June 19, 2011 - Thyroid Surgery Update

This is a simple, no frills posting to announce that my total thyroidectomy was successfully completed on Friday, as planned. I'm writing this from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The original plan was for me to be home by now, but they've kept me on here because my blood tests have shown my calcium levels to be a little low.

This is surely related to my parathyroids, a series of tiny glands that regulate the body's calcium supply. During a thyroidectomy, the parathyroids are removed from their usual position at the back of the thyroid and reattached elsewhere in the immediate vicinity. Sometimes it takes a little while for them to wake up after being moved, which is evidently what's happened in my case.

I'm very much in recovery mode: still a bit weak, but able to make my way for several laps around the hospital hallway without support. I'm also trying to remember to pick up the little plastic breathing toy they gave me, and inhale through it, in order to restore my full respiratory function, post-anesthesia.

The incision area looks neat and clean, a narrow, 4-inch strip of gauze under a semi-transparent bandage. The whole neck area feels stiff, and I can turn my head only with difficulty.

Claire will be by later today. We left the car in the hospital parking garage, and she's been taking the bus and subway to her sister, Ramona's, apartment in Washington Heights, where she's been staying at night.

The calcium level's been looking better with each blood test, so hopefully I'll get my marching orders today.