WoW Petopia Community

Best of luck Niabi - I'm sure everyone has you in their thoughts and prayers. I dunno why but I think this Rocky quote is appropiate "Its not about how hard you can hit - its about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward! Thats how winning is done!" Now go win!

*hugs* so much

Huggles hun.. hope all goes well !

Godspeed, Niabi, I hope it will go well for you.

Good luck Niabi!

Geronimo! Take care of yourself and please let us know how it's going.

Good luck and hugs!

I'm back!

I'm hurting pretty bad but I wanted to share with you my very first surgical experience (as told to me by my husband and mother) ...

I was administered too many fluids during the surgery and as a result, my body could not breathe on its own. I was kept on a ventilator for 48 hours while the doctors tried to pump the excess fluid from my system. My blood pressure skyrocketed and my heart rate jumped to 150 while my oxygen levels dipped into the 80s. A nurse was specifically assigned to watch over me in the ICU until my stats were stabilized.

No one came to inform my family what was going on. I was one of the first patients admitted to surgery that day, and my family was still waiting after most of the staff had gone home for the day. When they did see me, it was BAD. I was being transported from recovery to the ICU. I was pale and sweating. I was sprawled flat out on the bed and looked like I was dying. Both my husband and mom broke down and cried. They were asked to go home for the evening and they wouldn't be able to visit me until the following afternoon. My husband had no choice because he had to do his dialysis for the night but my mom basically gave them the "finger" and stayed in the lobby until the next day.

When I came to, I remember gagging on the ventilator. I tried to pull it out but they had me tied down to the bed. The nurse had to knock me out again until the doctors decided it was safe to remove it permanently. Everything hurt: my back hurt from laying on it so long without much support, my neck and shoulders were stiff from the surgery itself, my throat burned from the ventilation tubes, and I had trouble moving from the three drainage tubes inserted into my neck. On a good note, my neck is visually smaller than what it was before but my lower face (jaw) is very swollen and huge. I find it difficult to look at myself in a mirror right now.

As far as the cancer is concerned, my surgeon did an excellent job of removing what he could. There was a lot of cancer (more than the original site) in my lymph nodes so they all had to go. There was also cancer encasing one of my arteries and all the parathyroid glands which had to be scrapped clean. The scar itself looks really good; it isn't as bad as I first anticipated. It's just one line that follows the natural crease of my neck. Once it heals no one will ever notice it!

That's all the energy I have to write about right now. I'll write some more once I take a nice, long break.

I hear many sighs of relief Niabi, mine included. I'm glad you're okay and wish you the best in your recovery. I know you won't read this, but we're all here for you. Take a good long rest dear (I feel old saying that >.<), as you deserve it 100%.

Sorry to hear about the rough time you had, but good for you for staying strong. Were they able to remove all the bad stuff?

Dewclaw wrote:Sorry to hear about the rough time you had, but good for you for staying strong. Were they able to remove all the bad stuff?

Unfortunately, surgery alone cannot remove all of the cancer. There is always microscopic bits and pieces of tissue remaining with the cancerous cells after they cut out the main organ. This is why patients are advised to follow up with radiation and/or chemo.

Ouch, that's a rough time - glad to hear you're doing a bit better now at least!

Here's hoping the rest of the treatment will be easier on you!

So, due to a circumstance beyond my control, I cannot schedule my radiation treatment. Apparently, Kaiser hospitals do not allow in-patient care for those undergoing this type of treatment. I live in a tiny two bedroom house with my husband (a kidney dialysis patient) and my elderly father-in-law. I have no family and friends that live close enough for me to stay with while I need to be isolated. I'm not allowed to share a bed with anyone or be around anyone for a minimum of 7-10 days. I'm not allowed to check into a hotel/motel either. After pleading with them about my unique situation, I was told no exceptions can be made.

I suggested the idea of having my treatment done in Sacramento, so that I could have somewhere to stay with family but the nuclear medical technician wasn't sure if that was even a possibility. He says that he will email both my endocrinologist and a colleague of his to see what their opinion is on the matter. I'm currently waiting for an appointment with my endo this Thursday to see what he says. Needless to say, I'm extremely frustrated and upset over the whole situation!

If I don't get the radiation, my surgeon informed me that the cancer will grow back around my vocal chords and eventually metastasize into my lungs which requires a second surgery to remove (worst case scenario). If that becomes the case, they will need to severe both vocal chords and I will lose my ability to speak permanently. Fluid will build in my lungs over time and will make it difficult to breathe. It will need to be drained periodically.

I don't want this to happen to me! I feel like I have to jump through hoops just to get a doctor to help me! This whole situation is complete bullshit!

It's insane what you have to go through to get proper treatment when you're at your most vulnerable. Hard to believe in modern society that this happens I hope you can arrange to get your treatment performed elsewhere very quickly.

I hope the swelling from the surgery is still going down and you're starting to look more like yourself. Any surgery can look pretty nasty for a while, but when the swelling subsides it's usually not nearly as bad as it looked.

*hugs*

Oh geez! Huge wishes for a solution to appear for you!

This sort of mess is really not what you need right now! I'm in the wrong part of the world to be of any actual help to you, other than posting hopefully encouraging things here on petopia

ohh hun

i hope you find a solution

Oh Niabi...stupid doctors and hospitals >.<

Hope you find a way around this all! keep your head high.

I really appreciate everyone's support. It makes me feel a little bit better knowing other people 'get' why I need to rage.

And I apologize to anyone if I've presented myself here as a 'Debbie Downer'. I don't like to complain and strive to be positive in most aspects. These rants are because I'm in pain or just plain scared out of my ever-lovin' mind and I just can't remain quiet about it anymore. I promise I'm a fun person to be around ... really.

Been reading but haven't really thought of what I can say in response. I wish there was something I could do

Jurz wrote:Been reading but haven't really thought of what I can say in response. I wish there was something I could do

This. Everyone else has pretty much said what I was going to, so it would just be a repeat if I said anything, but I've also been reading, and I hope you'll find a solution to your problem very soon.

Jurz wrote: I wish there was something I could do