I’ve been in a bad mood all day today. I can’t stand myself! Gone is the feeling of peace. Gone is the feeling that God is here for me. I feel empty and alone and back to my former hair-trigger-temper, irrational self. But I will say that this absolutely sucks.
Where am I on this thyroid cancer rollercoaster? I’m waiting for the second opinion on my original pathology report. It wasn’t done as of Friday, so I’m expecting it to be done next week. After that, I’ll probably get another radioactive iodine treatment dose. So in preparation for that, I stopped taking my Synthroid this morning. In order to get the RAI tx (this is shorthand for “treatment”) before Jack is out of school for summer, I’d need to get the dose the week of June 8. This would put me in isolation June 8-15-ish and sorta back to normal by June 18, which is Jack’s last day of school. I don’t really know how it would work to have to do the RAI while Jack is out of school for summer. He’d have to be somewhere else during the day--not here at home, where a radioactive me will be holed up in the master bedroom. And that would be a bummer, so I want to get ’er done before school’s out.
Everything has been different since I went back on my Synthroid and it started to build up in my system again. I was only on it for 4 weeks, but it had already gotten me back to that familiar hyperthyroid irritability I hate so much. I’m glad I went off it today, because I miss that calm feeling I had while I was hypo. Hopefully it will kick back in soon. The bummer is I can’t be hypo for long. I have to be kept hyperthyroid as part of my thyca recurrence prevention plan.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Here's a photo of my cancerous thyroid and lymph nodes after they were removed. Neat, huh?
My current stats:
Thyrogen-stimulated Tg 4.0, TgAB less than 20
(down from hypo-stimulated Tg 16.7 in Dec. 2009)
WBS negative
A-to-Z List
Sometime in 2006, I noticed a small bump in the middle of the front of my neck. It was kind of like a small Adam’s apple, except that I'm not a dude, so I knew it couldn’t have been an Adam’s apple. It went up and down when I swallowed, it didn’t hurt at all, and I didn’t think anything of it. I assumed it had always been there. I was wrong.
Here's a photo of my cancerous thyroid and lymph nodes after they were removed. Neat, huh?
My current stats:
Thyrogen-stimulated Tg 4.0, TgAB less than 20
(down from hypo-stimulated Tg 16.7 in Dec. 2009)
WBS negative
Followers
A-to-Z List
26 Good Things About MY Thyroid Cancer
- Actually, there are more than 26
- Being grateful it’s not terminal pancreatic cancer
- Chemotherapy, as in “none required”
- Doing things I’ve always wanted to do because any cancer diagnosis makes you want to live life more fully
- Everyday is a blessing (everyday has always been a blessing, but it seems more true now)
- Fancy thyroidectomy scar
- Gummy bears eaten at 10 am with running friends is OK on low-iodine diet. This alone is cause for celebration!
- Hair loss from changes in Synthroid dose minimal and only noticeable to me
- It’s easier not to sweat the small stuff now.
- Jokes about thyroids open up whole new department in my sense of humor
- Kangaroos rarely diagnosed with it
- Low-iodine diet results in small amount of weight loss and much healthier eating habits, if only temporarily
- MRIs I wouldn’t otherwise have had done rule out other diseases and bad stuff.
- New appreciation for the thyroid’s contribution to bodily processes. Very underrated gland.
- Opportunity to show my kids how to have faith and be brave through trials
- People tell you they love you and show you they care when you get diagnosed, and it feels good to be loved.
- Quality of life better now
- Radioactive iodine treatment, which for me results in loss of taste for 4-5 weeks afterwards, makes me really appreciate food when the taste buds come back.
- Sleeping through dinner perfectly acceptable when hypo for scans or treatment
- This list
- Undeniable presence of God throughout trials
- Vegetables and fruit, allowed on the low-iodine diet, produce delightfully regular stools.
- Writing responses to newly diagnosed patients on the thyroid cancer listserv; it feels so good to give back and help others the way others helped me after I was diagnosed.
- Xylophone playing allowed—no, encouraged—while in isolation after RAI.
- Yodeling also OK while in isolation. (For that matter, anything goes. Who’s going to tell you “no”? After all, you’re radioacive, dude.)
- Zapper, bug (I’ve been told I am a bug zapper when I’m radioactive. I’ll have the opportunity to test this theory in 4 days.)
No comments:
Post a Comment