Total Thyroidectomy!

Thursday morning I had a Total Thyroidectomy. My surgeon has told me that thyroid problems are hereditary. Mainly in women and generally after 50 yrs of age. There are always exceptions, and my brother is. He had his removed a number of years ago. My paternal grandmother had problems and her sister had hers removed as well. My Dad's sister has been told to see an endocrinologist as well, so the jury is out on her. I dodged the bullet on hernia surgery, which my Dad and all my siblings have had. So, I guess now is my turn to shine!

My Dad mentioned on his visit out here, that my great aunt Myrtle was cut from ear to ear to have hers removed! Thank God it's the 21st Century! We're talking "minimal is better"! I was a little nervous, but my surgeon had assured me that he does a couple hundred of these a year.

The surgery went well. It lasted about 1hr and 20min, and I was in recovery for almost 2 hours. I was in the hospital for what they call a 23hr Extended Recovery. They kept monitoring my calcium level. One of the possible complications of this surgery is possibly nicking the parathyroid gland. This would cause a drop in calcium in the body which could be fatal. My throat is very sore and it is very difficult to swallow and cough. Other than that, I feel pretty good. I am being told that it is about a 2 week recovery, no picking up of over 5-10# and to watch for low calcium symptoms. Right now, I am scheduled to go back to work ahead of that 2 weeks though. I said that I would be back next Wed. That's what I am planning for, so we'll see what next week brings.

I was released this morning at 9:30am. I was first on the Dr.s round this morning, so Yea for me. Missy picked me up before going into work this morning. Phil was ready to pick me up but we were expecting it to be closer to noon, so I decided to call Missy to see if she could. The Dr. sent me home with a prescription for Synthroid (which is the thyroid hormone replacement that you need to take for the rest of your life when you have your thyroid removed). I am to wait until the pathology report comes back on the thyroid before I start taking it though. If the thyroid nodules were not cancerous, I can start taking Synthroid. If the nodules are cancerous, then it will be a different drug. I should get my results back by Mon or Tues.