Surprise thyroid cancer: Operation day and hospital stay

30th Septemeber- Surgery time

I got to Preston royal hospital at 7:30 am with my mum, her boyfriend, dad, sister and my boyfriend. We went to the waiting area where I was told I was only allowed one person to wait with me so I picked my sister. The waiting area was pretty full, mostly old or middle aged people were in there, I was definitely the youngest. As I sat down to wait with my sister the nerves started to kick in as I have never had an operation before or had to stay in hospital. My sister being the little crazeball that she is just kept on trying to make me laugh and did not allow anything to become too serious.
After about 20 minutes of waiting I got called by a nurse who took my blood pressure and measured my legs for the sexy socks (deep vain thrombosis socks) and gave me a gown and sent me back to the waiting area. My sister kept my spirits high with jokes and her laugh that is infectious, it is so infectious it had the two men next to us laughing too. After another 20 minutes I got called to see another nurse, they kept telling me their names but it just wasn't sticking and I could not remember their names.
She asked me some questions about:

If I was on any form of contraception like the rod or coil
When my last period was
Family history of blood clots
Address
D.O.B and a few other things.

I was sent back to the waiting room again to wait for my surgeon and anaesthetist. My surgeon Miss Ligy Thomas came in and explained what she was going to do and asked if I had any questions. She made me feel quite at ease considering how nervous I was. Next the anaesthetist called me to a room to answer some questions, he was a junior anaesthetist, young and very nice.
He asked questions on:

Family history
How much exercise I normally do
If I have had surgery before
If I have ever done drugs or do drugs
Reactions to anaesthetic
Menstrual cycle
Allergies
Height and weight

I was then told what to expect as I informed him my nerves were kicking in a bit. He sent me back to the waiting room for a nurse to show me where to get changed into my gown. My sister came with me and was poking fun at me putting the gown on showing my little bottom through the back to which I replied it was OK because I was wearing my lady boxers. I then gave my over night bag and coat to my sister to look after as I was going down to surgery. We gave each other a long hug before she left to meet up with the rest of the family. The nurse who led me to the surgery waiting room gave me a pillow so I cuddled it all the way to the next waiting room. There I sat patiently waiting whilst there was a woman opposite me lay down on three chairs looking extremely comfortable as if she had no care in the world until she was told to move by the nurse. Another nurse came into the waiting area and called my name so I followed her into a room where the Anaesthetist and junior anaesthetist was waiting for me. They took my dressing gown off me and undid the back of my hospital gown asking me to lie back on the bed with my pillow under my head. I did as I was told. They asked me the usual questions such as D.O.B. and name, if I had signed the form agreeing to the surgery. They kept on talking to me after that to try and keep my mind off them sticking needles in my hand but I barely felt it anyway, the junior anaesthetist was very gentle and good at what he was doing. They put an oxygen mask over my face and stuck round pads with wires to my chest and sides of my ribs. The junior anaesthetist was standing over me looking at me and told me not to worry, everything was going to be OK and would be over soon.

After the surgery

The next thing I remembered was waking up being wheeled to a ward and really needing a wee. When I arrived on the ward the nurses came rushing over saying I should not be awake yet and asked me my pain level from 1-10 to which I replied 3 and they gave me some morphine. I told the nurse I really needed the toilet and she said I could not go to the bathroom as I had only just awoke from major surgery. So I asked again and was told if I really needed to then I would have to pee in a bed pan. I was not amused by this and in the end gave up and asked for the bed pan. She tried helping me and I told her to get off I could do it myself even though it hurt to lift myself up I was determined to be independent. After that was over I was allowed to go to the main ward to see my family. They were waiting there with smiles on their faces and I smiled back. At first I had a room to myself that they kept me in for a little while.My voice was very husky, deep and quiet. My sister and boyfriend took a few pictures of me even though my sister got a little bit emotional when she saw me so I told her to get over to the bed and give me a cuddle. I might look happy on them but bare in mind that at the time I was on morphine and these were about an hour after the surgery:

After these pictures were taken I was moved to the female ward 17 and my family stayed with me until 8:30pm. My surgeon came to see me and told me she had removed my thyroid, lymphnodes and some chest tissue. I had a total thyroidectomy and bilateral level 6 and 7 neck dissection. I decided to take a few photos myself of my neck and the drain that was sucking all of the bad blood out of my neck.

That night the nurses would not give me any pain medication and I started to break out with a reaction all over my neck, face and chest. I was also informed that I had low blood pressure and low calcium. I waited hours until Carol one of the nurses came up to me and told me she was waiting for the doctor but he never came so she gave me some ibuprofen anyway and apologised. The woman next to me was also throwing up all night and had to use the bed pan to go to the toilet smelling the whole ward out. That night I did not sleep a wink and was so tired.

