Op day, fry ups and waiting......

Having had my first appointment cancelled I didnt hold out much hope that my operation date would come around again soon. I expected to wait at least a month, and so was very pleasantly surprised when I was booked in for my operation the following weekend. I was to be at the hospital at 7am on a saturday!

Unfortunately 7am appointments mean no food or drink past midnight the night before, so I stayed up late and had a midnight feast :) As I said previously I wasnt afraid of having the surgery, I had got to the point where I enjoyed the anesthetic. I am not entirely sure why I had no fear of the surgery, I think its something to do with childbirth. I have found that since being a mummy things that happen to me dont scare me so much, if I could deal with childbirth I could deal with anything! I discovered that a weird side effect of this is that scary amusement park rides, where even my partner screamed like a girl, I just wet myself laughing on LOL. Not literally wet myself LOL.

We prepared little man for my stay at hospital, explained that he needed to look after daddy and that the doctors were going to fix mummys neck. He seemed fine with it, as I said previously id had 2 operations in a year at this point and so he was getting used to it. We all piled into the car and off we went to the posh hospital. When we got there little man found some mischeif by making sure everyone had a glass of water from the water machine, and sat and read a book about doctors and how they fix people. Hes a little charmer so he had soon charmed everyone in the waiting room.

After a while a nurse came and took me up to my room. The room was amazing! I am not joking when I say that it was like a hotel room, the only difference being that the bed was a hospital bed! It was a private room, with a tv, and an ensuite! No chocolate on the pillow but there was very posh complimentary toiletries! On the way up in the lift the lady had told us that the cafeteria did fried breakfasts at 8am, my partner was very excited!

The anesthetist came to see me, I had a bad cold at the time, he was slightly concerned that they may have to cancel me due to my cold based on the fact that they were operating on my neck, but after a quick temperature check they decided to go ahead. When 8am came around my partner and little man went off to the cafeteria in search of a fry up!

I sat in the room in the chair and watched tv, having not eaten since midnight the idea of a fry up was pretty much torturous. Dr M came in and checked me over, its impossible not to smile when he is around. I signed my permission slip and verified I understood everything and off he went.

My partner and little man came back, there had been no option of a fry up as the cafeteria was shut, but little man had charmed someone in the kitchen into giving him one anyway for free! Turns out in private hospitals fry ups are part of the menu for patients! They made sure I was happy in my room and kissed me goodbye and went home, toddlers and hospitals dont mix - not much fun lets be honest!

I sat in the room and waited and waited and waited, for what seemed like hours. I had been told Id go down to theatre at 11am, by about 1pm I was still waiting. I hate waiting for operations mainly bcos not being allowed to eat makes me super hungry! I went to the desk and asked when I would be going down and was told I was next on the list. I went back to the room and put on my surgical stockings which were navy blue - so not as bad as the horrid white ones and my gown, and waited some more.

Pre-op assesments and Whoopsie

I received a phone call from the admissions people at the local hospital to notify me that Dr M has requested to do my surgery at a posh private hospital over an hour away from my home. I wasnt too keen at first, I worried about getting there and staying overnight so far away from my family. But eventually I agreed and after many a missed phonecall (I never check my voicemail lol) I agreed a date for the surgery and was sent a letter asking me to go for my pre-operative assessment. Unfortunatlely the assessment was to also be done at the posh hospital some distance away! Off we went. Pre-Op assessments now involve checks for mrsa and most of the time a blood test, mrsa tests involves swabs of your groin and nose, so I made sure I had nice pants on :) LOL

We got to the hospital which was small and had free parking! The assessment went well, little man came with us and was incredibly tempted to press all the red buttons! The lady swabbed my nose, and refused to allow me to swab my own groin - boooo. I verified the times and dates of the operation and check about recovery times etc. I was told to expect 2 weeks recovery and was assured that Dr M was an excellent surgeon and that I would be in good hands.

The day of the surgery arrived, I was to have a Partial Thyroidectomy - to remove the lump. I was expected to be at the hospital at 1pm. Childcare was arranged and my other half was to drop me off at the hospital after a half day at work. I got up on the day of surgery glad that I could have breakfast and some coffee hours bfor I went in for surgery, fasting is not something I am good at I NEED coffee in the morning or im no use to anyone!

At 7.45 am the phone rang.... it was the posh hospital. 'We are just wondering where you are?'.... 'Im not supposed to be there til 1pm so im still at home???'... 'Oh we were expecting you at 7am, how quickly can you get here?'.... 'Well I guess by ten? But I have just eaten.'

It turned out that there had been an admin problem and my time of surgery had been sent incorrectly, Dr M wasnt even going to be at the hospital at 1pm, he left by 11.30am. So my surgery was cancelled, turns out even posh private hospitals arent perfect LOL. I was apologised to profusely.... It was annoying, but as my surgery was cancelled I got to eat all I wanted too that day so it wasnt all bad!

