Today is gonna be a long day. Mrs. Carrera is going in for surgery.
She has a tumor on her Parathyroid gland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parathyroid_gland
Actually we all have 4 Parathyroid glands and just one of them has gone haywire and making her blood calcium way high, and stealing calcium from her bones to do it. The high blood calcium has a very long list of side effects and she seems to have them all.
There are only three surgeons in all of Oklahoma that do the surgery, as it involves cutting into the neck, next to the vocal cords, the major arteries going to the brain, and other kinda important stuff. It is hidden behind the thyroid gland on the back of the windpipe.
The weird thing (one of many) is that within 5 minutes of removing the tumor and one of the 4 glands, blood calcium drops back. If it does not drop back down, they go looking for the other ones. So remove it and do a blood draw seconds before it is cut out, wait 5 minutes, do another blood draw and test both samples. They expect to see the huge drop in levels.
She had 9 tests done in one day a couple of weeks ago and we were at the hospital for most of the day. They combine all the imaging together to find the tumor, so they know which one is the problem.
In some cases they have to remove all 4, and they use the best looking one to dice it up into pieces, and they insert it back in your forearm. So if gets another tumor, it is easy to remove and treat.
We are hoping it is just the one and all goes well. Some patients have almost no discomfort, and are fine right away. They have a room reserved at the hospital and we are expecting them to keep her overnight if blood calcium levels drop too far. I will come home to take care of the dogs, and go fetch her in the morning. I will be up there all day today. Her surgery is at 11:30.
I was going to NW Arkansas for a large Porsche gathering and driving the fun roads. She said I could go anyway. I can see it now, every one of my friends will ask where is you wife. And I reply, well she had surgery yesterday and I left her at home with the dog sitter. The dogs love the dog sitter because they get a lot of treats, and she promised no dog treats for my wife. Yea, not gonna happen. I have been married too long and I know better.