It has now been 2 months since the surgery and I am feeling quite a bit better but not nearly 100%.

For the hospital visit, one is required to bring all personal toilet articles including wash cloth and towel. So my first night there I spent in my own pyjamas and not in the nearly nekked johnnies of home. The night before the operation I had to take a shower and double wash myself with an antiseptic soap that burned my skin. Then the next morning just before the operation, I had to do the same thing again, wash from the top of my head down to my toes two times with this soap. I felt as dry and crispy as a piece of paper. Then it was time for the embarrassing outfit. And I hadn't shaved my legs in I don't know how long due to it being winter and my skin being ultra sensitive so I was thoroughly red in the face when they transferred me to the gurney.

It was the classic movie view of the lights going past my face and then into the surgery room itself where they started the anesthesia. Something in the drip made my whole body start tingling and twitching and I began to thrash around. I can just remember the staff holding me down as I was passing out.

I woke up in the recovery room and it took about an hour to really become conscious I think. I had to go pee so badly but I wasn't able to get up therefore they brought the ....bedpan. Ugh. What an awful experience that was. It feels like you are peeing for 15 minutes and then you have to try to push it out because there is no gravity and when you have done all you can, you still don't feel empty. And of course it is messy. Blech. Not that long after I had to do it again naturally.

Finally, enough time had gone by to be able to go back to my room and again the moment of my hairy legs being uncovered as I was transferred back to my own bed. They also put a bedpan near my bed for me. I still had to pee but I refused to call for the bedpan and slowly got myself up and walked with the IV tree to the bathroom. That was much better. Finally relief.

I must say that the nurses were superb. It was the nurse who told me finally that all my hypothyroid symptoms were because of the nodule and should go away after the surgery and the healing. The food was okay but the proportions for a normal eater were huge. Either I eat way less than normal or what they think of as normal is extra. Yes, they asked me what size meal I would eat. That was a surprise.

The next morning, I was discharged as all was okay. I had read in the pamphlet that you could get a ticket for a taxi but I didn't know that it was something that you had to arrange ahead of time. In my still groggy head, I thought I would just take the metro.

Before I left, I had to set up my 6 week check up and the nurse at the desk asked me if someone was taking me home. I told her that I was going to take the metro as there was no one available and started crying. After surgery shock. She looked at me with shock and said that it was impossible that I take the metro so she took me over to the lady who arranged the taxis. I told her that I only had 10 euros with me and that was not going to get me home. She borrowed another 10 from the other nurse. When I tried to see her badge in order to repay her when I came back, she covered it up and said not to worry about it.

Then the taxi driver came and was super nice too. I told him right up front that I only had 20 euros and that he could let me out at a metro when it got to that amount. He said not to worry about it and sure enough, he drove me all the way home even though by the end the meter was showing 27 euros. I gave him the 20 and all the change that I had. He graciously accepted it and again repeated that I shouldn't worry about it. And some people say the French are cold.