12 November 2009

A word on surgery...

Let me tell you something:
When something inside of you says that something inside of you isn't right, listen to it.
Men in particular, don't bother to pay much attention to our bodies when it tells us that something is bothering it.
The growth as it shall now always be referred to, has been around for longer than anyone cares to imagine. Like a good transient, no one knows when it arrived, how long it went undetected but my guess is that the growth must have moved in around the time that I was in China.
That is when the kidney stones started, which is a by-product of this thing moving in. I remember that day in China well (rather that evening). It caused me to spend a couple of days in a Chinese hospital, moaning for hours at the pain in my kidneys while the glass bottle dripped a saline mixture into my body.
Truth be told, it could have been going on much, much longer than that-- but it doesn't matter in the long run, because now its gone, sliced out Monday morning and sent down to Pathology to check for Cancer. He wasn't home this time.

They call it a parathyroidapidectomy or something like that.

You have four thyroid glands, which are about the size of a grain of rice, two on each side of your throat. These thyroid glands, for those of you, like me, that failed to pay attention to Biology, control a number of bodily functions and temperaments. My upper-left para-thyroid gland needed to be removed as it was causing my body to produce too much calcium, regardless of how much calcium was being consumed. The body, when it doesn't have enough calcium, begins to pull it from places in the body-- (think bones, teeth, etc)... so you can quickly see the potential issue here.

Regardless, it is now out. Special thanks to Dr. David Moore, the careful surgeon, Dr. Mozapharian, the Organist and good ole' Dr. Martin Cahn, the good 'ole doctor. :)
Special thanks to Lilifer, who managed to keep me in the best of spirits during the recovery process.

Things are moving back into its normalcy. Read more!