September 21, 2009

BEFORE (Note bulge just below chin)              AFTER (scar on bottom of neck; bulge gone)

Well, it has been an interesting week to say the least!  I started out the week with my thyroid intact and now it is GONE!  Yes, on Thursday morning, I underwent a thyroidectomy!  Why?  You ask.  Well, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis about 18 years ago.  At that time, I was told that I would have to have it removed sooner or later because it would eventually cease to function.  Since then, I have had my thyroid levels checked annually (sometimes bi-annually) and they always came back within normal range.  Since high school, I have had ongoing symptoms of hypothyroidism (lethargic, inappropriately cold all the time!, dry skin, forgetfulness, painful menstrual periods, etc).  My mom took me to several doctors while I was in high school because she was “sure” I had hypothyroidism.  Yet, every time we were told that my levels were “normal.”

Earlier this year, I started to have difficulty swallowing bread, started snoring, and started having trouble sleeping.  When I started to research the cause, I kept running into hypothyroidism as a potential cause.  So, I promptly set up an appointment with my endocrinologist.  At the appointment, I promptly underwent an ultrasound of my neck.  Normally, the doc would have performed a fine-needle biopsy (stick a needle through a lump on my neck to test for cancer) on the mass in my neck, but I was told there were too many nodules on my thyroid… which equals too many needles to stick in my neck.  Instead, the endocrinologist set up a consultation with a surgeon and said it was time to get the thyroid removed.   The surgeon would assess for malignancy (cancer) when removing the thyroid.  At my consultation with the surgeon, my thyroidectomy was scheduled for Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 8am. 

On Thursday, I showed up at the hospital at my scheduled time of 6am with a blood sugar of 142.  (I decreased my basal rates from 3am- 6am to avoid any brushes with hypoglycemia.)  Unfortunately, I misread my pre-operation instructions and instead of eating or drinking NOTHING, including water, after 12 midnight, I thought I could drink ONLY drink water after midnight.  So, I drank some water at 2am.  Luckily, after checking with the anesthesiologist, he agreed that 6 hours would be enough time for the water to have passed through my system safely.  WHEW!  LESSON LEARNED: Whenever you are scheduled for surgery, do not, I repeat, DO NOT eat or drink ANYTHING!  While being prepped for surgery, a young nursing assistant opened the curtain to my room, looked at me, looked down at the machinery in hand, and turned around and walked back out.  Within seconds, she whipped back around, opened the curtain and said with a confused look, “They told me to come in here and do an Accu-Check.  That’s not you, is it?”  I smiled and replied, “Yes, that’s me.”  It was obvious that based on the strereotypes portrayed in the media and based on the patients she comes into contact with that I was not her typical patient with diabetes.    

The surgery started at 8am with my blood sugar at 154 and I was placed in a room on the 6^th floor by 1pm.  My blood sugar after surgery was 189.  With the help of pain medication and anti-nausea medication, I slept through the rest of Thursday.  I went home on Friday afternoon around 12:30pm.  Over the weekend, I pretty much stayed “knocked out” on pain meds.  It is now Monday afternoon, and the pain is starting to subside and my use of pain meds is subsiding as well.  I have started on my daily dose of Synthroid to replace my thyroid function.  I will say that I have been starving since I awoke from surgery.  I hope it is not an omen of the future!! J  The next few weeks will be important in getting my correct dosage of Synthroid on board.  I appreciate your prayers and kind words over the past few days! 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Being a woman means you are more likely to develop thyroid disease than men.  According to the American Medical Women’s Association, women are 5 to 8 times more likely than men to suffer from overactive or underactive thyroid, and approximately 1 woman in 8 will develop a thyroid disorder in her lifetime.  If you have had a baby in the past year you are at an increased risk for a variety of thyroid disorders, including postpartum thyroiditis.  Some doctors estimate that as many as 10% of women develop a thyroid problem after delivery.  Because the symptoms of thyroid disorders often mimic and/or cause postpartum depression, many doctors are starting to test for both in the postpartum stage.