Reluctant but Willing

By Joyful1 • October 10, 2018

I received my parathyroid surgery reluctantly even though in the back of my head, I knew I needed to have it. I don't know anyone rushing into surgery and I wanted to explore other options or if surgery was really necessary. Dr. Yeh laid out all the steps and why surgery was needed. Everything was simple and as a dialysis patient, I understood the root cause of problems and the background that goes into diagnosis and getting surgery. I think that if the patient has a clear understanding of all the processes going on, it makes it very easy to decide to get surgery which was what Dr. Yeh did exactly. All I had to do was choose my surgery date. I got around 3 weeks to prepare and the day of surgery was also very easy with checking in and preparation. I had my sister with me and it definitely helped that I had my sister with me. I thought the preparation for this surgery was easier too because a previous surgery, I had to buy specific cleanser and other necessities. All I had to do was change into my hospital gown and go into surgery. I like to look around and observe before my surgery and the next thing I know, I was breathing into my anesthesia mask. I woke up and I was in my room and the surgery was over. Part one was over and now I just had recovery. I had a bit of a sore throat and it hurt to cough, but I received pain medicine.
I was here for six days to get my calcium levels up and chewing on Tums every few hours. I took a lot of medicine and got a lot of blood work. I didn't like all the blood draws and pricks to test my blood sugar but I know that comes with the hospital. It became routine and it was over in a few minutes so the check-ups became a part of background noise and wasn't an inconvenience. I enjoyed my stay here; all the nurses really waited on me.
I had to order my own food which I didn't really like because I always take a while to decide what I want. The diet they gave me really helped because I had a specific type of menu I could order from. I thought the food was pretty good.
Once I got into the routine of taking medicine, getting labs, and the pain subsided, recovery became really easy. I liked having my own bathroom once I was moved to the 6th floor of the hospital. Once I was told I could go home, I was thinking, is it really okay to go home? But it was nice to be able to return home. The surgery was a little break from the norm, from morning traffic and others, which I actually enjoyed. Other than that, it was good. The doctor, Dr. Orr, saw me every morning and gave me a report on my labs. I think they did a really good job keeping me updated and informed. I was treated very well after surgery, enjoyed my stay here and didn't have any problems. I wanted to tell everyone that UCLA was so well-run. I'll definitely come back here if I get sick again. Dr. Yeh is a really great doctor.
The only drawback was that I clotted in my arm that I use for dialysis access but other than that, the surgery went well and I didn't have any complications.

Tags: blood sugar, blood work, calcium levels, dialysis, Dr. Michael Yeh, Endocrine, Endocrine Surgery, Endocrinology, parathyroid surgery, patient stories, surgery, Surgery, ucla endocrine, UCLA Endocrinology