Woo hoo, it's done! What a wild ride. Papillary thyroid cancer.

My surgery was Monday at 8am for a total thyroidectomy with lateral left dissection (as well as central compartment). My surgeon said it would likely take 6 hours but it ended up taking just over 8. She found that I had lymph nodes stuck to my vocal cords which she had to maneuver off, but thankfully they weren't fully involved. She also found a node that was encasing my internal jugular vein which she had to dissect and remove. A very deep node was found low and under my clavicle area. We were aware of nodes up high under my ear and near my jaw bone which would add time as well. My incredible surgeon (Dr.  
Lisa Orloff at Stanford) did all of it beautifully. My facial nerve is in great shape, my shoulder feels great and I have not lost any mobility, and my voice is totally fine.

I'll ramble a bit about my experience in case anyone is curious. I woke up from surgery with searing pain in my right shoulder due to positioning I think. They had to push some fentanyl for that, and then I got super nauseated from the pain meds. They had also given me an oral oxycodone. That didn't last too long and I was able to ravenously eat mashed potatoes and gravy and chicken noodle soup. My throat wasn't really sore at all. The first night of sleep was terrible but drugged lol.

The hospital was very full and I spent the first 24 hours post op in a horrible surgical recovery bay that was sooo loud and awful. The care teams were incredible though, I loved all of my nurses and my surgeon and her team stopped by often. 

I had two drains, one from the central compartment and one from the left dissection. The fluid did start to turn milky which meant a chyle leak so I had to be switched to a fat free diet and it prolonged my hospital stay a bit. They let me go home yesterday afternoon with one drain still in, staying on the fat free diet, and I have a follow up tomorrow to hopefully get the second drain out. The chyle leak appears to have resolved and the fluid is clear and pink again!  
The drains don't bother me much at all. And I didn't really have much pain. The neck incision feels weird and tight but it doesn't "hurt". I feel like I got hit by a bus, the sedations are kind of whole-body in terms of discomfort.

My second night in the hospital was the worst because if I sat back even slightly (like to sleep) I felt like I was suffocating. My vitals and O2 sats were fine but I'd fall asleep for a few mins and then wake up feeling like I was gasping for air. Out of an abundance of caution the team ran heart tests (blood, EKG) and did a chest xray. The chest xray showed minor plural effusion and a small area of my lung collapsed which I'm sure is what I was feeling. The fluid in my lungs was minor and I think expected from all of the drainage and a small partial lung collapse is apparently common for long surgical procedures.  
That feeling only lasted 24 hours, thankfully!! I did finally sleep when the nurse gave me an Ativan lol.

I got home last night and slept propped up with a lot of pillows on my big sofa with my husband sleeping on it next to me. I slept like a baby! It felt sooo great to be home. I came home with a few days of oxy which I am spacing out more but still taking, prescription Tylenol, and my Levo. Oh, and the gas pains are no joke so l've been keeping up on the MiraLAX and OTC gas pills.

I am thrilled by my surgical site and how my amazing surgeon managed to do the lateral dissection without doing a vertical cut up my neck. I am pleasantly surprised. It looks even better than I expected! I showered fully last night, they said to get it wet and to gently shower every day.

It feels great to be on the downward slope of this tough experience. I'm sure my anxiety will ramp up as we wait for pathology and my first labs/scans but I'm prepared for a high ish dose of RAI given the scope of my known disease.

My surgeon even uploaded a photo of what she removed - so I got to see my thyroid and my internal jugular vein. Kinda cool! 

Day 3 post thyroidectomy and left lateral dissection!