn't resolve or got worse or I had the tingling/numbness in my hands, arms and/or legs or feet and/or my face and around the lips that I needed to go to the ER. The low calcium signs were a big part of my discharge "review" so I was pretty aware of them and had been instructed by the nurse that going to Brack would be the best but since we live in Liberty Hill that the closest ER would be best. Just tell them that I had my thyroid out and the symptoms I was having. They'd know what to do.

We ordered pizza for dinner and I actually managed to eat a whole piece. It took forever but I did it, but I was exhausted from all the chewing too. Eating should not be an exhausting venture. The fat kid in me is very confused by this. It's one thing if you are having to hang out in a tree with a knife in your mouth and attack a passing critter. But taking a slice of pie out of a box from the local pizza shop and eating it should not wear one out. Ya know?

We spent the night watching tv and just chilling. Shortly before 10:00 pm I noticed that I was having spasms in my right leg. I stretched a bit but noticed that it was not going away so Jeff went and got me more Tums. Bluk. I figured it would do the same as it did the night before. Over the next hour my right hands started tingling, then my elbow. Let me tell you, that was the freakiest thing. My hand was tinging and my elbow, but everything in between was normal. Weird. Then my left temple started the tingle before long my left hand and elbow started the tingle thing. But the good was, my leg had stopped spasming. Yea! But after over an hour, it was decided time to head out to the ER. Better to be safe than sorry. Plus those had been the instructions more than once.

We load up and head out, debating which ER to go too. The two closest ERs are Georgetown and the new Cedar Park. We decide that because when I went to Georgetown in May due to a 105 degree temp and they focused more on an elevated blood sugar level than what may have been causing a 105 temp. Being told, "Eh, fevers are fevers." I kind you not, that is what the PA told me. I may hold the lowest of medic certifications but when you start getting to the 104-105 degree level that's NOT normal! But I digress...

We decide to go to the new Cedar Park hospital. They shouldn't be busy, like Brack would be, so we should be able to get in quickly and get good attentive care. Plus we could be there in minutes, as to almost an hour for downtown Austin. When we get to the hospital we began wondering if we'd made the right decision as there was a huge multi vehicle accident at the main intersections in front of the hospital. We get around to the ER and as we have figured it's pretty deserted. If you didn't know the hospital was open you'd be hard to tell that it was.

We check in and it wasn't long before we get called back to triage. That was pretty standard and we get a room. I'm not really thrilled with having to totally undress but I know the drill and don my lovely gown. It was just a few minutes and the doc was in. I thought to myself that this is awesome and we'd be getting down to business and hopefully getting this irritating tingling to stop. He comes in and asked so what do you want tonight? Wow...I was a little taken back I don't know anyone that would start a patient assessment like that. So I start in that I had a total thyroidectomy on Monday and I started having....."Why'd you do that for?" (Cause I thought it'd be a cool thing to do to rip my thyroid out for no reason....keep smart-assed comments to self....) had thyroid cancer....so I started having...."what kind?" papillary thyroid, so I started having spas..."What made you think that?"

Seriously!?! Am I not going to be able to get through a single sentence as to what has brought me in here? I was always taught to find out what brings your patient to you, then get a history to build on it from there. Have I been doing it wrong all these years? Was every speaker I picked for a patient assessment class for the EMS conference wrong too? This dude really sucks....

I, in a way, give up. I gave a short little answer that an unexplained weight gain lead to the find of an enlarged thyroid, had an ultrasound, lead to biopsy, cancer, surgery. And yes that's about exactly how I put it. The doctor left the room to got do something. By that point I really wanted to have nothing to do with him. As we sat there, I debated hard of just getting dress and leaving. Jeff mentioned that we could have been at Brack by now. But we both decided that if we could get to why were are here then maybe we can get somewhere this doc. So the doctor comes back in, sits down and starts talking about how I was hypothyroid and blah blah blah...um no. I never said anything about having a history of being hypo. In fact, I have NEVER been hypo. They highest TSH level I have ever had was 2.6. By this point Jeff and I are both ready to just walk out. Is he not believing that I actually h thyroidectomy ad a? Yeah my incision is not in the traditional place but let me lift my neck you can easily see the steri strips and oh hey would he like to see all my admission and discharge papers? I told the guy that my discharge instructions were if I had tingling in my hands, arms, feet, legs or face that I was to go to the ER and have my calcium levels checked so that's what I was there for. He leaves and the RN comes in.

