oh, mama raised me well

there sure is a lot of baby kitten pics in this one

had my total thyroidectomy yesterday! everything went super well and the one thing i was most concerned about - voice issues - has been good! just general sore throat vibes, which i am very thankful for



i did a lot of rambling on my bsky about it. some snippets lol b/c i don't feel like retyping everything

minor post-surgery annoyances: the numbness/waking-up-from-being-asleep tinglies in my right hand/arm and numbness on the left side of my face (both from something during the surgery)

also having to be disconnected if I gotta go pee
September 11, 2024 at 5:06 PM

ooh got disconnected from a couple things (heart monitors, bp cuff, fluids) so I feel a lot. less restrained to the bed/having to delicately move around with all the wires
September 11, 2024 at 6:00 PM

had 'dinner' - pot roast w/mashed potatoes, carrots, mac and cheese, pound cake. very thankful i can have a normal diet for this, but I'm gonna take it easy with food the first couple days b/c i know stuff is swollen
September 11, 2024 at 6:02 PM

my biggest worry/concern about the whole thing was issues with my voice b/c the thyroid lays on top of the laryngeal nerve but it just sounds like I've got a really sore throat and Tony already had to tell me to shush a bit so relieved about that
September 11, 2024 at 6:08 PM

now if they ever stick me in a room lol been waiting for one since 3-ish? some other higher priority stuff has come thru, so it's understandable, but I just want to get cozy for the evening
September 11, 2024 at 6:19 PM

finally made it to a room! they let me know there was one ready not long before my last post, but lots of stuff going on kept me down in the post-op area. now I have pudding and a cherry icey and clothing and can move around lol
September 11, 2024 at 9:50 PM

belatedly, tinglies/slight numbness is normal. the way they position your neck and arms during the surgery, plus some of the medication, tends to cause it. it hasn't changed all day, just consistent, and it feels like there's places where it's fading, too
September 11, 2024 at 11:25 PM

staff isn't concerned too much about it I have normal face/hand movement and feeling, it should clear up gradually. it's been kinda nice b/c the ice pack isn't super cold when I have it on my neck lol
September 11, 2024 at 11:26 PM

woken up around 3am for vitals/blood. woken up just before 6am for some inquiries (pain, etc) + to let me know at some point this morning the surgery team will be around. sleep was alright otherwise, room. neighbor has kept the TV on all night x_x consistent volume, but louder than i'd like lol
September 12, 2024 at 6:09 AM

now it's just being home and dealing with the sore/swollenness of the incision spot and my throat area in general - the pain is extremely minimal, but i gotta be careful moving my head

everything the last couple months has felt like a fever dream half the time lol

tony had his surgery last week and it went well! way faster than we expected and his recovery has been pretty good so far - i took the week off to be at home in case he needed the extra help getting around, but after the second day he was doing fine on his own so it was like a chill 'do nothing' kind of week for the most part, which was nice after the week and a half of anthrocon which was full throttle the entire time lol



my thyroid surgery is on 9/11 lol - they're yeeting the whole thing and i get two weeks off of work for recovery (i have, like, 300 sick hours to use). hoping everything is a cakewalk, but i'm not anticipating anything otherwise. they're gonna keep me overnight, mostly as observation, so that's neat! at the appointment with the surgeon, my mom was telling him how my grandma had her thyroid removed in the 70's and they did a terrible job on the incision/scar (it wouldn't tan and she'd look like frankenstien b/c of it - all patchwork lol) and the surgeon was like 'well we try to minimize scarring' and i'm like 'yeah but i want a COOL scar'

anyhow i'm just gonna add a cool neck scar to my fursona design

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i took a looooong walk (abt. 5mi) on the towpath one weekend - NEEDED to get out of the house and wander, so i took the scooter up to the memorial pkwy trailhead and then walked from there allllll the way up to merriman valley

the weather was beautiful, tho, and i wanted to pop into the thrift store that's up there (i acquired a new catnip fishy for beans). also tried a gelato place there! had an amazing cinnamon sugar gelato.

then i took the bus back home (nearly - had to take the one from merriman and it goes down exchange, but i just grabbed a scooter and took it a couple blocks over) - it was a pretty nice way to spend the day











a handful of local furries had a little impromptu meet at angel falls last month - it was nice to meet some folks i hadn't before! we're thinking of trying to do it a little more regularly lol

i also kinda want to organize monthly art jams, as well, but finding time is always a struggle

but speaking of local furry stuff - i AM organizing a group of ohiofurs to march in the parade for akron pride! so that's a thing i've both NEVER done and AM apparently doing now after years of talking about it

going to get a nice banner printed from techzone and get some stickers printed to hand out to folks along the route - it should be a nice time and there's a decent handful of folks interested!








i also hit up the fair with my mom after my surgeon appointment! i'd been itching to go and didn't think they started locally until later in the month, but our county fair started that day!

so we waltzed in the back entrance, wandered around, looked at some animals, had some fair food, and left just in time before it started downpouring!

their main event this year is some jurassic dinosaur thing, so a lot of stuff was themed that way, which was pretty cute

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other than that (which, tbh, has been pretty busy month or so - i also only worked two weeks in july dkjhgdlkfhgdf), D&D has been happening, i've been trying to get back into the swing of art and stuff, as well, as i have some commissions i'm a bit overdue on. my manager is gonna be out at work for her birthday vacation for the next two weeks

we got a FUCKTON of rain last night (and a couple days ago had a gnarly day of storms up north of us mostly - including 2 EF1 tornadoes in the cleveland area) and we had to run out to whole foods to pick up two of their surprise bags we reserved the night before. it started pouring as we left and just did not relent the entire time. the drive there and back was a little nerve-wracking, but not terrible. it kept raining most of the night, as well b/c the storm kind of formed over the region and was moving pretty consistently from south to north, so it just kept dumping water on us for hours

we did get pretty good stuff from our surprise bags, tho! chicken chipotle empanadas, quiche lorraine, blueberry and lemon poppyseed muffins, and brioche buns. for $17 on a gamble it was pretty decent and all stuff we will eat

tomorrow, tho! is geekfest and the punk rock flea market! (and also D&D tomorrow night!), so looking foward to doing that, even if i'll be busy all day lol

(my formatting for this did not pan out quite how i hoped lol)

ANTHROCON IS NEXT WEEK

TONY'S SURGERY IS END OF JULY

I'M GETTING MY THYROID YEETED IN AUGUST??

ac is mostly sorted, just some packing to do and leaving instructions for my mom b/c she'll be pet/housesitting over the weekend. hopefully finn will not be too stressed by this, i'm always anxious about other people watching them b/c he's so stupid and finicky. if stupid beans didn't require wet food now, i could leave them with kibble and just have someone pop in once every other day and make sure they had water/whatever b/c mostly all they do is lay around the house. but! beans and his stupid we food and refusal to eat kibble 99% of the time means they need a babysitter

i've got a follow up appointment this afternoon about my thyroid. i already got the results of my biopsy: 'a small touch of cancer', as my pcp put it. so i've already been referred to a surgeon and i've already set up appointments so idk what even needs to be said at this appointment but it's scheduled so i'm gonna go to it. plus i get out of work at 1:30 and have the rest of the day. we're gonna run errands - need to get keys made for the house and snacks and stuff

i was gonna write more here but i got distracted doing something else lol