Surgery Day

So, surgery day was yesterday and overall, went really well! My mom headed over early in the morning and we left for the hospital at about 6:45am. After check-in, there was lots of waiting! So, we took some pictures of Brian's lovely scar-free neck. He was thrilled! :)

Finally, about 8:00 a nurse called Brian back. I wasn't able to go with, not sure why, but that's just their policy. During that time, they prepped him--vitals, changed into hospital garb, iv inserted, etc. They called me back once he was ready--about 8:30. I was quite impressed with Brian's stylin' purple socks! :)

Then, both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist came to talk to us. After a couple of brief chats, a nurse came back and started doing the final things. Then, the anesthesiologist showed up a large syringe filled with his magic "cocktail". Some drug that started with a "V" that neither of us remember now. He said it was "like Valium, only better". And, it was super fast acting--so one quick kiss, "i love you's", & goodbye later and they were wheeling Brian away. I've not been in that position before, standing watching them wheel a loved one away, but I can say that I don't like it. At all. My emotions were quickly switched to laughter though when just a few seconds later, I heard Brian exclaim, "Whoa, this stuff really does work fast" as they wheeled him through the OR doors. That was just before 9:00am.
I headed back to the waiting room and hung out. At some point, my dad showed up! It was nice to have some company. The surgeon has said that if all went "perfectly" surgery wouldn't even take an hour". So, as it neared 10:00, I was getting eager for him to walk through the door. But, things took a little longer and the doc came out just after 10:30. He explained that it took longer because Brian's Hashimoto's disease (the autoimmune disorder that's attacking his thyroid) is really advanced. Things were much more vascular and harder to see because of that. So, there was quite a bit more blood than would be normal and that made it harder for him to find/get to the suspect parathyroid gland. But, once he got to the lower right gland, it had the characteristic adenoma look. So, he removed it. After removal, the continued to checking Brian's parathyroid hormone levels, and everything came down as it should if that was the only overactive gland. Because of that, the surgeon said he didn't even take a look at any of the other glands (no need for extra trauma if it probably wasn't necessary). So, other than the Hashimoto's issue, everything went well. He said they'd probably call me back in a few minutes, but it actually wasn't until 11:30!! 
Brian was SUPER out of it. In fact, the surgeon was there talking with him when I walked in, but Brian doesn't remember that at all! One of the first things he said to me was, "It feels like a horse stepped on my neck." A totally random and interesting analogy for sure--and not something that sounds comfortable at all!!
He was hoarse (from the breathing tube & anesthesia), nauseous, his color was not good--sort of grayish white. He kept telling the nurse how out of it he was and she assured him he was doing much better than an hour before when he couldn't even get his eyes to focus!! (That's why it took them so long to let me come back--he was REALLY out of it).

  

So we hung out there for awhile. Brian had a big ice pack on his neck, two lines in his arm (a very large one in his forearm to draw his blood labs from and his normal iv line on the inside of his elbow), and is holding a clear barf bag. Ew. Thankfully, he never got sick. What helped him avoid it was sniffing alcohol swabs. Weird! The nurse said that in many people it takes away the nausea caused from anesthesia, but only anesthesia--not anything else. Again, weird! It's so crazy how anesthesia affects the body! By about 12:30, the nurse told us that he would feel this way for the better part of the day. His vitals were good, as were his hormone levels. So, there really wasn't any need to keep him! YAY! So, we got to bring him home. He slept on and off the rest of the day and was much more with it by later last night.

Today, he is doing much better--not nearly as hoarse, the anesthesia effects totally gone, and his throat doesn't hurt anymore. But, he said the incision site hurts quite a bit today and his neck feels really tight. 

Here's the before & after:

You can see he's all orange up to the bottom part of his chin (from the "disinfectant" the poured all over his chest & neck) and he already has some bruising. The incision site looks a bit bigger than we would have liked, but hopefully it all heals up nicely with minimal scarring. There's actually no stitches externally--just that liquid skin glue. Crazy! In addition to normal surgery complications, we're on low calcium watch. Because the one parathyroid gland has been overactive for an unknown amount of time, the other 3 might not have been working. So, sometimes, they don't "wake up". If that happens, his blood calcium levels would get really low and he could have numbness, tingling, and/or muscle twitches/spasms. We've got prescriptions for high dose calcium & vitamin D in case that happens.

We have 2 follow up appointments in one week (on Monday, May 2nd) with the endocrinologist and the surgeon to check levels, get the pathology report, go over things, and I would assume, check the incision. So, this will be a low-key week and Brian will likely be missing the week from work. He can't do any lifting this week (like can't pick up the boys) and it's really hard for him to move his neck, so driving would be difficult. 

Thanks to everyone who checked-in, called, sent messages, well-wishes, and prayers!!!!