Day 325, Year 7: Successful Surgery
Date: Friday, September 28, 2012
Weather: Rain, Rain, and More Rain
Location: At Home with John Reed, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Weather wise, the day went from bad to worse with rain, then more rain, then
pouring rain. But thankfully, Mark’s surgery didn’t follow that same
pattern. It has been a long day and it was not until after 11 pm that Mark
was finally settled into a room at the hospital for the night. He spent the
afternoon and evening in a recovery room as there were just no rooms
available in the hospital. But he is doing great and the parathyroid
surgery was a success. Each of us has four tiny little parathyroid glands,
two on one side and two on the other. Dr. Stephen removed the one gland
that was ‘malfunctioning’ and could clearly see that the second gland on
that side of his body is just fine. She removed a node from the thyroid
gland and one lymph node that was in the same area. All tested as benign
and Mark’s parathyroid hormone (PTH) level went from 140 down to 50 ten
minutes after surgery, and down again to 37 five hours after the surgery.
Normal PTH levels are between 10 and 55, so Mark’s level of 37 looks good.
The doctor decided to keep him overnight so she can check the level one more
time in the morning, but she was very confident today that they found and
successfully removed the cause of the problem. There could always be issues
with the two glands on the other side, but the doctor doesn’t think so given
the drastic drop in the hormone level. Slowly, the amount of calcium in his
blood should lower and he will no longer have to deal with this issue.
Mark has had one health issue after another since our return last June and
all of these issues have been dealt with at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Usually when a patient is in the hospital, there is a clipboard with vital
info about the patient that hangs on the end of the bed. Not with Mark. He
has a ‘book’ about an inch and a half thick` that sits on a table in his
room at the hospital. I just had to take a photo of it and post it with
this log. For a man who has been very healthy all of his life, this past
year has been a rude introduction into the ‘senior’ years. But Mark’s
attitude is so positive and he is just not shaken by any of this. He still
moves and acts like a teenager, just with very gray hair. Or at least that
is what the nurse on duty in the recovery room noted this afternoon, and I
have to agree.
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| 120928 Day 325 Cape Cod, USA–Mark's Mass General Book |
