It's been 3 days since I had my total thyroidectomy. I'm doing well today so it's about time I update my blog on the process. It's going to be a long one so get yourself a cup of tea.
So, my mum and I arrived at University College London Hospital at 7:00am and checked in. I was surprised that we were told to wait in a TV room instead of being taken to a bed, which is what I know my mum went through with previous surgeries she had at the same hospital. There were quite a few people in there all waiting for surgery too. First, I was called in to meet my anaesthetist, Pam. She was really sweet and told me she would give me numbing cream to put on the back of my had so I wouldn't feel the IV (not that it helped but I'll get onto that later). I then went back into the waiting room and was called in by a doctor. I didn't like this method because there was a lot of waiting around.
I hadn't eaten anything since about 10:45pm of the night before but, even though I told the nurse at my pre-assessment appointment that I get migraines when I don't eat, the doctor told me I was last on the list and that I would go into surgery between 4 and 5:00pm. I was MAD because I had made sure to tell them prior to going in for my surgery - and for good reason too. By 10am I had already developed a migraine so they offered me an examination room to sleep it off. That didn't really work since nurses were in and out so regularly. But at about 12:45 two doctors came in and told me that they were moving my surgery up to 2:30pm since I wasn't doing too well. Thank God! So I got dressed in my gown, walked up to the 3rd floor to the entrance to theatre, and said goodbye to my mum. At first, I sat in a waiting room with another woman who I had seen waiting to go into surgery. It was quite relaxing; there was a very wide selection of magazines, a large TV, and comfy chairs. There, a medical student talked to me about how to pronounce my name and other random stuff. She was trying to calm my nerves. Then another anaesthetist came in and got me to walk to the anaesthetic room and got me to lay down on a bed.
It wasn't exactly a scary room but the bed was in the middle and at the end of it were two large double doors with green frosted glass and a red light that said "theatre in progress". My anaesthetists, Fatima and Pam, were really sweet and chatting with me and it worked to get my mind off what was happening for a while but just above the coloured glass was a strip of regular glass, and every so often I'd see a set of eyes peering through. LOL it sounds so freaky right? Anyway, they couldn't find a good vein to get the IV into and even though I had the numbing cream applied to both hands, I could pretty much feel all of their attempts. I was also attached to an ECG machine and had one of those finger pulse counter things on. The surgeon, whose name I still don't know, came in and spoke to me for a bit before Pam told me she was putting something to calm me down in my cannula. It made me a little woozy but I was still conscious and able to respond to them. Then she said she was putting something else in and it was lights out for me.
I don't remember falling asleep but the next thing I remember was a nurse calling my name and telling me I was in recovery. I basically woke up fighting because they had an oxygen mask on me but I felt like it was suffocating me and I just wanted it off. Then I tried to roll on my side (not sure why, I was out of it) and I remember hearing them shout "No, Staciah! Don't do that! You've got a tube in your neck and you're pulling it out!". Someone took off my oxygen mask and put the oxygen tube thing in my nose and I remember giving them a thumbs up. My nurse told me the time, it was about 8pm, and she says "You had a lot of anaesthetic darling. It took you a while to wake up". At that point I was worried that something had gone wrong and about my poor mum who had been waiting for me. Also, I should probably state that I woke up with no voice, so I was scared for that too. When my surgeon came in he reassured me that everything went well and that my vocal chords were simply swollen.
It wasn't long before I was taken up to the ward and I remember seeing the blur of my mum's red coat and reaching out for her. She stayed with me a while but that night was tough. I had a bedpan on my chest from recovery as I felt nauseous as soon as I had regained consciousness, so when I randomly threw up while on the ward I was prepared. The second time, I got up to use the toilet and on my way out the door back to my bed, I threw up again. Then, the final time, I ate two yoghurt pots given to me by my nurse and shortly after that, it all came up. As a result, I was hooked up to a fluid bag all night but luckily the following day was much better. I woke up with not much of an appetite but I was able to eat the majority of my food by dinner time. My drain leaked a bit during the first day so my nurse supported it with more gauze and it was fine for the rest of my stay.
I stayed for two nights and on the day of my discharge a doctor came around and told me that I should be okay to leave that evening and I would just need one final blood test before I went home. I felt quite sick that day and hardly ate a thing until my nurse told me that it was a side effect of dihydrocodine (for pain) so I stopped taking it. My drain was also removed on the final day; it didn't hurt but it did feel really weird. I was happy to get it out as I rolled on it a couple times the second night of my stay. But since I was discharged on a Saturday it took hours to get everything in order. I was actually waiting to see the doctor on call but my surgeon came around to see another patient, saw me sitting on my bed and let me go home.
I'm doing well. My calcium was a bit low but I've been prescribed vitamin D and some dissolvable calcium tablets for if I feel any tingling limbs (which I've gotten mild cases of a few times today) and I've been told to drink plenty of milk. I've also started on 100 micrograms of Levothyroxine and a couple pain killers but I don't really need them. I can swallow and cough without any issues for the most part but I have taken a couple paracetamol and naproxen today when the incision has felt uncomfortably tight. However, my nurse had told me to continue to eat and drink as the continuous swallowing would help alleviate the pain and I think it has. The first day my throat was sore mostly from the breathing tube but it went away by the second day. Also, my voice is 85% back to normal now. It's a bit raspy still but it's stronger than I thought it would be given I could only whisper in the beginning.
I created this blog to give extra information to people about to face what I faced so if you have any questions or if I've left anything out, feel free to comment!
Take care,
Staciah x
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