1st October

After my first night in hospital I was feeling a bit worse for wear and just wanted to sleep but couldn't. I was in pain and had two ibuprofen after major surgery whilst all the other patients were on decent pain medication. I felt as though I was neglected for being the youngest on that ward as if I did not need attending to but maybe that was my own fault for not pressing the buzzer to get the nurses attention. On the day shift Emily who was looking after me when I was wheeled out of theatre was doing the morning shift and asked if I was in pain to which I replied yes. She got me pain relief and agreed that a reaction had occurred over night. She arranged for a Doctor to prescribe antihistamines to reduce the itching and inflammation around my neck as well as to see if the redness everywhere else would decrease. I was having blood tests three times a day and felt like a human pin cushion along with being extremely tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. I was started on hormone replacement tablets that I now have to have for the rest of my life, three times a day. The tablet that I am now taking is called Liothyronine.
The Doctor came by that morning to take my blood and I told him I barely had any pain relief on my first night because he decided not to come and allow me to have them and his response was the nurses never told him which was a lie as I heard Carol on the phone to him twice asking him to come down. Whilst attempting to take my blood he poked four holes in me and did a terrible job getting the blood as later on that day a nurse got the blood out straight away. I also had to have heparin injections in my stomach which were not exactly pleasant. The only thing that made my day better was my visit from friends and family where they gave me teddies, cards, chocolates and one of my best friends decided to bring a bag of random stuff including hot chocolates and marshmallows.

These were the four places the Doctor decided to violate my skin to get the blood...

A cute cuddly teddy that kept me company whilst in hospital from my friend Sage.

Fruit, coffee cake, Mags and flavoured water from my mum and sister.

The hospital dinners were not as bad as I thought they were going to be, the soup was always nice.

The rash all over my face, chest and neck and the drain with blood in the bottle.

The rash after having an antihistamine in the morning and dark circles due to lack of sleep from pain and those bloody bedside buzzers.

In the afternoon my skin looked a little better but neck and chest was still red, I was still very tired too.

2nd October

By the Wednesday I still had not slept because of the bedside buzzers constantly going off and was still getting the tummy injections and blood tests. The nurse doing my blood tests this time must have been a student nurse as she had no idea, she was trying to take my blood for ten minutes wiggling the needle, taking it out and putting it in again as if I was a doll. Then she got a new bottle for the blood to go in and it flowed straight out of my arm. My blood pressure was still low as well as my calcium levels so I was put on calcium tablets. I was so fed up and bored I would just walk around the hospital so that I was not lay in bed all the time even if it was at the hospital entrance doors in my gown for a bit of fresh air. I would say hi to everyone to gain some kind of conversation which ended up getting me the nickname little voice for my stay in the hospital. I also met a young woman called Laura who I was able to have a conversation with and keep in contact with. That night Debbie a young nurse was on and she was lovely, she made sure I had everything I needed and was finally able to get a few hours sleep.

The nurses attempt at getting my blood.

3rd October

The day I finally got my drain out of my neck! It was starting to feel uncomfortable and I had under 20ml of blood drain out although in total there was about 140ml over my stay in hospital. When they was taking the tube out they had to take out the stitches attaching the tube to my neck and then told me to take three deep breathes. On the third they pulled it out and it went right round my neck. I could not breathe for a while after and it was painful. I am not going to lie, it was the worst experience I have had, I was in pain all over again when I thought it was getting better. It felt like someone had just cut your throat there and then but I was also not on any pain killers that day. Perhaps if I had taken my painkillers it would not have been as bad. My stomach was also hurting where the student nurse injected me wrong, she did not pinch the skin before injecting so I was left with a bruise and a lump in that bruise. The good new was I was finally allowed a proper shower! I was not able to have a shower because of the tube in my neck but the nurses allowed me to have one when it was removed.

Looking a lot better, not red any more.

So many blood tests :(

The one on the left was from the student nurse (bruise is bigger and darker now), the one on the right from a skilled nurse.

All nice and clean finally.

4th October- Finally time to leave the hospital

Being able to go home after being very bored and lonely was such a good feeling. Before being able to go I had to have my sutures removed which was not as bad as I thought, it was just an uncomfortable feeling. Unfortunately for me my surgeon had her own style of stitching so the nurses got confused as to how to remove them and ended up getting backup to help remove them. One nurse on either side working together to figure out the best way to get them out. After that was over and done with I filled out a survey, feed back form and waited for my medication so I could be discharged. Whilst I waited I had my dinner which was nice, was like a chip shop lunch with mushy peas and chips. I left the hospital with a medicine bag which included my calcium tablets, liothyronine, ibuprofen, paracetamol and piriton.

Stitches before removal.

Stitches after removal.

Chip shop lunch with soup.

After I was released I went and talked to a woman that works with Macmillan who is going to help me sort out my university work so I don't fail this year and if I have any questions I now have an advisor that I can ask and they will offer advice if I need it. In almost ever hospital there is a department for cancer patients that offers advice and other services.

Close up of stitches removed, put cream on as it was itching.

When I got home to pack a suitcase to stay with my mum for a few weeks my house mates had made me a home made card, it has all the things in it that I love. My pet rats, tea, cake and a top hat for the rats.I shall leave you with a few lovely images of this well thought out card: