Surgery - TOTAL THYROIDECTOMY AND NECK DISSECTION (lymph node removal). I know – the word dissection is disgusting. Reminds me of high school biology.

The doctor greeted me at 7 am before the surgery and asked me about the weddings. I was grateful to have been a part of them, but I also was ready to get the first step of my treatment over with. I was blessed with my husband, mother, father, mother-in-law, sister and a friend all with me at the hospital to comfort me. Of course I was frightened, but I knew I was in good hands and all the doctors and nurses introduced themselves to me before I went in for surgery. Finally, it was time and my big bed was wheeled down the hallway into the prep room and I said goodbye to my family. The worst part of the prepping was the nurse in training couldn’t find a vein for the IV. After a few failed attempts, it started to get painful. I showed him the vein my husband (the paramedic) “called.” That got a laugh from the other doctors and sure enough, Justin was right and the nurse started the IV. The best part of the prepping was when I mentioned I had a husband, a nurse seemed surprised and explained that she thought the reason my parents were there was because I was under 18. LOVED that. And thankfully, that is all I remember until after the surgery.

I woke up in the recovery room and spent an hour there. My initial reaction when I woke up was - I had to pee. This was my first time peeing in a bedpan. Not pleasant. Once the nurse was sure all my vital signs were good, my family and friends were allowed to see me. I was totally out of it from the anesthetic and laughed so hard when Justin and my friend came in wearing the head to toe spacesuit-looking scrubs. I started blabbering on about the weddings I had been in to my friend, completely forgetting I had just been through surgery. I felt NO pain… After the hour in the recovery room, I was placed in a private room. Justin was able to stay the night with me in a chair. We watched Kingpin and then I fell asleep from all the medicine. I woke up later in the night and needed more medicine. Not necessarily from the surgery itself, but from the effects of the breathing tube. My throat was exceptionally dry and swallowing, talking, and even lying down hurt. The next day, I was released and felt great. It was definitely residual of the medicine….I felt so good, in fact, I went out to dinner with my family. When I woke up the following day I painfully realized I had really pushed my boundaries and had to do some serious recovery. My throat was still in pain from the breathing tube and I spoke only in a loud raspy whisper. Not being able to speak was really irritating although I think for the first few days my husband was appreciative. I didn’t leave home for a few days and was thankful for the large stock of soup in the fridge my dad had bought for me at The Soupbox.

The bandage fell off ten days later.

On June 13^th, I felt well enough to come back to school on the last day to say good bye to my students before the summer. When I walked into the building, there were about 10 students sitting in the foyer and when they saw me they shouted, “Mrs. Moon is back!!” and started clapping. People always ask me why in the world I would ever want to teach kids in middle school. This is exactly why.