A Storm of Life

I had to spend the night alone in the Lethbridge Regional Hospital and I was scared, as I hadn't done that since I was 6, but I muddled through and prayed a lot. Slight nausea....at least 6 bathroom trips for pees You sent Had a nausea pill around midnight You sent More nausea...gas pain in left arm had to flex You sent Attempted to help myself with sitting up and water You sent Took gravol pill Sep 10, 2024, 3:02 AM You sent Nausea end Sep 10, 2024, 7:41 AM You sent Synthroid, calcium, estradiol Sep 10, 2024, 9:11 AM You sent Calcium was $27 Sep 10, 2024, 11:15 AM You sent When the male nurse took the tube out, he clipped a stitch and then disconnected the ball and suction and then tried to pull the tube but it would not come out and he said he was going to try saline on it cause it was dry You sent Tube is stuck You sent Two nurses tried and the tube would not come out You sent Third nutse You sent Third nurse clipped it more and helped the first nurse get it out Sep 10, 2024, 1:...

I arrived at the hospital  at 6 a.m. with my mom, who had spent the night, and registered and then sat in waiting area at 7:30 a.m. Then, I went to pre op and was put in compression stockings and then I had a gown and housecoat given to me. Don't I look pretty? I was then taken to a separate area and talked to a nurse, the anesthesiologist, and then was put in the OR and asked to scoot on to the table from the gurney and given an IV and then a mask was over my face that had oxygen at first that made me feel all light and floaty and then I promptly faded out. When I woke up, I threw up five or six times in recovery while fading in and out of consciousness. I slept a lot after that. I also had surgical repairs done to me that made me look half-decapitated. In addition to that, I had a surgical drain inside my chest. Later that day, near 5 p.m., my brother came to see me, but I was so out of it, that I could barely pay attention to his visit and mostly zoned out or slept. Near the en...

 Pre-Op at Lethbridge Regional Hospital

 I was phoned by the hospital and given a date of September 9 for my total thyroidectomy and told to be at the hospital at 6:20 a.m. and my surgery would begin at 7 a.m.

 I met with Dr. Uys (Ace) , a ENT, Head, and Neck surgeon who has an office in the city. Dr. Uys explained that in terms of the biopsy, the only risk factor for thyroid cancer is a first degree family history: mom, dad, siblings. He said that my needle biopsy looks like there's atypical cells; it doesn't necessarily say that there's thyroid cancer, but it does say there are some concerning features, and if they look at the cells under the microscope that says it might be thyroid cancer, so what the lab then does with those cells is they do molecular testing, and they go and look at the DNA of the cells to see if you have a mutation.  Dr. Uys told me "If you have a mutation, it increases the risk of it actually being a cancer. You don't have a mutation. The challenging thing is it still puts you at like a 27% risk of that nodule being cancer. That means if we cut it out, seven out of 10 cases will be benign, will not be cancer. Okay. One, three out of 10 will be can...

Today is the biopsy. I am very scared. I spent most of the day sitting alone in an anxious silence. I went to the hospital with my parents around 12:30ish p.m. and I was told to go to the Day Surgery area. I was given a gown and robe, which I changed into. After that, I made my mom take pics of me in them so to alleviate my anxiety about what was going on. When it was finally time for the biopsy, a nurse walked me into the O.R. and I was asked to lay on the table. I was given some medicine to numb my neck and they then did an ultrasound of the neck and then once that was over, they did the biopsy. I listened to the medical staff talk to each other and I also counted the pricks to keep my mind off of the needle. They ended up doing  3 shots of 5 pricks each and 4th shot was 10 pricks. I was also told the lump is same size it was at the ultrasound and in the thyroid. When they finally let me out of the O.R. with a bandage over the area and aftercare instructions,  I walked out o...

I had just returned home from the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference for the Lethbridge, Alberta Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where I was part of a choir that performed 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.'  I'm tired because the chapel was very hot and I gave a lot of physical and spiritual energy to sing well and I was fanning myself and relaxing. All of a sudden, I felt an unusual mass in my neck and I figured it was some sort of weird muscle issue or allergic reaction that would go away on its own...

 I had the ultrasound of my neck at Advocate Medical Imaging on the west side of the city and it was nerve-wracking.