"There is no place like home!!"........

 well, i made it home! it was a rather long drive yesterday since i did not feel too well, but i was so happy to be back home. the surgery went well. it did take about 4 hours, but they only removed the lymph nodes around my thyroid and of course, all of my thyroid. he biopsied the lymph nodes on both sides of my neck, but he said they looked pretty good. of course, i will have to wait until they get the results back to know for sure. i about freaked out when i thought that he might have to "go back in" to get the lymph nodes should they be cancerous. but as i understand it, if that happens, they will use a very large dose of radioactive iodine,radiation,chemo,or whatever.the surgeon is worried about my parathyroid glands. we all have four; i only have two now,but he is not sure if they will reconnect. these glands regulate calcium production in the body. i am taking ( this is NOT a typo!) 12,000 mg of calcium a day! if they do not reattach,then i will be on this dose for life.i am also on a special vitamin d. everybody keep their fingers crossed those little guys find a home and stay put.

i had the best cna taking care of me in the hospital, her name is lucy. lucy and i walked down the hall( well, to be honest, half way down the hall) at 1am thursday morning. i had two ivs in- one in my right hand, and one in my left arm. i was carrying my emesis bucket( the large size) because i had gotten sick four times after surgery( i hate anesthesia; i had the same kind michael jackson was fond of ) i had on my beautiful hospital gown- you know, the ones that provide too much view in the back, and we were walking like two turtles down the hall. no, i take that back, any turtle could have passed me! i did everything i could to get to come home early.

i do not remember too much about my surgery day. my blood pressure was sky high- 165/89- it usually runs about 110 to 120 over 68; so they gave me some "happy juice" they called it- i know it as the drug versed.one of the nurses told me to think about something happy- Jamaica,. he says. i have never been to Jamaica, so i thought about a beach trip i had taken with my family. of course that lasted about a second,then they got on with things.i do not remember the recovery room at all,but i probably had the intubation tube still in, so that is a good thing.

i got back to my room about 3 or 4; my family was all there. there was some poor older man hollering a couple of rooms down from mine. they thought i was asleep, but i said " that can't be good!!"that made everyone laugh, so that was good. i finally really came around about 5:30pm. my daughter's students had all made homemade get well cards for me. that was so sweet and kind of them. i will cherish them.

i will just rest and try to get better now. i have a follow up appointment with my surgeon on june 1st.then back to my endocrinologist.who knows what is ahead, but i feel pretty good about things.thanks to everyone again for your prayers and good wishes.