11/10/2020

Since surgery, God has brought great healing to the incision and it is hardly noticeable now (7 weeks later). I have diligently obeyed the doctor's instructions for care and use a daily scar-care ointment.

Immediately after surgery, my throat was raw from having a tube down my throat for so many hours. I was hardly able to swallow even water for about 48 hours but then it quickly got easier.

After surgery my voice was a whisper. Since then, it has continued to get stronger and is close to sounding regular now (7 weeks later).

Healing from surgery is work in and of itself. I was tired and slept a lot. I am thankful for the flexibility of my husband's employer, allowing him to work from home so that he could help with my care and with childcare while I was unable to do much. I am also thankful for friends and family and our church that have provided dozens and dozens of meals during this time. 

I am also thankful for homeschooling. During a crisis, the flexibility of homeschooling is a huge blessing. Friends can easily take my children for the day or for a morning out. Lessons can be put on hold for days or weeks as mom recovers. We school year-round so that we can take breaks as needed - which is perfect for a scenario like this. 

However, I also don't want to imply that we've done absolutely nothing for school for these weeks. Some of the kids' work is online and they've been able to continue with it to some degree. My oldest daughter (senior in high school) is almost completely independent in her studies, so she was able to continue on without major disruption. 

And I also do want to make clear that there is a lot of learning that takes place outside of formal education, especially in a season of crisis. My younger kids have asked lots of questions about surgery and cancer and the purpose of the thyroid gland, so we have used those opportunities to teach them. They are also getting quite an education in how to care for someone recovering from surgery and how to show gratitude when receiving regular help from others. I don't know how much my younger children will even remember about this time when they reach adulthood. But I do know that it's impacting my 5 year old in his play, as he "pretends" drive-by parade because of mom's cancer and he has added the phrase "an army of people are praying for you" to his vocabulary. 

The thyroid gland and lymph nodes that were removed were sent away to Pathology, to determine how many were cancer-infected. 6 out of 6 lymph nodes in my central neck were affected. 4 out of 20 in my right neck were affected. This meant that follow-up treatment was necessary to ensure that any cancer left in my body (by any tissue the surgeon didn't remove from either the thyroid gland or any lymph nodes or any other hidden area) would be destroyed. More on that second phase of treatment in Part 4.