the second smile club

I met with the surgeon yesterday. He was very nice, which surprised me because I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of arrogant, rude surgeons. Some of my coworkers have said that this guy isn't like the others, and so far I'd have to agree. He's a general surgeon, but his specialty is thyroid and parathyroid surgeries.

I will soon be an official member of the Second Smile Club. Some people are just too happy for one...

My total thyroidectomy is scheduled for April 4th, Monday morning at 9:30. I have to be there a couple of hours early for the hustle-bustle excitement. I've already called one of my coworkers to meet me at our clinic on Sunday so that she can start my IV for me and hep-lock it so that it doesn't clot. She's a great stick and my veins are habitual hide-and-go-seek-ers, so it only makes sense to me that she be the jabber. (And, if she misses, I can never let her live it down!)

I should be able to go home from the hospital on Tuesday. Possible complications that might keep me from going home will probably center around my blood calcium levels. See, we have four little parathyroid glands on the underside of our thyroid gland, and they help to regulate our blood calcium level. They have the tendancy to get upset when you mess with them, so the surgery itself might make them angry. If that happens, I'll receive calcium in my IV and by pills. It's not too big of a scary deal.

My throat will obviously be sore. The surgeon said that most people complain more about the pain from their throat from the anesthesia instead of the surgery site. Over the next three weeks after surgery my neck itself will swell, get hard, and relax like a roller coaster ride. I'll probably be on a yogurt and chocolate pudding diet for a little while.

Mom and Dad are planning on coming into the city Saturday night, which means I'll probably spend Friday night and Saturday cleaning like mad. They plan on leaving Thursday morning. The Hater has Monday and Tuesday off of work. I'll have the whole week off of work, but don't be jealous, I'll be tired and sore and won't even get to enjoy playing hookey.

I think The Hater and I are mostly over the shock and have turned to a now-what-can-we-do-to-fix-it mode. Our good friends had us over for supper last night; it was beautifully perfect timing, and great burgers to boot. I think tonight we'll start making lists of things that we need to do this week.

Other than that, I don't have anything exciting to report.