Broken or not?

Hello, friends,
The previous post was password protected because we needed to get the news to friends and family first. We are facing a rather interesting September.

Two surgeries are over already! Our little kitten, Chewy, had to be neutered on Sept. 2. All went well and he is none the worse for wear.

Arno's brother in Australia had to have cataract surgery on Sept. 3. The eye is still a little scratchy, but we have full hope that all will be clear very soon. The second eye will be done later this month.
My brother in South Africa will have complicated surgery on September 9.

My surgery on Sept. 8, as posted before --- also the day our schools start again after the long summer holidays! We have to make sure we get to the hospital early enough.
[Jenni will post updates during the day to this blog. To see if there is anything new if you come back to the same post, hit F5 on your keyboard, or just refresh / reload your browser.]

Added to this busy schedule is that Arno needs more surgery, two months after his first surgery. He will be in another hospital 8 days after mine, on Sept. 16. Wonderful friends are driving to take him to the hospital, maybe visit or bring items, since I would be out of commission and can of course not drive yet.


HISTORY OF THE LUMP

• Sept 2, 2014: I notice the lump on the left side of Arno's neck. 
• Saw our doctor who ordered an ultrasound. 
• Ultrasound found a lump of 7 cm on the thyroid, as well as two nodules on the right side. 
• Try to schedule a biopsy --- finally managed to get one at the end of November 2014. 
• By the way, we were told several times that a thyroid nodule or lump (quite common) is biopsied when it gets to 2 cm or about 1 inch. 
• We were told the biopsy was clear, no cancer. So - we had to wait for surgery. 
• Several months went by and after about five months of no surgery date, we called the doctor's office again. One of the (rather unfriendly) women said it "would take another year". 
• That was unacceptable, so we made another appointment to see the doctor. 
• His comment: "Why do I see you in my office and not on my operating table?" When we told him what the women said, he went with us to order them that surgery must happen by August at the latest. 
• On June 14, I had my collapse and spent four days in hospital. During that time, he got the call that his surgery would be in July. 
• On July 15, the left side of his thyroid was removed. We had to wait for pathology results. 
• A month went by --- no results. I was told to keep calling the office, since they might not call us. Five weeks - no results back yet. That was after we were told originally that results would be back as early as ten days after surgery. 
• Almost six weeks after the surgery, the results were finally back and we arranged to see the surgeon again. I quote: The removed lump was 7.5 cm in size. Of that, 6 cm is cancer.
• When the surgeon delivered this verdict, I told him that his biopsy in November came back clear - no cancer. Did he put the needle in the tiny part where there was no cancer? 
• Then surgery was suddenly scheduled to happen immediately, within three weeks. When I said I have brain surgery on Sept. 8, the surgeon let fly a rather strong exclamation. 
• Is our health system broken? You tell me.  
• Arno will have a full thyroidectomy --- a year after the lump was first noticed. 

Thank you to everyone who cares, who prays, who sent messages or cards, offered help, driving, cooking, fun and joy! We love you, we appreciate you and we are being held up by you. 

Surgery updates

Thyroid

Less than a month after his partial thyroidectomy, hubby already played softball again! The healing is amazing.
Below is a combination picture - taken less than 24 hours apart. The first one was taken shortly after surgery. Tape measure is around his neck to check for any swelling.
The next day, the tape measure was gone and he looked a little bit more "there"! The draining tube was removed about 24 hours after surgery and only left a small scab.

A week later, we had to go in for the stitches to be removed. Since it was only a single stitch, sort of like a blanket stitch (new to us!) I hardly had time to get the camera in place for a picture! He said it was more trouble to have the steri strips being pulled off than for the stitch to be removed.

The surgeon was happy with the result after seven days. We are still waiting for the pathology results of the removed half of the thyroid, though. I was hoping to have that ready and was holding off on this update for that reason.

Picture to the right was taken a week and one day after surgery, only hours after the stitch was removed.

Thank you for all the messages of concern and offers of help!

Meningioma

If you read a previous entry on this blog, you would know that I was diagnosed with a brain tumour, called a meningioma. My surgery is still scheduled for September 8 at Trillium hospital. By all accounts, their neurological department is excellent. (And it seems they have better coffee than Brampton Civic, which will be a plus! But I'm packing my rooibos teabags anyway.)

Realized last week I might need blood transfusion for my surgery. My sons have been blood donors for about 8 years, and I can use both their groups. I am A+; so is younger son and elder son is O+.  Called to ask if they can donate blood to be used for me, found out I would need about 2 litres during surgery. So that is in the works.

Blood Services Canada said  a parent can donate blood to be used for a child's surgery, but an adult child can't donate blood for a parent's surgery. Silly and makes utterly no sense! Now the surgeon's office is trying to let me know how we can go about using the boys' blood. Voicemail was garbled , though. I said if it is too much trouble, I'd just ask my sons and a few friends to go donate blood, which means the general pool gets replenished.

Oh yes, and the hair! So may people asked if I will have to shave my head. The surgeon said they'll shave what they need, but I decided to have fun with it. So did the hairdresser. She created a funky, spiky hairstyle, which will be cut once more before surgery and go quite a bit shorter. Another friend is making me a very bright hat so that people don't have to get sick when they look at me after surgery!

Here is a picture with a friend on the city plaza while we were enjoying the Farmer's Market. I'm the one on the right .... What do you think?

I'm still playing with it and learning how to do different things with the spikes. Part of it is adding some colour, using cream eye shadow. It works, and washes out with shampoo.

As for symptoms - headaches, fatigue (especially while working on the computer) and sometimes an unexplained twitch of the leg or arm might all have to do with the mushroom I'm growing in my head.

A very interesting year for us, indeed! 

Thank you to friends and family near and far, who carry us in thought and prayer.