Surgery Day

The morning of my surgery we were supposed to leave at 6:00am, but left 15 minutes late.  We still should have gotten to the hospital in time, but there was an accident on the highway.  We eventually got to the hospital and then got lost in the building and had to ask for directions to where I needed to go.  I finally got to the area I needed to fill out paperwork and that's when my parents got there.  After that I went to, if I remember correctly, One Day Surgery area, and got my waiting room and my gown.

Most of the day is now hazy because of the drugs, stress, and nervousness.  I remember them taking my blood and giving me stuff through an IV.  Justin held my hand throughout all of that.  The next thing I remember is being pushed down a hallway to my surgery for a minute and then falling back to sleep and then waking up for a few minutes when they pushed my bed into the surgical room.

My surgery was three hours long and after it I woke up from what felt like someone tugging on the nose oxygen tube around my ears.  Since my throat was so dry I asked for something to drink, but the only thing I could have at the time was ice cubes.  I was so out of it that my boyfriend feed me the ice cubes with a spoon and from what my family told me I was being demanding on the sizes of the cubes.  I vaguely remember people telling me to go back to sleep if I'm so tired, but I kept saying I wanted to stay up and talk to everyone.  I guess, I'm very stubborn when I still have the effects of anesthesia.

They told my parents and boyfriend to go to my overnight room and they'll bring me upstairs.  It seemed they forgot about me since it took them hours to get someone to take me to my room.  Eventually they got me to my room and I was met with my parents and Justin.  His parents were in the waiting room as only so many people can stay in the room.  It was weird sitting up in a bed for me, especially with this HUGE wrapping around my neck and a tube with a plastic bag attached to it coming out from underneath the wrapping that was collecting blood and stuff from inside in my neck.  I had to sleepover night with this thing, which was weird.

I talked to everyone and then they left around 9:00pm as visiting hours were over.  Most of the night was fine for me as my roommate was nice and quiet.  It was  funny since the nurses kept coming in for her since they needed to move her, so they were getting all prepared for it... the roommate was all concern about them waking me up.  The one nurse said she was sorry for waking me up and I told her it was okay.  At some point they moved her to her new room on a different floor and I was alone for like an hour or two.  I took this time to call my mom and Justin and figure out what time everyone was coming. 

The woman in the room next to me would not stop yelling and causing problems... walking in the hall making noise, not caring if she's waking up other patients.  In the morning Justin told me that she was doing that a lot while he was visiting me.  She just would not shut up and kept going on and on about what her doctor said this and that,who did not work at that hospital and was not seeing what the doctors and interns where seeing.

Anyways, in the morning some interns came in to take the huge wrapping off of my neck, it seemed the one was showing some of them how to go about it, and the one unwrapping it seemed happy that I had short hair.  I purposely got my hair cut for my surgery since I didn't want my hair get stuck in stitches.  They also had to take the tubing out, which oddly didn't hurt, but it felt so weird.  It turned out they super glued my neck closed instead of using stitches.

Justin came to the hospital first and was able to order my breakfast since it was still hard for me to talk. My nurse came in and told us they will call for someone to get me a wheelchair, so I can leave.  Shortly after that my mom came to the room, but my dad was on the phone interviewing someone for a job, which had been scheduled in advance, so he got stuck with it.  My parents had gotten me a candle from Bath and Body Works that was scent specially for stress relief and then a nice, fake bamboo plant.  We waited and waited for a wheelchair for about an hour to two, but no one came with one.  My dad was leaving that day to go back to Texas, which meant he had to drop my mom off at my sister's and then get to the airport, so they had to leave.

Eventually the main nurse that was dealing with me walked passed my room and noticed I was still there, she seemed upset I was still there too.  She said she will ask again for someone to get me a wheelchair and help me out, but a nurse behind her said she could do it since I had been waiting for so long.  The nurse was nice enough to push me to the parking garage, but not in the garage... I'm not sure if this is normal or not, oh well.  Justin was able to help me walk into the garage and to the car, it wasn't that hard or at least I didn't think so.

