It is almost 9 pm and my thyroid is still very much a part of me. No surgery today. I arrived this morning at the hospital at 9:30. I had not eaten anything since 9:30 pm last night or drunk anything since midnight. I finally had water at 7:30 pm this evening, followed by a lukewarm soup (and I am being kind here regarding the temperature) and sardine and rice dinner. Besides the fact that I was not in the mood to deal with picking out fishbones from lukewarm sardines (my fellow Americans know what I mean), I ate anyway. My head was pounding and I knew it was from not having drunk water or eaten for so long.
Cláudia left at 8pm after walking back and forth in the corridor with me for awhile. Then my new buddy/roomate (I think her name is Diana) replaced Cláudia and we started walking together. Turns out she is Portuguese, British, and Swedish. One parent is British and the the other Swedish but she grew up in Portugal. She can't really talk right now due to having surgery. She has jaw and upper gum cancer but she writes to me on a board. She is very nice and made me feel better about what happened today or rather, lack of what happened today. She has dealt with her own waiting around and this is her second bout with cancer.
Anyway, my headache has subsided and so I can better explain what hapenned today. After checking in earlier in the morning, I was told to wait in this lounge area they have. The room wasn't prepared for me at that time and I had been told I would have surgery, then spend some hours in the recovery room, and then finally be moved to the room. After, waiting four hours without anyone checking in with me, I hailed down a nurse and asked her where the bathroom was. That is when I discovered I could use the bathroom in my room. After about another half an hour, Claudia and I checked if I could actually rest in the room. I was well into my headache at that point and felt like I wanted to lie down. The woman we asked was surprised that 'nobody had spoken to us'. Apparently, it was looking less likely that the surgery was going to happen. So we waited a bit more, but this time I was lying down comfortably.
Finally, I was told to get ready - all piercings out, wedding ring and undies off, weird smock-like gown on. Finally it was to happen. Sure I was nervous (see picture below), but it was finally happening and soon I would be able to put it all behind me.
Cláudia left at 8pm after walking back and forth in the corridor with me for awhile. Then my new buddy/roomate (I think her name is Diana) replaced Cláudia and we started walking together. Turns out she is Portuguese, British, and Swedish. One parent is British and the the other Swedish but she grew up in Portugal. She can't really talk right now due to having surgery. She has jaw and upper gum cancer but she writes to me on a board. She is very nice and made me feel better about what happened today or rather, lack of what happened today. She has dealt with her own waiting around and this is her second bout with cancer.
Anyway, my headache has subsided and so I can better explain what hapenned today. After checking in earlier in the morning, I was told to wait in this lounge area they have. The room wasn't prepared for me at that time and I had been told I would have surgery, then spend some hours in the recovery room, and then finally be moved to the room. After, waiting four hours without anyone checking in with me, I hailed down a nurse and asked her where the bathroom was. That is when I discovered I could use the bathroom in my room. After about another half an hour, Claudia and I checked if I could actually rest in the room. I was well into my headache at that point and felt like I wanted to lie down. The woman we asked was surprised that 'nobody had spoken to us'. Apparently, it was looking less likely that the surgery was going to happen. So we waited a bit more, but this time I was lying down comfortably.
Finally, I was told to get ready - all piercings out, wedding ring and undies off, weird smock-like gown on. Finally it was to happen. Sure I was nervous (see picture below), but it was finally happening and soon I would be able to put it all behind me.
Alas, it just wasn't to be. Shortly after my bed and I had been wheeled down into the pre-op room and I had my IV catheter inserted into the vein and a short chat with the anesthesiologist, one of the surgeons came in and apologized but said they had one more surgery to perform before mine. After asking if I was to wait down there or go back up, I was told they would bring me back up. The picture below is upon my return.
Despite the fact that it was becoming increasingly clear that I wouldn't be having my surgery today, I was still told that I had to hold off from even a small sip of water till one of the surgeons had come up and spoken to me. And so we waited till after 7pm to get the official confirmation that there would be no surgery today after all. And to think I had missed having pancakes this morning! But it gets worse! There is a nurses' strike tomorrow and the surgeon believes that it will be a 100% strike so that they will only be dealing with emergency surgeries. However, he can't confirm till tomorrow so guess where I am tonight? Still at the hospital. More than likely, I won't have my surgery tomorrow so I can leave the hospital for the day. If that is the case, though, I will need to return in the evening so I can be the first surgery in the mornng.
This has been crazy but at least I am more relaxed now. It probably has something to do with me eating cookies now. The cookies were offered by hospital staff and I 've had a hard day so why the hell not?
On a high note, I did mention to the anesthesiologist f it was possible to have someone take a picture of my thyroid. A dear friend sent me the lnk to a blog that she knows of where the woman has written about her thyroidectomy and where surgeon took a picture for her. Orignally, I had asked my endocrinologist if I could keep it. You know, maybe find me some formaldehyde to keep it in. Evan would have loved it. At the time he just laughed it off and so I simply signed the papers to donate the little butterfly to scientifc research. Well, today the anesthesiologist was real nice about the picture. At first she thought I was joking and she laughed but then she realzed that I was serious. She still laughed but said she would mention it.
This has been crazy but at least I am more relaxed now. It probably has something to do with me eating cookies now. The cookies were offered by hospital staff and I 've had a hard day so why the hell not?
On a high note, I did mention to the anesthesiologist f it was possible to have someone take a picture of my thyroid. A dear friend sent me the lnk to a blog that she knows of where the woman has written about her thyroidectomy and where surgeon took a picture for her. Orignally, I had asked my endocrinologist if I could keep it. You know, maybe find me some formaldehyde to keep it in. Evan would have loved it. At the time he just laughed it off and so I simply signed the papers to donate the little butterfly to scientifc research. Well, today the anesthesiologist was real nice about the picture. At first she thought I was joking and she laughed but then she realzed that I was serious. She still laughed but said she would mention it.