Thyroidectomy

Alright I can't remember if I mentioned this here at all, but I recently had a thyroidectomy. As in, a surgeon removed my thyroid from my throat. This was all done for health reasons, which I don't super want to get into right now, but let's just say that they found a small nodule of cancerous cells on my thyroid, and the treatment is basically removing the thyroid. It's the most common and treatable form of cancer, so don't start freaking out.

I'm not entirely sure what I want to say with this post, but the thing I keep coming back to is the big ol scar across my throat. That's just going to be part of my first impression on people for a while. And the surgeon was super great, he lined it up with a natural crease in my neck so it'll get less noticeable as I get older. But it's still there.

Supposedly it's not uncommon for young (mostly female) people to get diagnosed with this and have this procedure. But I haven't seen anyone else with this neck hole around. And I think I'm going to be super self-conscious about it for a really long time.

And since I am now missing an endocrine organ, I'm on thyroid hormone for the rest of my life. Popping those pills every day. Which isn't horrible until there's an issue with getting the meds or if the dose is wrong or something.

This post is a mess, but it's just a collection of my thoughts. I just feel so self-conscious about this and this procedure. Because if it's common, why haven't I heard about it before? So if I have to start this conversation by smashing this out somewhere, guess that's what I have to do.