thyroid update

i had my post-op appointment yesterday and am exstatic to report that the biopsy showed NO CANCER!!! it was completely benign, which is amazing and awesome. everything is healing well, and everything is going well. thank you to everyone who kept me and my family in prayer and sent your positive energy my way during my surgery and recovery. :)

things you can't do with a hole in your throat :)

it's amazing what you can't do with a hole in your throat. i don't know what i was thinking!

1. you can't drink from a glass w/out a straw -- trying to get that last 1/3rd is incredibly hard!
2. you can't fold laundry -- i'm so used to holding things with my chin!
3. you can't see things on a high shelf
4. you can't sleep on your tummy
5. you can't mediate violent outbursts by your 4 year old
6. you can't wear anything but v-necked shirts


but seriously, everything's going well. it's just so darn itchy! i can't wait until the bandage things come off so i can scratch for real! and the 4 loads of laundry i did today really were a challenge :)

God is SO good!

first off, thank you so much to everyone who sent up prayers and sent good thoughts and positive energy my way for my surgery. i was so covered in prayer, that there was really no way anything could have gone wrong! i had probably the best surgical team in the world. seriously! they took it upon themselves to discuss my case beforehand to decide what would be the best thing for me to make sure they saved my voice. i'd gone to the voice center and had some recommendations from the voice specialist that i really thought i was gonna hafta fight for, and they'd already taken all of that into consideration and come up with a plan that was best for me, and not just easiest for them! totally awesome!

so, needless to say, everything went fabulously. my surgeon ROCKS! if you're in the pittsburgh area and need to have a partial or total thyroidectomy, i HIGHLY recommend Dr. Adrienne Melck. she looks about 12, but she assured me she's not *smile*.

and i thought they were smoking crack when they told me that i wouldn't need anything stronger than regular tylenol after the surgery, but they were right! it's 4 days after the surgery, and i've only taken 1 dose of tylenol today! even the day after, i didn't take it every 6 hours because i simply didn't need it! WOW! i've had 2 babies, 1 the regular way, and 1 cesarean, so i know pain. this is awesome!

and i went to church and sang today, which was amazing! when my surgeon came to discharge me, i asked her when i could sing, and she told me to rock on! it felt so good to be able to sing bedtime songs to my kids. tuesday night, it was all i could do not to cry when i thought that might be the last time i could sing. my kids would definitly not understand why mommy couldn't sing at bedtime anymore. it's such a big part of our lives. i'm so grateful that i didn't have to give that up!

but my voice is tired today. they told me that it'll get more fatigued more quickly now as the healing begins. but just being able to sing at all is a blessing! i really couldn't imagine my life without it. and i'm glad that i don't have to! *smile*

thank you!

i just wanted to thank everyone for their prayer and well wishes. we're about to leave for the hospital, and the surgery is scheduled for 8am. i feel so completely covered in prayer that i'm really not nervous. i know that everything will turn out the way it's supposed to *smile*. plus i got to take a shower and brush my teeth and take my meds, so we're all good! *smile*

...and the countdown begins...

well, it's 2 days til my surgery. i'll get the call on tuesday to let me know what time i'll need to be at the hospital on wednesday -- probably at the butt-crack of dawn. i've had all of my testing done, so now there's nothing to do but wait. and unlike childbirth, there's no joy at the end of this tunnel. and i don't have to have a bag packed *smile*. but i am hoping that my new bag from my sister gets here in time. she did kinda promise that i'd have it in time to take to the hospital with me *smile*.

once i met her, i googled my surgeon. she looks like she's 12, but she's done extensive research in thyroidectomies, so i feel a little better. and she's Black, so that's kinda cool. she's canadian, though (i think), so i didn't want to say african-american *smile*. she was really straight-forward in the consultation, and that really put me at ease. she didn't sugar-coat anything, but wasn't brusque and unfeeling either. and apparently they do a lot of these.

i also went to the voice center and had my throat scoped to take a look at my vocal cords. that was really nifty! it was awesome to see my cords working, although i could have gone without having something shoved up my nose and down my throat *smile*. but now i know how everything works, and i'm hoping it'll all work the same way after the surgery.

there's only a 1% chance that they'll nick either of the nerves that control my singing during the surgery, but there's a greater chance of jacking things up with the breathing tube, so i have to be firm with the anesthesia team about what i want, and hope that they do what's best for me instead of what's easiest for them. i can't go on disability if they mess anything up and i can't sing! *smile*

and i'm really excited cuz my mom will be here today! it's always a good time when nana's here. the kids are over the moon that nana's coming. they just don't know why. but i feel so much better knowing that she'll be here with them while chris and i are at the hospital. especially since it'll likely be all day, and not just a couple of hours. plus, what sitter would show up at your house at 5am and stay until 6 or 7 pm? you'd hafta pay an arm and a leg! :)