Surgical Consultation
The next step was to be referred to a surgeon. I worried about that. Dr. Chan said that she had a few surgeons in mind that she hoped I would be I guess "matched up" with.
I got a call from Head & Neck Surgery at Kaiser Roseville. Clearly they were not trying to be sensitive when they named this department. The receptionist set an appointment for me with Dr. Doctor. Before I could say anything, she said, "Yes, his last name is Doctor."
The first chance I got, I went to Dr. Doctor's page on the Kaiser website and I tried to learn all I could about it. Based on where he went to school and his service in the air force as a head & neck surgeon in Afghanistan, I felt confident that he would do a good job. Seriously though...I doubt Kaiser would have provided anything less.
For some reason, though, I had to cancel that consultation appointment and reschedule. I really can't remember why. Maybe because I was working full time and trying to pull decent grades in my college classes? Anyway. A receptionist rescheduled the appointment for me.
This whole thing didn't really feel real. Again, I'm not in any pain. I have no discomfort. I'm kind of worried about what this will all mean, but I thought, "People have surgery all the time. It's not cancer and eventually it will be over."
I got a confirmation email from Kaiser to remind me of the consultation appointment. I was shocked to see that the appointment was with a different surgeon. It sounds dramatic, and it was. I was shocked. I felt totally disrespected that the receptionist didn't tell me the appointment would be rescheduled with a different surgeon. After researching Dr. Doctor, I really felt like he was the guy. I hadn't yet met with him yet, but Dr. Chan had confirmed that he was one of the surgeons she'd had in mind.
I called and tried to get a new appointment with Dr. Doctor. Then I filed a complaint about what happened. That made me feel a little better. You have to understand, I work for a company that reports on customer service in retail, in the food industry and so on. I don't take things like that lightly.
I finally met with Dr. Doctor on April 13 and he was a really nice guy. I had been told that since the nodule is on the left side of my thyroid, they would just remove the left side of it. After that, I'd have a 50%-80% chance of needing medication for the rest of my life. But Dr. Doctor suggested I may want to have the whole thing removed. I shuddered at the idea. The whole thing? My whole thyroid? That's a vital organ. He left it up to me, for some reason. The benefit being that then nothing can grow back, on the off-chance that some cancer turns up.
I thought it over and decided to just have half removed. I don't know why...so much has happened since then and I honestly can't remember what my state of mind was at that time. At least concerning that decision. Dr. Doctor was fine with it.
Oh, and one more thing. Dr. Chan had said that although the biopsy was benign, there could still be cancer in there because the nodule is (relatively speaking) so big and she couldn't necessarily get to all of it. She said that if during surgery the surgeon thinks there is cancer in there, he will remove the entire thyroid. She said that cancer has a certain look to it and he may be able to tell. She also said that if after surgery it's determined that there's cancer in my thyroid, there would need to be a second surgery. Yikes. She said if they had to go back in, they'd had to do so within seven days so that scar tissue doesn't build up too much. That freaked me out. I couldn't imagine having to have more surgery. In my mind, this would be very no-nonsense, very "let's get this done."
After the consultation, I scheduled my surgery for a lateral thyroidectomy on June 22.
I got a call from Head & Neck Surgery at Kaiser Roseville. Clearly they were not trying to be sensitive when they named this department. The receptionist set an appointment for me with Dr. Doctor. Before I could say anything, she said, "Yes, his last name is Doctor."
The first chance I got, I went to Dr. Doctor's page on the Kaiser website and I tried to learn all I could about it. Based on where he went to school and his service in the air force as a head & neck surgeon in Afghanistan, I felt confident that he would do a good job. Seriously though...I doubt Kaiser would have provided anything less.
For some reason, though, I had to cancel that consultation appointment and reschedule. I really can't remember why. Maybe because I was working full time and trying to pull decent grades in my college classes? Anyway. A receptionist rescheduled the appointment for me.
This whole thing didn't really feel real. Again, I'm not in any pain. I have no discomfort. I'm kind of worried about what this will all mean, but I thought, "People have surgery all the time. It's not cancer and eventually it will be over."
I got a confirmation email from Kaiser to remind me of the consultation appointment. I was shocked to see that the appointment was with a different surgeon. It sounds dramatic, and it was. I was shocked. I felt totally disrespected that the receptionist didn't tell me the appointment would be rescheduled with a different surgeon. After researching Dr. Doctor, I really felt like he was the guy. I hadn't yet met with him yet, but Dr. Chan had confirmed that he was one of the surgeons she'd had in mind.
I called and tried to get a new appointment with Dr. Doctor. Then I filed a complaint about what happened. That made me feel a little better. You have to understand, I work for a company that reports on customer service in retail, in the food industry and so on. I don't take things like that lightly.
I finally met with Dr. Doctor on April 13 and he was a really nice guy. I had been told that since the nodule is on the left side of my thyroid, they would just remove the left side of it. After that, I'd have a 50%-80% chance of needing medication for the rest of my life. But Dr. Doctor suggested I may want to have the whole thing removed. I shuddered at the idea. The whole thing? My whole thyroid? That's a vital organ. He left it up to me, for some reason. The benefit being that then nothing can grow back, on the off-chance that some cancer turns up.
I thought it over and decided to just have half removed. I don't know why...so much has happened since then and I honestly can't remember what my state of mind was at that time. At least concerning that decision. Dr. Doctor was fine with it.
Oh, and one more thing. Dr. Chan had said that although the biopsy was benign, there could still be cancer in there because the nodule is (relatively speaking) so big and she couldn't necessarily get to all of it. She said that if during surgery the surgeon thinks there is cancer in there, he will remove the entire thyroid. She said that cancer has a certain look to it and he may be able to tell. She also said that if after surgery it's determined that there's cancer in my thyroid, there would need to be a second surgery. Yikes. She said if they had to go back in, they'd had to do so within seven days so that scar tissue doesn't build up too much. That freaked me out. I couldn't imagine having to have more surgery. In my mind, this would be very no-nonsense, very "let's get this done."
After the consultation, I scheduled my surgery for a lateral thyroidectomy on June 22.
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