Had a Total Thyroidectomy…

(Part Two)

So my blood was tested at 5 am (Wednesday, June 30th), and I mentioned to mom that I knew my results were not going to come back clean because I still felt tingly. But with that, we both went back to sleep until about 7 when my surgeon arrived to my room. He turned on the lights and woke me up, but this morning was unlike the last morning. My tingling was now so severe that it was all down my legs, arms, my entire face felt like it was tingling and twitching, my arms and legs felt like lead and it was hard to pick them up. My hands were so tight that I could not squeeze into a fist and my lips were puckered, sort of like an old man. I was rather freaked out by such things and when my dad walked into the room for the morning, I realized I was freaking out my parents too.

When my lab results returned for the morning, my Calcium levels had dropped from 7.2 to 6.5. So even though I was taking Calcium, my levels still dropped. This alarmed my doctors and my nurse, because a 6.5 I was very close to seizure levels. So they administered IV calcium and oral calcium with the addition of vitamin D in hopes that my levels would return quickly. My levels would be checked again that afternoon to determine how my levels adjusted to the new calcium.

During the second day, I started to have more visitors. Josh’s father, Phill, and friend John came by to visit me. It was nice to see and chat with them. I even had beautiful flowers delivered from the entire Duckworth family, which was so kind and thoughtful. Later in the day, Molly stopped by and brought me a balloon and silly bandz (zoo animals, which I have three on my arm now :-)).

She stayed and chatted during the afternoon and helped the day fly by. While she was there, my nurse came in to inform me of what my afternoon lab results were (7.6). This showed improvement from the morning, but the doctors still wanted me to stay another night to recheck the levels in the AM to see how I could hold the values. So….this meant one more night (#3).

Mom had already mentioned that if I were to stay another night, she wanted to see if she could borrow a wheelchair for me and take me on a little field trip. The nursing assistant said they don’t normally allow trips (since most patient’s choose to go smoking) but she realized that this was not my reason. So we were allowed to go down to the 2nd floor mezzanine (OUTSIDE!!!). We left a note on my bed and mom and Molly transported me around. Mom wanted to show me around the 6th floor Park Towers where I was staying because she was so impressed with all the amenities. We traveled outside to the mezzanine and it was fabulous. I never realized what it is like to be stuck inside for several days and not even feel outside.

Molly was so gracious to take my picture and I was so delighted to show off my sweet gown and newly revealed steri strips!!

While we were on our field trip, I ran into two other ladies from school: Cristina Carillo and Rachel Amshoff. It was so nice to see more people and talk with people (outside of my hospital room). It helped me feel a little more “normal” if that is even possible!!

After we returned back to my room (my mom was very nervous about staying out too long), Molly had to head back but before long I had more visitors! Leanne came by and brought me delicious sushi and a chocolate frosty, while my Aunt Nancy and cousins, Amanda and Hayden stopped by with magazines. While the four of them were there, it was nice to enjoy typical conversations and just chat with people (again, that were not associated with the hospital). It is nice to have outside influences to keep you going. Before long, it was time for each of them to leave. But it wasn’t too much after that when Jenna showed up. She was so sweet to bring me a PINK Louisville shirt, body fragrances and a fantastic little tote bag! She was too kind and it was great to be able to talk with her too. You never really realize how much your friends care for you, or how much you care for your friends, until you are in a time of need. You realize that your friends are there for you, no matter what.

Around this time, dad had stopped by with dinner for he and mom (left over Fazoli’s spaghetti and two bottles of wine!). It was cute to see them catching up on the past days events (whether it was about the dogs or dad at work), while they enjoyed their wine.

It was getting late, and Jenna had already left. Dad and I were watching a show on TV and mom was starting to settle in for yet another night. We tried to convince dad he could stay longer, but he said he needed to get back to the dogs (understandably so). So he left with a few of the items we had accumulated over the past few days and mom and I decided to settle in for the night (hoping that this would be my last night).

Day #3

My calcium levels were checked again Thursday, July 1 in the morning. My surgeon and endocrinologist stopped by in the morning to chat about discharge plans, because my calcium levels had returned to 7.9. (I had called my general practitioner regarding previous calcium levels taken in March and found out it was 9.3). While they told me I was discharged, it still took several hours for them to get everything together. But it allowed me time to clean myself up and put on NORMAL clothing (what a concept!)

So I was all ready to get my orders and head out of there. But in the mean time, my lunch had not been delivered, so mom and I decided to take a walk to the family lounge. On the way, I saw my fellow classmate, Kevin Beale (whose clinical internships were all at Baptist East, and ironically today he was on my floor!) and sat to chat with him some. It was nice to see yet another friendly face and be able to talk about some PT things too!

While we were out there, my nurse came back to my room with my lunch tray (that for some reason was not delivered to my room…), so I returned to eat up. And before long, my nurse had returned with my discharge papers (which seemed like a decent stack) and my mom went to go grab the car. It seemed like forever before wheelchair transport was at my room to pick me up, and ironically the transport tech was yet another student from Bellarmine (they are ALL over Baptist East!). He took me all the way across the hospital and landed me at mom’s car.

Now I was on the way home…to continue to recover.

For the next few days, I went to the lake with mom and dad. Throughout the weekend, I realized I started to feel stronger, gain more endurance and feel a little more like myself. By Tuesday, July 6th, I was flying back to Philadelphia to return to my internship at CHOP on July 7th. What a whirlwind of a time….

Thanks for taking the ride with me :-)

Had a Total Thyroidectomy…

(Part One)

Josh flew to Philadelphia June 23rd as previously planned and I was able to spend some great time with him, his family that lives near Philadelphia and John. Over the weekend, we stayed at John’s house and on Sunday Josh, John and I drove back to Louisville so that John could return to his house and so I could have my surgery on Monday.

Monday, June 28th came around the corner and I had my overnight bag packed for the hospital. People kept asking if I was nervous, and I honestly was but I think I tried not to let it show too much (but I don't think it really worked). I'm not really sure which part made me nervous, whether it was the actual surgery, recovery, or any sort of complications that might arise.

I am grateful for the nurse I had who took me back to get prepped for surgery. She was very kind and asked me who had come to the hospital with me. I informed her my mom, dad and Josh were there. She then asked me if I wanted mom to come on back and sit in the room with me. I was taken off guard, because usually they do not allow your family members back until after you are prepped. But she assured me that if her daughter was being prepped, she would like to be with her too. So with her permission, I told her to bring mom on back. So mom came back during the prep work and then dad and Josh were allowed back a little bit later.

The next thing I know, I’m being taken back to the operating room and saying bye to everyone. I chatted with the nurses and then it was time for the oxygen mask (which only means one thing: anesthesia time). All goes black…and then…I hear a guys voice, talking about my increased heart rate, my increased temperature and talking to me asking me questions. I open my eyes and see a fairly open room with one other bed in the room. Then nurses are walking past me, saying good night to the guy that is with me. I realize I am in recovery, but overall I feel ok. I feel very tired, very tight around my neck, and just overall wiped out. Apparently I was in recovery longer than initially expected (about 2.5 hours instead of 1-1.5 hours), more so because of my increased heart rate and fever that developed. I remember looking up at the clock and realizing the time was rather late. After some time, the guy that was with me started talking about the room I was being transported to, and the tv and how the rooms are really nice. I just went along with it all, and I cannot even remember if I was engaging in the conversation with him.

Before I know it, I am being rolled into my nice room with dark wood cabinets and mom, dad and Josh waiting for me (with Family Guy on the tv, of course). Apparently the initial site of me was slightly concerning with my washcloth over my forehead, ice pack on my neck, nasal canula tube for oxygen, IV tubes, blood pressure cuff on my arm and a look like I just went through an obvious traumatic event – I mean, why would you think I would look concerning??

That night, mom and Josh stayed with me throughout the long and eventful night. I received pain medication and antiemetic (anti-nausea) medications. I didn’t really seem tired throughout the night and maybe its because there were so many things going on. My night nurse was checking up on me every hour to assess my vitals since I was still fresh out of recovery and could have had a compromised airway along the way. So the night continued and the nurse would ask me along the way if I was ever having tingling in my lips or hands. I was uncertain as to the reason, but Josh kept reassuring me that if I started to feel such sensations that we needed to inform them.

