My Thyroidectomy Journey

I had thyroid scan scheduled for 18/Jul at Rumah Sakit Kanker Dharmais (RSKD). But, since RSKD required me, patient who uses general insurance, to at least had 1 consultation before getting my scan, so I made an appointment with dr. Yustia for 17/Jul. I made appointment directly through dr. Yustia's personal number since I really couldn't rely on RSKD staff to make one for me. So, I came to RSKD on 17/Jul basically to fulfill the hospital requirements. Nothing much to discussed as I have enough knowledge on the procedure. On 18/Jul, I left home around 6:00 AM because I had to arrive  before 7:30 AM. Hubby was ill, so I asked my mother to accompany me. Patient registration for insurance holder was quite troublesome, but it was still better than using BPJS. I wonder how long the BPJS patient must wait before getting their examination. After registration done, at first I headed to the lab to get my blood drawn, and then to the nuclear facility. It was almost lunch time and...

Nuclear medicine sounded fancy, eh?😃 Before I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I knew nothing about nuclear medicine. It turned out that nuclear medicine could be used in both diagnosis and treatment. More about nuclear medicine use in diagnosis and treatment, you could read it here . In my case, my oncologist recommended me to take radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation, a radiation therapy in which radioactive iodine is administered to destroy or ablate residual thyroid gland, including cancer cells that take up iodine. As I mentioned on previous post, my primary hospital did not have nuclear medicine facility. So, on a Saturday afternoon I met dr. Yustia Turi SpKN, a nuclear medicine physician from Rumah Sakir Kanker Dharmais, also a colleague of dr. Bayu. dr. Yustia explained to me what  RAI was, the side effects, etc. At that moment, honestly, I had not decided if I would take ablation or not. I was still weighing the side effects, also the fact that  I should not ...

I came back to the hospital for my follow ups a week after I was being discharged. First, I headed to Oncology Center. Without further due, I was brought to Procedure Room and a moment later, dr. Oggy came in to check my wound dressing. "The wound looks good, do you have any concern we should know about?" he asked. "Nothing doc, but when I took shower this morning, the wound dressing started to fell off and it feels itchy." "That's okay. Since the outside wound already healed completely, we're going to leave it like this, without dressing. What do you think?" "Uh, okay" I then reached my phone and tried to look through my phone's camera. The wound looked nasty. As if he could read my mind, "We will give you something, hopefully it could make the scar less visible." Not so long after, dr. Bayu came in. He brought my pathology report in his hand. To summarize, the result came back as: - Papillary thyroid cancer...

Third day after surgery was a slow day, I could slightly lift myself up from bed. Neck stiffness was still there, but it got better. Oh, on the third day I could also comfortably walk on my own, so I spent some time outside general ward. dr. Bayu and his team visited me in the afternoon to discharge me after he did some assessment.  He said the recovery was excellent, so I could leave the hospital by the end of the day. Later that day, dr. Oggy came to once again change the wound dressing, He said that i should be aware of any sign of inflammation or itchiness on wound area, if such condition exist, I should get back to him immediately. The hospital had me scheduled for follow up with both dr. Bayu and dr. Herry a week after. Thank goodness both on the same day so I wouldn't have to go back and forth to hospital. The process of being discharge from hospital was not so smooth. dr. Bayu approved to discharge me around 4 PM. Around 5:30 PM, hubby followed up to hospital ...

Day 2 After Surgery dr. Bayu visited me around 1 AM on Monday (14/May). Yes, 1 AM in the morning. Already been updated by his team, he suggested that if the outcome of the drain still minimal, he will order to remove it by the end of the day. And since my body no longer produce thyroid hormone, he will prescribe thyroid hormone replacement therapy. That morning, to celebrate last night's IV removal, I asked hubby to take me around hospital in wheelchair. The hospital had this open space on 5th floor, supposedly (I guess) for viewing and garden area. Since the weather was nice, we spent quite some time there. After lunch time, my endocrinologist dr. Herry, visited me. He concerned over my calcium ion level, which was slightly under normal range. A thyroidectomy can really messed up with my calcium level, so he ordered calcium supplement to prevent calcium deficiency. I did not get a lot of guests on Monday, so I can finally get some rest. In the afternoon, dr. Oggy came ...

Day 1 After Surgery The morning after surgery, I felt improvement on my movement. I could start to move my head, even just a little. Yes, just a little because my neck was so stiff. But besides that, I still needed so much help from the nurse. High Care Unit almost felt like isolation room to me. There was only one bed, no one allowed to be inside the room but hospital staff. Unless of course during visiting hour. I got bored easily, I can only talk to doctors and nurses with my hoarse voice. Yes, hoarseness was one of the expected result from thyroidectomy. Before the surgery, I was told the hoarseness might take months before getting back to normal, or it could be permanent. I wasn't thinking much about this hoarseness. I was just hoping my recovery went well so I could get back to general ward. dr. Bayu did not able to check on me on Sunday (13/May) because he was out of town. Instead, one if his team member who was also a surgeon, dr. Oggy, came to visit me in the...