Thyroidectomy post-op Day 4

When your biggest complaint is "they forgot my Oatmeal when they delivered my Omlet", you have it pretty good. And yet this morning, that was my only complaint.

That, and I was getting bored at the hospital. I had been watching the Summer Olympics but there weren't any good competitions. Trampoline gymnastics was the day's highlight. Luckily my wife showed up before lunch.

The normal waves of doctors came through in the morning along with a new team: Endocrinology. 

My calcium levels were a mess due to loosing two parathyroid glands during surgery. There was a disagreement between the surgical team and endocrinology on what my calcium levels should be before getting released to go home. The surgical team wanted my blood calcium levels to be consistency above 8.5. Endocrinology wanted 8-8.5, and was willing to accept a 7.9. In the end? Endo would win and secure my release. My last four numbers )taken eight hours apart) were 7.9, 8.6, 7.9, and 8.2 - which was good enough to go.

The Endo Doctor explained that she was OK with 8-8.5 because there were too many unknowns until the pathology report came back on my thyroid. She was confident that I was getting enough calcium (10.5 pills per day plus 2 caltrait), and would order blood labs 2x/week to keep track of things. She explained that my remaining parathyroids would assume their added role and I would be fine.

She then mentioned that I would be monitored closely for the next six months to see if I would get a "reoccurance of Thyroid cancer". Hugh? I said to her - my thyroid is removed, how is that possible? She explained that it could show up in the lymph nodes. Ok. That made sense.

At 1:30pm I was cleared to go home. But by the time all the paperwork was done and the pharmacy order arrived, it was 4:30.

I arrived home at 5pm to a "Welcome Home Dad" sign on the front door and a labador wagging his tail in the window.

 This is a challenging moment for a father because you want to demonstrate strength before your children. Someday they will have incredible challenges in their lives and their memories of these moments could impact them. I wanted to assure them that everything was OK and they had nothing to worry about. Even though I was tired (not much sleep last night) and this had been a long experience, I mustered energy and enthusiasm. After a greeting we gathered in the living room where I offered to answer all of their questions. This was also their first chance to see my incision, and they all agreed it didn't look that bad.

I was home! No more black and blue marks from nurses who didn't know how to draw blood. No more tape on my arm hairs. No more 1am vitals checks. Best of all: No more hospital gowns.