Insides Revealed

Post-Operative Day #3(POD3) Any medical situation can feel debilitating to one who doesn't know the jargon. So, I try to pay attention to everything: what is said, read, dictated, or otherwise done to me or about me. From the first imaging appointments, I've requested copies of all reports, imaging discs, etc. and it's all organized in a binder (yeah yeah, some of you know me well enough to know how organized I try to be). Nevertheless, "POD3" was the new one I learned and felt every bit of day 3 after going to see my surgeon to have the drain removed (thank God!). Those things have to be one of the most annoying, irritating post-operative part of it all. Hanging from your wound, stitched to skin usually like mine was and then attached to a bulb syringe basically, that had to be drained since being in the hospital at least twice a day. Then my surgeon wanted a drain report each morning which he used to determine if it could come out. Apparently mine had slowed...

Happy Wednesday Friends and Family, Simply put, the last 48 hours were a whirlwind. Yesterday morning felt as normal as could be, went to story time with Emily and Noah at the library in our neighborhood. Then our pastor came to pray with us at 10 AM. By 11:30, we were headed to the hospital for my 12:30 check-in. 15 minutes later and we were in the pre-operative waiting room. Before you know it, they’re calling me back to prep. By 2:30, I’d had an EKG, blood work, signed a tone of waivers, met with the anesthesiologist, my surgeon (who was a serendipitous connection from my Uncle - Thanks Glenn and Joanne), nurses galore, and by 3 was kissing Emily goodbye as they rolled me back to the OR. The plan was always a partial or hemi-thyroidectomy with removal of the cyst that’s been drained multiple times since January. During surgery, they would send the resected thyroid tissue off for frozen section to pathology, if the findings confirmed the already suspected cancer diagnosis...