August of 2008 brought the first of what would be 3 surgeries related to this “thyroid thing.”
Surgery #1 brought about surgery #2 when, what appeared to “nothing” became not only something, but something with the word “malignant” attached to it along with the phrase, “vascular invasion.” I didn’t know then that it would be such a big deal, but my hospital consulted with Stanford just to confirm what they thought they saw signaled what I now see as the foreshadowing of how this disease would play out. More gray area. More confusion. More inconclusive information.
The morning after surgery #2 when my thyroid was completely removed the nurse gave me a pill. It would be the pill I would take everyday from that moment forward: synthetic thyroid. I looked at the nurse, gave a toast to this new pill that would allow my body to function and swallowed it. I would be forever dependent upon this pill and suddenly it took on a meaning greater than any nourishment I had ingested to date. Without this pill I will die. The same can be said for water, food, love, yet somehow it took this pill for me to see that one little itty bitty item would help keep me alive. What other “little itty bitty things” had I not noticed in my life that made the difference between me living and not living?
1 comment:
Hey Terri, another beautiful write. You need an editor! Your surgeries were what year? Keep up the writing! Itty bitty things...those things would have to be included in my "Rule of Life"... little things like prayer, walks, time with significant people. Thanks for posing the question.
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