Days 2-5 post surgery update

Since my surgery on Monday, things have been pretty good. I was released from the hospital shortly after I published the last entry on Tuesday afternoon. My calcium levels looked good and I was given the go around 4pm. I was wheeled out by my awesome PCA, Dennis, followed by my mom and dad and HG in my lap around 5:15 or 5:30pm.

I got home to a beautiful care package. 














A woman who has been through this journey a few years ago and is a former student of a professor of mine sent me a lot of really useful and thoughtful things. I've never met her, but have spoken to her on the phone and texted back and forth and she has been a really great support for me. Thank you, Brooke and thank you, Dr. Ellison for putting us in touch! I have been introduced to others who have gone through this as well and I can't thank them enough for the support and peace of mind they have given me! You know who you are...thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

Ok...anyway, I was instructed by my ENT to start that evening on Cefprozil (antibiotic) as a precautionary measure even though I had antibiotics through my IV in the hospital, take my Calcitrol, TUMS, and whatever pain meds as needed. I did exactly as I was told, set up my son's bed (since he sleeps in our bed) to accommodate my pillow needs, ate dinner, took my medication and only one pain pill to see if it would help me sleep and went to bed.

Wednesday morning, I woke up nauseous. I ate some oatmeal and yogurt, but I didn't eat much since I wasn't feeling so good. I had no idea what was wrong because I had been feeling pretty good up until that point and had no nausea what so ever. Shortly after breakfast, I ended up throwing up twice. I called the ENT's nurse and left a message. She called me back not long after and told me she would talk with the doctor and call me back. I took my second Cefprozil at 9:30am, I fell asleep for 2.5hrs, woke up and threw up again. I felt terrible and throwing up hurt not only my already sore throat from the breathing tube during surgery, but my incision as well! It all hurt like HELL! I ended up taking 2 Tylenol (instead of the hydrocodone) to help with the pain. I called the ENT nurse again and this time when she called me, she explained that the doctor thought it was actually the antibiotics that were causing my nauseousness and to go ahead and stop taking them. He said that should help and I probably won't have any more incidences of vomiting. As a preventative measure, he called in a Rx for Zofran (anti-nausea). That afternoon, I ate some crackers and drank ginger ale to help with my stomach and ended up keeping that down. I ate rice for dinner and kept that down as well. My stomach felt ok, but I took a Zofran before bed just in case. 

The next morning, I woke up feeling great! It was my husband's birthday, so I was hoping that I felt good enough to do something with him in the evening because this was the big 4-0 for him! I had to go get blood work done for my endocrinologist appointment, so I decided that I would attempt to take a shower and finally wash my hair. It was a little tricky, but with an Aqua Guard, lots of tape, and being very careful, I was successful in keeping water off of my incision. It felt good to finally take a shower!


Blood work was not fun. The phlebotomist who drew my blood was terrible. She rushed, poked all the way through my vein, kept moving the needle all around trying to get the blood to come out faster, and then when she took the needle out, she drug it across my arm slightly leaving a scratch, didn't cover it with a gauze right away, and blood dripped out onto my arm. This is the bruise I still have today from that...



I went home, started watching Game of Thrones (I know I'm late...) and got through 3 episodes and took a long 2 hour nap. I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and got dressed and joined my family and a good friend for dinner for my husband at his favorite restaurant. We had a great time, but just sitting there got tiring after 2 hours and I was pretty ready to go home at that point.



That evening, I took 2 Tylenol, but mostly as a precautionary measure just in case I did something funny in the middle of the night with my neck and it had been feeling pretty sore and stiff from not being able to move it much. 

Friday morning, I was feeling great. My husband took off work and we spent the day doing stuff. We took our son to the roller rink. I just sat and watched, but it was fun to see them enjoying the roller rink. 



After that, my mom had a hair appointment and we all went over there and I sat and chatted. We met with my dad for lunch and then headed home for a nap. I slept for 2 hours and felt really rested after I woke up. Since my son decided he didn't want to nap, he got to go to bed early and my husband, mom, and I stayed up and watched Batman vs. Superman. We stayed up until 2am! Guess that late nap really gave me energy!

I woke up this morning and again, I feel great. I took another shower and washed my hair. This is what I have to go through to ensure my incision site stays dry... 


The pain in my throat while swallowing has pretty much subsided and I haven't taken any Tylenol since Thursday. I still can't move my head (doctor's orders) much. The only thing now is I feel like I'm just waiting for when I feel like I've "run out" of hormones. I have a follow up appointment with my ENT on Tuesday morning to remove the SteriStrips and stitches and then an appointment Tuesday afternoon with my endocrinologist to discuss my blood work, my calcium supplement taper schedule and whether or not I have to do the RAI afterall. If I do have to do the RAI treatment, I will probably have to start my 2 week low-iodine diet at that time. If not, he will probably start me on synthroid. We shall see! I'll probably update again after that. 

Until the next post...