I have one of these scars, too (I got half a thyroidectomy.) When I got out of the hospital, it was kept closed with tape running across. It looked like that kind of tape with strings running through. I thought it looked like I had tried to slit my own throat and then changed my mind and slapped on the nearest packing tape. I felt like I must look like either Frankendeb or one of those people who wears black and is depressed all the time. I like the Pez dispenser analogy much more (though I don't suppose that would have worked with the packing tape look).
You already have no tape or stitches or anything. Way cool. And it already looks as good as mine did when the tape came off.
I've been told the scar disappears into your natural neck wrinkle, and it does, unless you know where to look. One of my less tactful friends kept commenting on how much better it looked. Week after week after week!
Since my surgery, I started noticing other people with the scar. It's sort of like after you buy an unusual car, you feel like you're in a club with all the other owners of the same car. You can't help giving them a knowing nod, at least internally. So, welcome to the Human Pez club!
Yeah, it's some kind of surgical glue. I can shower with it and everything. It's pretty neat. It's pretty swollen below it right now, so it looks like I have a goiter (ah, the irony).
So you have half a thyroid too, huh? Do you have to take meds? How long has it been since yours?
Glue. I like glue. Plus, somehow it doesn't look like you tried to glue your head back on the way it looked like I tried to tape my head back on.
I got my surgery in 2001, so I guess it's been a while now. I remember thinking that medicine had really come a long way (no stitches! very little pain!), and it's come even further since then.
Hey, since my surgery was in 2001, that means I had my scar when I visited you and Patrick. That means you have seen it!
I'm lucky and my other half of a thyroid gland is doing just fine all by itself. It's making just the right amount of hormone and has not (yet) learned how to make a large fluid-filled cyst like my other half had.
However, hypothyroidism runs in my family, so it might just be a matter of time. At least they have meds now, and even if you're overweight, more doctors will actually recognize it instead of just telling you to "just" lose some weight so you won't be so tired. (When if you weren't so tired, it might be easier to lose some weight.) But meanwhile, I get to be healthy for cheap!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-11-24 05:49 am (UTC)PEZ!
Honestly though, glad you're OK. :)
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Date: 2008-11-24 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-25 01:39 am (UTC)I have one of these scars, too (I got half a thyroidectomy.) When I got out of the hospital, it was kept closed with tape running across. It looked like that kind of tape with strings running through. I thought it looked like I had tried to slit my own throat and then changed my mind and slapped on the nearest packing tape. I felt like I must look like either Frankendeb or one of those people who wears black and is depressed all the time. I like the Pez dispenser analogy much more (though I don't suppose that would have worked with the packing tape look).
You already have no tape or stitches or anything. Way cool. And it already looks as good as mine did when the tape came off.
I've been told the scar disappears into your natural neck wrinkle, and it does, unless you know where to look. One of my less tactful friends kept commenting on how much better it looked. Week after week after week!
Since my surgery, I started noticing other people with the scar. It's sort of like after you buy an unusual car, you feel like you're in a club with all the other owners of the same car. You can't help giving them a knowing nod, at least internally. So, welcome to the Human Pez club!
no subject
Date: 2008-11-25 02:13 am (UTC)So you have half a thyroid too, huh? Do you have to take meds? How long has it been since yours?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-30 04:09 am (UTC)I got my surgery in 2001, so I guess it's been a while now. I remember thinking that medicine had really come a long way (no stitches! very little pain!), and it's come even further since then.
Hey, since my surgery was in 2001, that means I had my scar when I visited you and Patrick. That means you have seen it!
I'm lucky and my other half of a thyroid gland is doing just fine all by itself. It's making just the right amount of hormone and has not (yet) learned how to make a large fluid-filled cyst like my other half had.
However, hypothyroidism runs in my family, so it might just be a matter of time. At least they have meds now, and even if you're overweight, more doctors will actually recognize it instead of just telling you to "just" lose some weight so you won't be so tired. (When if you weren't so tired, it might be easier to lose some weight.) But meanwhile, I get to be healthy for cheap!