And the circus continues. Now I'm sure she's a great person and from our little bits of conversations I can easily see the older rural paramedic turn RN for the money. But where did she get that I'd had my thyroid out because it had stopped working? She explains that doctor dude has ordered blood work and that they like to go ahead and put an IV cath in so that in case they end up having to run an IV or something then there was only one stick involved. In the grand scheme of things that sounds great.

So while she spends her time gathering the necessary items to put in the line we chat about my surgery and why and all the what-nots. I'm thinking we'll get the levels checked and things will get better. BOY WAS I WRONG! She sits down and takes my right hand and starts tapping around. I strongly advice again using that had has it was not very cooperative just a couple of nights before and it had to be aborted and that was with a MUCH smaller needle. Apparently I was talking but no words were coming out. She repeats a few times that she can see where the vein starts and stops and feels confident about it. I again express that it was not going to be a good location. So in she goes...

Now you have to understand I have a very high pain tolerance. I have had MANY sticks in my 40 years. I have not screamed for it to be stopped since my very first blood draw was done at the age of 4 or 5 with a bent needle. I have had numerous surgeries, blood transfusions, donated blood, donated plasma, blood draws, IV fluids and what-nots so sticks are not new nor something that general scare or bother me. But after a few minutes of this woman digging around on my hand the pain got to be too much. I told her if she didn't have it by then she needed to stop...she kept going. I sucked it up a bit longer, but then the hot flashes started and I knew if hadn't gotten by that point ENOUGH. I again asked her to stop. She didn't. I expressed repeatedly that the pain was getting to be too much and that once again, that hand was not a good place to attempt a line. She kept trying to get it. THANK GOD someone stepped in and told her that they needed her for the crisis team. That made her pull out. I was done. My head was spinning, I was sweating profusely, the room was fuzzy and the dark tunnel was starting to close in. But as she headed out, she asked the other chick to put in the line. Maybe she'll get it first try. But first, I have to lay down.

She gathers her stuff and sits down at my left arm. She starts taping around. I've had IVs, transfusion lines, blood draws from the forearm, sucks but is generally tolerable. Okay...big pinch. Good gawd this hurts. Breathe, breathe, this will be over soon. The more I try to block it out, the longer she keeps digging. Relax..relax....relax....oh my gawd how long is she going to keep digging at this? Okay chick, this is getting to the point that I can not take this pain any longer. Yet she keeps going. The room becomes hotter than hell, oh here comes that tunnel again. I begin begging her to stop. But she doesn't. Finally after much begging and pleading she pulls the needle out of my arm.

I have Jeff pull my socks off because I am dying from the heat. I know I'm the only one feeling it but good gawd, I'm sweating buckets. She decides to "inspect" my veins. Just as the first RN comes back she decides to go for the old stand-by, the crook of the elbow. The tunnel is closing, I'm thinking okay, I know the veins there are very good, this will be over quickly. OMG I was SO wrong!!!!!! Holy cow I thought the first two attempts were bad. The pain was 20 times worse! I'm trying to relax, I'm trying to stay calm, I'm trying so hard not to scream, I'm trying not to shake, I'm fighting the tears back, I'm trying not to curl up into the fetal position. I've expressed over and over how badly. I can feel Jeff beginning to boil. I finally plead that if they don't have it yet to please stop. Almost they say. Almost? You've been digging on my arm (this round) for five minutes. Gawd, PLEASE tell me you are in. The pain radiating through my arm was immense. She goes to tape and tie it off, tugging at it with every move and has the gall to question why I wince in pain. It felt like she was ripping the vein out of my arm. Jeff made it know just how he felt about the whole ordeal.