So around 4am, I started to develop tingling in my fingertips and lips, so I informed Josh and he went to my nurse. So instead of having my blood levels checked at 5:30am, the phlebotomist came in a little after 4am to assess my calcium levels. The next large event was the morning when dad came in to check on his way in to work and then my surgeon came to visit. I informed him of the new tingling but they informed me that my calcium levels were at 7.8 and normal values are 8.5-10.1, so they assumed that my levels were not entirely below normal to be producing such levels. At this time, I was getting very uncomfortable; I was itching as a result of the pain medication, my legs were starting to tingle, I had intermittent compression boots on that were driving me nuts amongst all the nerve sensations and I felt like my skin was crawling. So once they switched my pain meds, I started to feel a little less itchy, but still tingly. My voice was starting to gain strength and showing no signs of damage to my vocal cords – Yay.

So dad and Josh left and then it was mom and I left in the hospital. Even though I didn’t receive much sleep overnight, I was not extremely tired, but decided I should still sleep. Throughout the day, I continued to be tingly and my day nurse seemed to be baffled by my continued tingling that was now in my neck, to my lips, down my fingers, and down my feet. People kept telling me it was because of the superficial nerves that were involved with the surgery – but I know my anatomy and I KNOW there is not one nerve that travels to each and all of those areas, so I am not crazy. I started to develop a very large hacking cough as a result of being intubated. When I would cough (or I should say attempt to cough), the tingling got worse and was driving me insane. It started to get so bad, that I started crying and it was at this time that I think my nurse realized that I was not making things up (hello!!!). So my blood levels were taken again and I was told I would hear from my surgeon and endocrinologist later that day.

I had a nursing assistant that came into my room and told me she would help me with my “bath.” This was an overall experience. So I was in bed, she brought over the soap, washcloths and tub of water. She said that we were going to do this together – she washed my back while I washed my face, she washed my legs while I washed my arms. Then I mentioned I needed to use the restroom. So she helped me in, and while I was in there she made mention that now was a good time to wash my “purse.” Mom looked at me with a little confusion – but I returned the look and told her that I thought I understood what the nursing assistant meant. She meant for me to wash my private areas but referred to calling them my “purse.” So needless to say, mom and I got a big kick out of this and tended to tell a large majority of people the joke.

On my first day, I had my first “real” visitor where Tessa came by after she got off work around noon. She stayed with me for a few hours and we chatted about things. It was nice having her there and seeing her company.

Before I knew it, my surgeon was coming by and assessing my calcium levels that have since dropped from 7.8 – 7.5 –7.2 throughout the day. My surgeon informed me that sometimes the parathyroid's that are attached to the thyroid, but remain in place upon the removal of the thyroid, can get stunned. He believed that all 4 parathyroid's remained after surgery. The function of the parathyroid's are to control calcium levels (amongst other things too). So since he assumed these must have been stunned and I should probably start some calcium overnight and test my levels in the morning to see if my body is able to maintain the levels themselves. My surgeon also mentioned that in the morning I should be able to go off my liquid diet to a soft food diet (yay, no more clear liquid soup).

Following his visit, my endocrinologist stopped by and performed an interesting nerve test that involved me parting my mouth, and he tapped right at my mandible and masseter muscle which produced a twitch at my eye and mouth. He indicated that this is a sign of low calcium levels and again mentioned the need for calcium supplements.

So there I was, needing to stay in the hospital for night #2, but with hopes that I would start to have reduced tingling. To make time go by, mom hopped into my bed and we started watching “August Rush” on my laptop. Dad visited us in the middle of the movie and brought mom dinner and me some easy Mac! It was nice to visit and we had a good dinner together. Dad had to return home to take care of the dogs and mom and I were left to finish the movie (and me have my two doses of Calcium) before bedtime.

The nice thing about night #2, I did not require continual checking in every hour and was able to sleep all the way through (that is until my blood was taken for my calcium levels at 5am).

(Day 2: To Be Continued…)