Back to the grind

While the doctor granted me three weeks off to heal, I am back at work today. I couldn’t honestly take another week as I’m almost back to full strength now. It’s hard to imagine that I was under the knife this time two weeks ago. Despite a bit of tightness around the incision, and the fact that I still look like Franken-neck, I could almost forget that the whole ordeal even happened. I had managed to work myself into such a frenzy before the surgery and it really wasn’t all that terrible. Do I want to do it again? No! But I can honestly say to other would-be thyroid surgery patients that the procedure isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

It’s waiting for the results now that I truly find difficult. My follow-up with the surgeon is on September 7. I keep praying for a clean bill of health, then I can refocus and move on. I’ll always have regular blood work and ultrasounds of the remaining half of my thyroid, but it’s a small price to pay in order to make sure I’m healthy. Cross your fingers folks; I really want to rule out the big “C”.

This week is going to be difficult. It’s hard to get right back into the working rhythm after two weeks off. For the first time ever, I think I actually managed to relax and do exactly as I pleased. For the first week, I lounged around on the sofa. During the second week I spent most of my time in the garage cutting, painting and creating Halloween decorations. It was a lot of work but it was “fun” work. I am always at my happiest and most relaxed when I am pouring myself into some sort of craft or art project. Keeping busy at something I enjoy – that is healing!

That’s all for now. I still haven’t posted pictures of the neck but hope to do so soon. It will be neat to see how it fades over time. Right now the ends of the incision are going red, so I am monitoring for infection. I think this is just my skin reacting to the suture knots just under the surface of the skin. I’m so pale that it isn’t hard for anything to stand out on my skin. Either way, I’m not hiding the neck. I’ll proudly show my battle scar : )