Finally they were able to draw the blood. I won't even go into the archaic method they used. No, I've ranted on how bad, I might as well finish the nightmarish tale. They opened the line, let you bleed out on to some gauze for a while, then used a syringe to collect the sample, then transfer that into a tube. Finally they left the room. I lay there traumatized. My arm was in excruciating pain, shaking, tears rolling down my face. So regretting not following my gut and leaving for Brack. After a few minutes in bopped Ms. Perky RN. They needed more blood, they'd not taken enough the first time. I know the line is taped off but it felt like she completely spun the line in my arm when she opened it to let it start bleeding out for a while. Once she got what she need, right before she bopped out of the room again she did promise to take it out just as soon as she got word that she could. The labs usually take about 20 minutes so it would hopefully be soon.

As I laid there, the pain radiating up and down my arm, I felt so vulnerable. Suddenly it all came back. I knew this pain. The pain in my arm, the pain in my heart, that gut wrenching pain. That was exactly the same pain I had when I was getting transfusions and the nurse strapped me to arm boards, on BOTH arms, then no one would come check on me when I started having pains. It wasn't until we got them to understand that there was a HUGE bubble forming that they bothered to come check it. Yep, the vein had blown. The pain I had now was the exact same. I had Jeff check to make sure nothing was wrong with my arm. I laid there for the next hour and a half breathing through the pain. Finally the doctor comes in. Calcium is fine, magnesium was low, TSH was high (for normal testing purposes - and um duh, I no longer have a thyroid) and my glucose was high. Well, had you done an intake assessment you'd know why it was what it was but you didn't so, that is not a factor to the issue for which I am here. Soooooooo...nothing you can do to stop the tingling. Although, you have managed to distract me from the tingling in my right hand by the pain in my left arm. I was to follow up with my primary. Um...he meant my ENT but I wasn't going to go into that for the seventh time. I just wanted out of there.

After a while the nurse bought my discharge papers and finally took the line out of my arm. I got dressed and we left. I believe as we walk out the doors I spoke the same words that I did 35 years ago. Don't EVER take me back there!

It was well after 2:30am by the time we got home. I curled up in the big chair for about an hour before I'd come down enough to even begin to get any sleep.

Day 3

Wednesday found me awake with the sun. The day found me snoozing in the big recliner downstairs. My tummy wasn't the happiest for not having eaten more than a little pudding and apple sauce in two days. My lungs weren't so happy either, but I kept working on my deep breathing. That caused lots of coughing. Not the most pleasant thing, but necessary.

Despite sleeping most of the day I was so ready when it was bedtime. I was awaken in the middle of the night with leg cramps. I had Jeff get me

another Tums for the calcium and soon I was fast asleep again.

Day 2

After a pretty sleepless I started stirring around 6:30am. I was tired of watching the clock spin round. Jeff was sleeping so soundly and I hated having to wake him. But it was a good thing because it wasn't long before a 3rd year medical student, who said he was part of my surgical team, showed up to "check on me." It was your standard "med student" assessment. If he was part of my surgical team I was clueless.

There was yet another blood draw, and vitals but the best part was the IV was disconnected. The line wasn't removed, but I finally wasn't having to be constantly thinking about the position of my hand. Yea no more beeping pump!

It wasn't long before Dr. Kriesel showed up. We discussed how well the surgery went, future plans, appointments, meds, and the realization that radioactive iodine will happen much sooner than we...I expected. He took my drain tube out. That hurt like a bugger! But the best part, even though my calcium levels have steadily dropped they were still at good levels and I could go home!!! Yea!!!

It took about an hour for my nurse to get all my discharge papers in order. Once all my orders were reviewed, my IV cath removed, Jeff loaded the Jeep and my chariot arrived to take me downstairs. We were finally one our way home.

It was so nice to be home. Wasn't long before my mom showed up with lots of soft yummies for me and baked chicken, turkey and other nummies for Jeff. My brother showed up for a while. It sure was nice to be home.

Before long, it was just me, my wonderful husband, and the dogs. It was so nice to sleep in my old crappy bed. Home sweet home!

Der Tag - Surgery Day

We woke at 4:20am. Actually got out of the house sooner than expected. With almost no traffic on IH-35 we actually got from Liberty Hill to Brackenridge in 45 minutes. We didn't have to even be there until 6:30am. So technically we had 45 minutes to wait. And thus, the hurry up and wait began.

Once the money was exchanged and the last of the paperwork given to the nurses I was given a room, went through the pre-op rigmarole, got my sexy green, 4 sizes too big hospital gown, grippy socks and oh so sexy blue net cap. After

what seemed to be forever Jeff and I finally get moved to what they call "holding." There we met member after member of the anesthesiology team. They had some issues with other patients so it took some time, but they finally put in an IV line. Lactated ringers always taste nasty first off. If you've had them, you know what I mean. Once again, we wait. We were waiting for Dr. Kriesel. Like Dr. Solomon, he comes and checks on you. It's probably to get a sense of where you are before hand, but gives him the opportunity to put you at ease a bit before hand. We went over what was going to go down. I asked if he could do a bit of lipo around the neck since he was going to be in there, he chuckled and said no. Made the anesthesiology crew laugh. Next thing I knew I was getting whisked away. I didn't get to get a kiss from Jeff first but I got an I love you and that would have to do.

We rolled down hall ways, through doors. I remember sliding over onto the operating room table. It was soft and cushy and cool. Unlike that gurney bed I'd been on for what seemed like forever. I think I even commented on how comfy it was. I remember looking at the two big, silver, saucer lights over head. A lady said she was going to put my seat belt on and that was it until recovery.

I woke up in recovery hot. My nurse checked my pain levels, gave me Demerol. At least I'm pretty sure she said it was Demerol. Since I was so hot she took my compression boots off and one of my socks as I asked. I remember the eye goop stuff being extra gloppy on one eye, she gently wiped my eyes. I had a bed next to the window. I drifted in and out, I remember saying thank you a lot, any time my nurse would interact with me. She was very attentive. I listened to the conversations of the things that took place during my surgery. I could feel the sun on my face so I knew I was okay. I got more Demerol. Did I need it? I really don't know. Was the "pain" I was feeling really from the surgery itself or the intubation and O2? I could here my nurse giving a report on me again, and someone else saying, well she is a redhead so that makes sense. LOL

Talk soon shifted to that I'd been in recovery over 3 hrs and there was some one else who'd been there for four and a half hours. They brought in another lady who was very talkative. She kept saying it was so hot in there, and I kept agreeing. Remember the nurse had taken the one sock off, I was working on trying to slide the other one off with my toe. At some point I heard Starflight start up. I watched out my window to in hopes of getting to see it. Yes it's true, I may not be working in the EMS office anymore, but I still love helicopters. It wasn't much longer they said they had me a room finally. The hospital was apparently pretty packed and rooms were a high commodity.

So a chick wheels me up to my room. She and my room nurse get me settled. I kind of relax knowing I'd made it through the surgery, I still have a voice, soft as it may be, but where was my Jeff? It wasn't long before Jeff, Justin, Mom and Dad show up.

So how's I do? Well they said every thing went well. They didn't have to take any lymph

h nodes. So that means it was all (ideally) still contained to the thyroid. Yea! My incision is not in the "normal" spot. It's in the crease of my neck. Which is cool because I won't have the standard thyroid scar, and with my fat neck...the way it is now at least...you'd never see it.

So I spent the rest of the day resting, having vitals taken, getting blood draws and trying to not be too much of a pain in the ass of my loving family.

The evening and night was spent pretty much the same way. But it was just Jeff and I to ourselves. The nurse said she ordered a liquid dinner but a "soft" showed up. Turkey, a huge pile of green beans, mashed potatoes, apple sauce and vanilla pudding. My throat was cut open earlier in the day, and during that I had a tube with a balloon on it shoved down it. I was hungry but that was not what I was interested in. So I thought the pudding wouldn't be bad...boy was I wrong. Bluk is all I'm gonna say. I spent the rest of the night working on that little half cup dish of apple sauce. I finally finished it about 6:00am.