Hurray, 2008 is almost over! I usually am not this excited to have yet another year go by, but I am looking forward to my new found energy and how much I will acomplish in 2009. I am feeling fabulous on my Thyroid Medication!! Hurray, energy! Bill is still finding it strange that I am actually getting things done around the house. I have been sick all weekend yet I still wrote out our Christmas cards, did 3 loads of laundry, took out the garbage, cleaned the stinky cat box, and built the Ginger Bread House with Charisma. Yes this was all on Sunday. Wow, I should have been pooped out from all that! Bill is still in shock! Oh, I also wrapped the presents, haha! So, life is going pretty darn well.
Charisma is very excited to see all the wrapped presents under the tree. The cats have been taking turns sleeping under it, but they haven't tried to climb it since they were kittens. Hurray!
Charisma is learning to read!! She is doing fantastic at sounding out the words!!!! It is amazing to hear her read words and small sentences. So exciting!
Happy New year!!!!!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Radio-Active Girl
Whelp, another chapter is completed in this whole Cancer thing. I survived my Iodine Radiation and 3 days of isolation. Two weeks ago today I had a full body scan in an open Machine similar to a CAT SCAN. I laid down on a very slender bed/table, it was cushioned with a pillow, and they put a pillow under my legs, and even gave me a warm blanket. I was thinking cool naptime! FYI I have never had any type of scan before, nothing, zip, all new experience! Ok, so the nice ladies make sure I am cozy and strap me in with my arms straight down at my side (table to skinny for your arms to rest on). They ask if I am ok, at this point "yep, fine." Well, this evil machine that looks so open and friendly adjusts to a mini air hockey table floating an inch way from my face. Not to cozy anymore. I'm thinking, "Great, this isn't good." The nice ladies tell me "it'll only be a five minutes at my head then it'll move slowly down my body." It was the longest five minutes of [HELL] and my life. I tried to keep the happy open spaces like the beach and the ocean alive in my mind with my eyes closed, but yea that did not work. I had a major panic attack!! Well, guess what I'm Claustrophobic! Didn't know that, till this evil machine!!!! AND, SLOW!! SLOW IS AN UNDERSTATMENT! That thing felt like it wasn't ever going to move, I wanted to crawl out the top, and run! But instead I asked how much longer in a sad little voice that prompted one of the nice ladies to ask if I was ok. I said "no" and she asked if I was feeling Claustrophobic and I told her I was and having a big panic attack. She was wonderful! Her calm sweet voice talked me through the rest of the time under the evil machine, she let me know when I could turn my head and ask lots of questions about my daughter and the up coming holidays. Really, she was fantastic.
The next day was Radiation time. Bill and I prepped our daughter Charisma telling her that Mommy had to be a certain distance away from everyone, even her. No hugging or kissing or sitting together for 3 days. She knew I was getting the "Bad Medicine" as she put it. Anyway, I was given Iodine Radiation 103 mCi of Na I-131 it came in a metal jar it looked like a capsule I got to swallow with water. I drove home and I spent my time in our Office/Guest room on the futon. I had my phone, TV and remote, and the computer. I was set, loopy by day 2 but set. It was hard not to touch Charisma, poor thing. She was a trooper though when she wanted to hug me she would come to the doorway and we would blow kisses and give ourselves big hugs (her idea). Bill would come in and rub my foot, and I would yell at him, but it was nice. We survived the isolation just fine, and the "Bad Pill" that made Charisma not gets hugs and snuggles from her Mommy for 3 long days. Let me tell you how excited the 2 of us were when Friday hit and I could hug and kiss her again. Bill was happy to have me back in our room again too. And of course I started back at work on Saturday. Everyone at work has been a great support through the whole thing.
So, life is pretty much back to normal. I got to start my thyroid pills as well that Friday after the radiation. I feel so much better. I am starting to feel like my old self, like I did 10 years ago. I have been so exhausted for so long, I have kind of lost the old me in the process. I am feeling great on the thyroid pills so far. Now I just need the pills to make me look like I did 10 years ago!!!
The next day was Radiation time. Bill and I prepped our daughter Charisma telling her that Mommy had to be a certain distance away from everyone, even her. No hugging or kissing or sitting together for 3 days. She knew I was getting the "Bad Medicine" as she put it. Anyway, I was given Iodine Radiation 103 mCi of Na I-131 it came in a metal jar it looked like a capsule I got to swallow with water. I drove home and I spent my time in our Office/Guest room on the futon. I had my phone, TV and remote, and the computer. I was set, loopy by day 2 but set. It was hard not to touch Charisma, poor thing. She was a trooper though when she wanted to hug me she would come to the doorway and we would blow kisses and give ourselves big hugs (her idea). Bill would come in and rub my foot, and I would yell at him, but it was nice. We survived the isolation just fine, and the "Bad Pill" that made Charisma not gets hugs and snuggles from her Mommy for 3 long days. Let me tell you how excited the 2 of us were when Friday hit and I could hug and kiss her again. Bill was happy to have me back in our room again too. And of course I started back at work on Saturday. Everyone at work has been a great support through the whole thing.
