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llcoolvadHad my pre-op exam on Monday. It was pretty easy, they took some blood, the Nurse Practitioner did an exam and took my history, and that was about it. Later that day I got a call from a diabetes nurse, however. Apparently my blood sugar was pretty bad, really spiked since February. I've been pretty lucky so far as a diabetic. My levels have been pretty easy to control with just an oral med and reasonable eating. Lately I've been eating really badly, however, and combine it with the stress of being really sick two times and not being good about taking said oral meds, I guess now I'm in trouble. Because if I can't get the damned levels down, they won't operate. So my diabetes nurse prescribed insulin for me. Yikes! She called the Rx in for me and asked me to meet with her on Thursday, after I meet with surgeon number two, so she could go over the plan with me.
So that makes me pretty nervous. Not the taking insulin. I'm fine with needles, and it's just a maintenance dose that's supposed to get my numbers in line quickly. It's just that somehow I've gotten pretty sick all at once:
I sort of whined about it all to my PT while she was massaging my "soft tissue", who remarked that all systems are connected, and often this kind of thing cascades. Yeah, I get that. But I'd like it to stop now, kthxbai.
Yesterday Dr. Gawande called me to ask if I had managed to get an appt with the thoracic guy, because he needed to talk to me about how they were going to get at the goiter. Another revision. He told me that they'd explain it when I was in there. Then he told me he was being followed around by a PBS film crew on the day of my surgery, and would I want to be part? I didn't have to be. I told him I'd think about it. Maybe!
Today I saw surgeon #2 (amusingly named Dr. Wee, which makes me giggle every time I think of that Geico ad where the car salesman says "Why don't WEEEEEEEEEE go out to the car?"). He told me that because of the location of my "lesion" that they'd have to either do a full sternotomy, or do a hemiclamshell incision. And that in my case, because there are arteries and important stuff in the way (the goiter is behind) they should really do the hemiclamshell so that Gawande has more room to work.
I was a bit shocked, to be honest. I went from what I was imagining was about a 4-6" incision to at least 12". And they open me wide during the surgery. Scary. I'll need to stay in the hospital longer, recovery is longer, and there's a lot more "discomfort" as he put it. YAY.
I left there a bit shell-shocked. Met with the diabetes nurse who showed me how to stick needles in myself. She kept asking if I had questions, gave me her cell number so I could call this weekend if I was freaking out or anything, and I kind of laughed and said that insulin was not what I'd be freaking out about, but thanks!
I talked to my boss after I left the hospital to warn her about the extra time away from work, and she pointed out that at least I wasn't coming into this thing from the ER. She had had the ER leading to surgery experience and didn't recommend it. Which made me feel immensely better and snapped me out of my shock, really. I have two good surgeons, I'll be at an excellent hospital, and except for the blood sugar I'm really in pretty decent health to get through this without issue. So yeah. Shock, but recovery.
I'm sad about the giant scar, though. I already have the normal thyroid scar. Now I'll have one that puts that to shame. I am not meant to wear plunging necklines, I guess.
So that makes me pretty nervous. Not the taking insulin. I'm fine with needles, and it's just a maintenance dose that's supposed to get my numbers in line quickly. It's just that somehow I've gotten pretty sick all at once:
- Sick enough to require antibiotics 2x since end of March
- Severe back pain (possibly due to #1, from coughing so much)
- A 5.6cm mass in my chest that will require major surgery to remove
- Blood sugar out of control
- A probable hernia in my stomach (see #1 again)
- A weird painful bump on my finger
I sort of whined about it all to my PT while she was massaging my "soft tissue", who remarked that all systems are connected, and often this kind of thing cascades. Yeah, I get that. But I'd like it to stop now, kthxbai.
Yesterday Dr. Gawande called me to ask if I had managed to get an appt with the thoracic guy, because he needed to talk to me about how they were going to get at the goiter. Another revision. He told me that they'd explain it when I was in there. Then he told me he was being followed around by a PBS film crew on the day of my surgery, and would I want to be part? I didn't have to be. I told him I'd think about it. Maybe!
Today I saw surgeon #2 (amusingly named Dr. Wee, which makes me giggle every time I think of that Geico ad where the car salesman says "Why don't WEEEEEEEEEE go out to the car?"). He told me that because of the location of my "lesion" that they'd have to either do a full sternotomy, or do a hemiclamshell incision. And that in my case, because there are arteries and important stuff in the way (the goiter is behind) they should really do the hemiclamshell so that Gawande has more room to work.
I was a bit shocked, to be honest. I went from what I was imagining was about a 4-6" incision to at least 12". And they open me wide during the surgery. Scary. I'll need to stay in the hospital longer, recovery is longer, and there's a lot more "discomfort" as he put it. YAY.
I left there a bit shell-shocked. Met with the diabetes nurse who showed me how to stick needles in myself. She kept asking if I had questions, gave me her cell number so I could call this weekend if I was freaking out or anything, and I kind of laughed and said that insulin was not what I'd be freaking out about, but thanks!
I talked to my boss after I left the hospital to warn her about the extra time away from work, and she pointed out that at least I wasn't coming into this thing from the ER. She had had the ER leading to surgery experience and didn't recommend it. Which made me feel immensely better and snapped me out of my shock, really. I have two good surgeons, I'll be at an excellent hospital, and except for the blood sugar I'm really in pretty decent health to get through this without issue. So yeah. Shock, but recovery.
I'm sad about the giant scar, though. I already have the normal thyroid scar. Now I'll have one that puts that to shame. I am not meant to wear plunging necklines, I guess.
