thyroid surgery

So my MIL just had surgery on tuesday to remove her thyroid gland. She has papillory thyroid cancer and it got to the point where they said they better remove the thyroid to be safe. They also took a biopsy of her lymphnodes to make sure the cancer didn't spread to them. Has anyone had this surgery or a family member have this surgery? How long did it take them to recover? My DH and I are going over there tonight when he gets home and again on sunday to cook dinner for her and help take care of her. She is one of those people who doesn't let people know if she needs help or isn't feeling well. She didnt tell us she even had cancer until after christmas because she didn't want to ruin the holidays. We were all so shocked that she kept it a secret for years. Her ... husband... is there but he is useless. He's a drunk and no one is expecting him to take care of her through this which is horrible. He had cancer in his throat and had to have surgery and now he has to use a machine to talk. He got so sick and she was there for him through it all and now she is going through this and he would rather get drunk and disappear for hours on end.

I had half of my thyroid out due to a goiter (no cancer) and it wasn't too bad...I was able to do everything I needed to, just couldn't look up really well, I needed to have my chin close to my chest if that makes sense. Had a hard time turning to look over my shoulder, etc. Took about a week for it to start feeling better. For you to help I would say focus more on the cleaning, laundry, etc that you need to be able to bend down to do. Hope that helps!!