Surgery

Hello, loves.


What day is it? Everything seems to be running together since my surgery on Monday. I've mostly been sleeping (a lot!). It amazes me that I can possibly sleep this much. It takes a lot of energy for the body to heal itself.


My body surprised me by springing back quickly after surgery; I was ready to leave the hospital less than an hour after coming out of surgery. There was significant pain, but I was much less groggy than last year and my throat was less sore and I was able to swallow easier. As a whole, the experience was much better than last year's surgery. My anesthesiologist and nurses were fabulous and I felt well cared for and not scared throughout the whole procedure. 


Unfortunately, my surgeon didn't find what he was expecting inside my neck. From the scans it seemed like the tumor was a cancerous lymph node, but instead the doctor found a new tumor that was much more aggressive than thought. It already had tendrils wrapped around my laryngeal nerve. As evidenced by my ability to still talk now, he didn't damage the nerve, but it also meant he wasn't able to dissect out as much as he would have liked. Because of the aggressiveness of this cancer, my surgeon is recommending external beam radiation within a month in addition to the radioactive iodine treatment. This is a lot for me to think about, because of the serious effects that external radiation can have (permanent loss of my hair & voice, other types cancer). But for now I will take recovery just one day at a time, and not focus my energy on any decisions at this point. 


That's the quick update, but I wanted to share it with you all because I know you were wondering. I'm going back to bed now...goodnight :)


xoxo,


Lisa