...a thyroid, of course! We are now at day 5, POST-op! I'm totally off the prescription pain meds (I wish they'd given me Percocet-the Lortab made me CRAZY). I'm still a little uncomfortable when I first go to sleep-I can't quite lay flat. It sort of feels like when the collar of your shirt chokes you a bit. So finding a comfy position is a bit challenging, but Tylenol PM ultimately kicks in and I'm off to dream land. I've been pleasantly surprised at how manageable the pain from the incision has been. I can still move my head-somewhat limited range of motion, but not as limited as I thought it would be. Swallowing has not been difficult and my throat doesn't hurt at all. My voice goes in and out, which is frustrating when you're on the phone and when I'm trying to call the dogs inside, but it's definitely getting stronger day by day.
By far the worst thing has been coughing. Apparently, when they intubate you for the surgery it either creates or stirs up a lot of gunk that then wants a way out. For the first few days after the surgery, I could hear it crackling in my lungs-not good. I've been taking Mucinex and that is helping, but today I think my allergies are acting up and my sinus are draining on top of everything else, so there's been a lot of coughing. And not regular coughing, but "watch out for my lung" kind of coughing. And in trying not to strain my neck muscles and thus tweak my incision, I find myself sounding like an 80 year old man who's smoked since the war! Which of course makes everyone around me laugh, thus making me laugh, which also hurts.
I found out today that sneezing is not as bad as I thought it would be, but still must be done with care-which is hard to exericse when sneezing.
My mom leaves tomorrow, which is sad. She came down with a terrible sinus infection Wednesday that necessitated a trip to the Minute Clinic on Thursday. She's doing better, but, of course, she's a quart low as well and the kids came home Wednesday, so there's been a LOT of watching TV. It was sad because she had all these plans of things they were going to do while I laid around the house and wasn't able to do any of them and we all just laid around the house.
Overall, I'm happy to report that I am well on my way to a full, healthy recovery. I am still taking it quite easy, which is tough with my little ones, but I'm managing. I still get worn out very easily and have to sit a good bit of the day. But each day I get a little stronger and am in a little less pain. My fabulous co-workers have brought us meals this week and will do so next week as well, so we are very thankful and grateful for that. The neat thing was that the meals started on the day my mom wasn't feeling so hot, so the timing was perfect for her not to have to fool with it too.
I'll see the doctor for my post-op on Tuesday when he'll remove the surgical tape covering my incision right now (gotta admit I'm not at all looking forward to that!) and more than likely replace it with another one. But already the swelling and slight brusing around the incision has gone down-I'm amazed at how well ours bodies can heal! Sometimes I think the pain I feel is more from the tape pulling my skin than the actual incision.
In other news, our friends, Jon and Cheryl welcomed their second born, a daughter, to their family today. Baby Audrey joins big brother Aidan in the Jackson clan. I'm told she's adorable with black hair. Cheryl is in the C-section club with me, so this is her second C-section and I'm so glad she's on this side of it. In some ways, it's so much better the second time because you know what to expect, but it's also scary because you know what to expect! So welcome to the chaos Audrey! We can't wait to meet you.
PS: having half a thyroid removed is way, way, way, way easier than having your second (or first!) C-section.
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