Dr M and Spiderman

Fast forward a good few months and my appt came around to go see the consultant at the hospital. My little man insisted on going dressed as Spiderman, the consultant greeted him as Spiderman and made a fuss of
him. I instantly liked him!

Dr M the consultant put me straight at ease, he had a beaming smile and was welcoming, he had a peek at my neck, and asked permission for a student to have a look too.They both agreed that it was a big 'un :) I wasnt worried, but the doc advised that he remove the lump anyway. Having been told twice now that it wasnt cancer I could have just said naaah leave it. I didnt, I smiled (genuinely) and said okey dokey, I was waiting for another operation for something else at this point and said maybe they could do both ops at once.... no chance.. LOL. Nevermind, by this point I was quite enjoying the anaesthetics. Dr M said goodbye to spiderman.

I remember thinking that Dr M looked like someone who should run an italian restaurant and say 'Forget abaaart it'. We were in and out of the hosp in 15 mins that day. Much to the disgust of the other people in the waiting room...

Needles and Ultrasounds

I was sent a letter asking me to go to the hospital, so they could have a look at my lump... so off we all went a nice family outing down to the hospital, my little man was happy - he brought woody and buzz with him and was bought a magazine. I never know whether or not to make polite conversation with other people in waiting rooms, so I didnt. I waited my turn while the little man and my partner played in the convenient play area in the waiting room and then they called my name. I made light of the situation by chatting with the nurse and the man who would scan my lump. They laid me out of the table in a dark room and began by smearing my neck in clear goo. I remarked how the ultrasound made my lump look like a baby, and then the scan man said he was pretty sure it was nothing to worry about but that he would like to take a sample of lump with a needle... He said it would hurt, I said I have been through child birth and nothing hurts more than that - go ahead!

It didnt hurt but the little blighter took two samples, thats 2 needles, 2 sets of ouch! My neck hurt a little afterwards and so I popped some painkillers and off we went, feeling pretty secure in the fact that two people had now said I dont think its cancer and defo none of those google abuse nasties!

Pickled eggs

So I booked an appt with the GP, my head swimming with all sorts of nastys from google abuse. My partner at this point had been yelling whenever he went out of the room 'Get OFF Google!'...

Typically trying to not look worried I explained to my GP about my lump, that it was probably nothing - but could she just let me know what her thoughts were? Having looked at it and prodded it a bit, she decided that it was very unlikely it was Cancer, coming to that conclusion due the fact that it wasnt 'craggy'. As I had had it for about 18mths at that point she said right lets get you a thyroid function test done, and il refer you to ENT. 'I tell you want lets make your lump sound more interesting - we will say its shaped like a pickled onion - or egg. That will maybe get you seen quicker' LOL you have to laugh!





 So off I went home soooo glad that it didnt look likely that I had any of the google abuse nasties!

A trip to A and E and Google abuse

My little man is a proper boy, he has no fear, runs everywhere, talks at the top of his lungs, wakes me up in the middle of the night every night to get in bed with me. In short hes awesome, and can be a big mummys boy. Turns out at 3 yrs old hes already paid me back for everything I do for him bcos if it wasnt for him I might not have said anything.

It was during a trip to a&e with my little man that I mentioned in passing to the lovely doctor that I had a big lump in the front of my neck. Explaining about the fact that I had one on the back of my neck that was just fatty tissue, she had a look and said - 'Im not sure I like the look of it. Go to your GP it might be nothing'.

I have to say I wasnt too worried until I got home and started Googling... NEVER google symptoms unless you fancy frightening yourself more than the scariest movie you have EVER seen. Google can be your friend, but use it wrong and it can become your worst enemy! Needless to say I booked in to see my GP.

The begining

So il take you back 6 or so years ago, I was single and had just landed a mgrs job that I had worked my behind off for, and I found a lump on the back of my neck. So natural reaction to finding a lump? Thats right I freaked out, went to my GP and was told it was just fatty tisssue and nothing to worry about... so off I went thinking well that was lucky and forgot all about it.

I met my lovely partner, moved counties, and had my beautiful baby boy....

Things were good, we had a few bumps in the road that meant I ended up in hospital for various reasons - but it would turn out that these things meant that my gorgeous boy would be more used to mummy having to go away for a night or two. Something that he would have to deal with more in the future.

My First ever blog....

Ive always been bursting with ideas.... and I mean bursting, and my newest idea has lead me here. I have to say that as I type my stomach is churning and im not soo sure that the idea of writing this blog is such a good one - but only time will tell....

Il apologise now if my story jumps back and forth a bit, but I am hoping that the end of the story is a very good one, for I just started on a journey. Its a journey that people expect me to have taken very differently... But I decided ''HEY LIFE! if your handing me lemons, Im gonna Make Lemonade!''