Well, that’s a thing… · 9:06am Dec 12th, 2021
Hoo boy, Zytharrians, that was a close one.
So let’s set the scene. It’s early pandemic, like just before COVID was a really known thing. I’ve fallen sick with a mysterious illness and I get a couple weeks off work. I recover, but can’t quite breathe as well as I was able to before. I also find singing and writing to be pretty far from my mind, but I do reconnect with drawing a bit more. So far, I don’t think something’s wrong, except I have an odd drain on my energy reserves. So I chalk it up to the illness and move on.
So we go through the year and I get a comment here or there about something weird going on with my neck. I watch it, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much. I go through the majority of this year, fully intent on releasing new music, but I can’t seem to get the lead out. We then get to about August and I go on a weeklong vacation with my family. The first day there, my dad informs me that I have this massive growth on my neck. I also cannot for the life of me hold my breath or take in enough air to swim properly.
Fellas, this thing on my neck had grown.
So I do the sensible thing and go to tell the doctor. He examines it and sends me in for a battery of tests and an array of examinations. At first, it doesn’t appear to be a huge issue, just something to drain. However, he soon finds a solid mass and sends me to a local surgeon. The tests come back and I was immediately told we’re going to schedule me for surgery to get this junk out.
Fellas, I can now say I had thyroid cancer.
My thyroid had a colossal growth on it, the other half was swelling, and I was very much on the verge of losing my life. It was impacting my throat and literally shoving all my essential intake pathways off to a corner of my throat. I’m all for it, as my breathing has become impacted to the point that scaling a single flight of stairs is difficult.
But the local surgeon passes because the skill needed was beyond him.
He refers me to another surgeon a city over, basically the best in my province and the last resort for cases like mine. He sees me and pokes around the tumour for a bit before blanching and sending me in for another battery of tests, this round more invasive, and to determine precisely where it is. We then agree to meet later.
The next call I get is my surgery date, set for two weeks later.
So I show up to surgery and, as part of prep, get told that they may have to try a few strategies to get air into me while they do it because the airway is so compacted. Fortunately, the surgery went off without a hitch and I woke up to grogginess and the feeling of being able to breathe… but unable to move my neck too far in any direction. I also had this cute little drain attached to my neck. I spend about 30 hours or so recovering and go home, no complications or even pain.
The cancer is largely gone. I have one more meeting with my surgeon in the middle of the month to get the last of my recovery orders (which would’ve been sooner if we weren’t flooded out recently, but what can you do?) and then, once I complete that, I’ll be completely cancer-free.
God be praised.
Lesson learned, though: get random lumps checked early.
If you want to support my family during my recovery, please do one of the following:
- send me a Ko-Fi or commission me at http://ko-fi.com/zytharros
- send me some BSV at zytharros@handcash.io or zytharros@relayx.io
- send me some NANO at nano_3qj5stj8rea94s16trd6mtsfa86bzx1rreswggfkm5ma71iotzxzseegxzxw
- tip me some BTC via my Twitter page
If not, thanks for reading, and have a great day. Lots of good stuff coming in 2022!
