Post op

So i've had a very busy but good day! I had my post op and everything went very well! They removed the drain and seemed very pleased with my recovery! It feels really great to have the drain out! I've also been given some neck and shoulder exercises to make sure my muscles recover well and don't tense up or anything. It's really wonderful to be able to finally lift my arm over my head and I have almost full motion of my neck and jaw! The only weird thing is that half of my neck and ear are still numb. The doctor explained that there are a lot of nerves in that part of the neck that were no doubt disrupted during the surgery. It will most likely take a while until I regain feeling again. He also said sometimes the nerves never fully repair and that is nothing to be concerned about either. However, it's a very weird feeling so I am hoping I gain at least some of the feeling back.

The pathology reports also came back and they were pretty much what they were expecting which is good news. Out of the 37 lymph nodes they removed only 4 came back positive for cancer. Very reassuring! We'll find out a bit more about what the next steps are when we meet with my endocrinologist in early December, but for now all I have to worry about is relaxing, recovering and enjoying my time back home!

Over all my recovery is pretty amazing! Hard to believe I was in surgery less than a week ago! The scar is already fading into my neck and with the drain gone I'm only scaring away half the amount of children I was just a few days ago! My voice is tired but seems undamaged which is a huge relief! I've even started singing and playing my ukulele and writing songs again! I'm still pretty exhausted, but I'm starting to get cabin fever from sitting around so much and very ready to start getting back into the swing of things again!

It's been a crazy year reflecting back on everything that has happened, but I feel very lucky all things considered and with how incredibly showered with love and support I have felt throughout this whole ordeal! I feel extremely spoiled! I've already started getting birthday wishes from the other side of the world for tomorrow! (I could really get used to this whole two days of celebrating!) Also, my parents are amazing and have offered to buy me an electric Ukelele for my birthday so I spent the afternoon trying different options out and singing and playing music! It's been wonderful! Tomorrow I'm looking forward to a big family dinner with heaps of my favorite people and ridiculous amounts of my favorite foods! I am so luck and I am still riding on the high of it all!

p.s I think it's only fair to warn anyone who reads this that as I recover more the updates will probably be less frequent. But I think we can all agree that no news is good news in this case! I'll be sure to update with any new information I get and there will be a few more updates before I return to Australia again. I will also keep this blog active for my 6 month check up and any other relavent events, or if anyone has any questions or anything. It has been such a wonderful communication tool. I really can't thank you all enough for everything you have done for me! Every kind word, thought and gesture has been felt and deeply appreciated! I can only hope you can feel my deep gratitude and love for you all in return!