I thought maybe the hard part was over with and that now with my new medication it would get me back to normal, but now I'm noticing this is only the beginning.

Thanksgiving

Today is the first Thanksgiving without my thyroid and still getting adjusted to my medicine increase that started on Tuesday (going from 125 to 175mg), which has been taking a toll on my emotional state.  I spent about a half hour crying in the bedroom due to how the medicine makes me feel.  I also snapped at Justin (my boyfriend) over the stupidest thing ever...  but anyways.  We made three different kinds of chicken that were all so yummy:  Garlic Cornflakes Chicken, Funyun Chicken, and Captain Crunch Chicken.  We were about to make a french toast cinnamon roll dish thing, but turns out we don't have cinnamon, so going to run to the store.

I have much to be thankful this year and I don't think words are enough to thank the people in my life.  I am thankful for my parents, my boyfriend, and his parents for coming to the hospital when I was having my surgery.  Also thankful for my parents for coming up to where I live and spending a week with me, especially my dad who was supposed to leave Wednesday, but stayed an extra day (my surgery was moved back a day).  I am thankful for my friends to let me talk and rant to them about the things I was and still am going through.  Thankful to have siblings that truly do care about me.  Thankful to be part of a great family.

Much thanks to the ones that have donated to me, so I can pay for some of my medicals bills and also to the others that shared my link for the donation page.  It has helped me greatly.

I'm thankful for facebook support groups like Thyroid Cancer Awareness, Support Thyroid Cancer, and Thyroid Disease Awareness.  These pages are full of great people that help each other understand what's going on with others, answer questions, and provide great information.  I highly recommend them to anyone that is having thyroid issues.

I can't stop thanking Justin, the love of my life, for being there for me and never leaving my side throughout all of this.  Some people wouldn't want to deal with something like this for long and would just leave, especially when the medicine makes you seem impossible to deal with.

Anyone that's in my life, thank you for staying in it.  It might not seem much to you, but it means a great deal to me.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I love you all dearly!

Weclome to the Butterfree Effect

No, this blog isn't about the Pokemon Butterfree or Pokemon in general and also it's not about recipes that are butter free or a butter free diet.  What is this blog about then?  It's about my life and my dealings of not having a thyroid.  The butterfree (butterfly) name of my blog comes from how they claim the thyroid looks like a butterfly and since the removal of the gland can have a huge effect on one's life... well you know, the butterfly effect?  Since the url name for ButterflyEffect was taken among others, I figured I play with the name and go with Butterfree since I'm free of the gland since it was removed on October 3rd, 2012.  Also that and I grew up on "Pokemans" and other anime shows.

To start off I'm only 27 years old... I know, young, right?  Too young to have cancer in most people's opinions, but it does happen.  And this is something I clearly learned on September 17th, 2012 when I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and scheduled for Total Thyroidectomy (the removal of the whole gland).  Remember the episode of Ash letting his Butterfree go, so it can mate with the Pink Butterfree.  Ash knew it was for the best for his Butterfree, but it was still painful, upsetting, and sad to let his friend go.  Well, that's how I felt about my thyroid.  I knew it was best for me and my body to let go of my thyroid (and well for my thyroid too), but it was still painful and upsetting for me.  Though sadly for Ash he can't replace his treasured friend and first caught Pokemon as Caterpie, but I can replace my thyroid with a pill.

This blog will be about me dealing with cancer while still trying to function with a normal life... like going to college, work, my family and friends, love life, and, of course, my doctor's appointments.  I will also talk about the beginning, how I first noticed a problem and also possible warning signs that I missed.  What I have learned about this cancer and issues I will properly have to deal with now and in the future.

This blog may bore some people, but it might also help people in their dealings of the cancer and know they are not alone with the pain, anger, and frustration of this disease.  It might also help people notice they might need to go check theirs out, it doesn't hurt to check something like this as it's just a blood test.