So, life is pretty much back to normal. I got to start my thyroid pills as well that Friday after the radiation. I feel so much better. I am starting to feel like my old self, like I did 10 years ago. I have been so exhausted for so long, I have kind of lost the old me in the process. I am feeling great on the thyroid pills so far. Now I just need the pills to make me look like I did 10 years ago!!!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
After Surgery
Well, it has been almost a week since my surgery. Last Friday my surgeon removed my Thyroid and two Lymphoids. Yes this was my first major surgery, only wisdom teeth removed in my early twenties.
I was getting very nervous as the moment arrived. My mom and husband, Bill, were there for me the whole time. In pre-op I was so hungry from fasting all I could think of was all the food that I wasn't going to be eating over the weekend with surgery on my neck. In pre-op I was asked questions and set up with the IV, OUCH, that is not the most comfy thing. The last time I remember having one was when I was in the Hospital giving birth. I don't know why I don't remember what the IV felt like, it's not like I was focused on something else or anything.
As the surgery time crept closer the Surgeon & Anesthesiologist came in and talked to me and prep me further. General anesthesia, um WOW, that is some bazaar feeling. I remember being wheeled into the surgery room, moving over onto the surgery table, and seeing my surgeon smiling down at me..... Then I sort of woke up in the post op room feeling trapped and scared. That was not fun, that really pretty much was hellish. I was groggy, very groggy, could not stay awake, I could barely focus...basically it felt like I was in a cloud or a dream. The next memory was of me being wheeled into my hospital room with my Mom and Bill happy to see me and talking to me, as I am trying to be awake and failing miserably. I felt like crap..The nurse asked me how I felt on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extreme pain. I said basically the 1st number in my head, 8. In reality is more likely a 6, but whatever I was not all there at the moment. Well, she did her job and I got a whole lot of morphine to ease the level 8 pain. Yikes, between the general anesthesia wearing off and the morphine kicking in I felt loopy and nauseas. Oh, and in this mix Dinner arrived! Bill was doing a fabulous job trying his best to get me to eat my clear liquid dinner, but I was not to cooperative. I also talked to my daughter on the phone during this confusion phase and managed to sound alert and awake, bazaar!
Then there was the 1st trip to the potty! I didn't know if I could make it to the bathroom, but was willing to try. The nurse helped me get up out of bed and I wasn't going to make it..Nausia kicked in..um out. So, I ended up using the bedside commode, it was interesting. But soon after Mom and Bill left to let me sleep for the night I was feeling much better and the trip to the toilet got easier and easier.
I was released for home the next morning, hurray! My mom arrived to visit and I was getting the exit papers all at the same time!!! I was slow moving, but not in any real pain, my neck just felt very sore. I haven’t really needed the painkillers, which is a nice feeling. Everyday I have more mobility in my neck, but still I get tired quickly and am slow to wake up in the AM. Today I feel really well, but my bandage is driving me nuts. It itches like crazy. My daughter, Charisma, thinks it looks kind of gross, but she seems pretty used to it now.
My next step: I am just waiting to here my results on the Lymphoids they removed and sent for tests to see if the cancer spread. If it did, then I will need the Radiation Iodine. It is administered via IV.
I was getting very nervous as the moment arrived. My mom and husband, Bill, were there for me the whole time. In pre-op I was so hungry from fasting all I could think of was all the food that I wasn't going to be eating over the weekend with surgery on my neck. In pre-op I was asked questions and set up with the IV, OUCH, that is not the most comfy thing. The last time I remember having one was when I was in the Hospital giving birth. I don't know why I don't remember what the IV felt like, it's not like I was focused on something else or anything.
As the surgery time crept closer the Surgeon & Anesthesiologist came in and talked to me and prep me further. General anesthesia, um WOW, that is some bazaar feeling. I remember being wheeled into the surgery room, moving over onto the surgery table, and seeing my surgeon smiling down at me..... Then I sort of woke up in the post op room feeling trapped and scared. That was not fun, that really pretty much was hellish. I was groggy, very groggy, could not stay awake, I could barely focus...basically it felt like I was in a cloud or a dream. The next memory was of me being wheeled into my hospital room with my Mom and Bill happy to see me and talking to me, as I am trying to be awake and failing miserably. I felt like crap..The nurse asked me how I felt on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extreme pain. I said basically the 1st number in my head, 8. In reality is more likely a 6, but whatever I was not all there at the moment. Well, she did her job and I got a whole lot of morphine to ease the level 8 pain. Yikes, between the general anesthesia wearing off and the morphine kicking in I felt loopy and nauseas. Oh, and in this mix Dinner arrived! Bill was doing a fabulous job trying his best to get me to eat my clear liquid dinner, but I was not to cooperative. I also talked to my daughter on the phone during this confusion phase and managed to sound alert and awake, bazaar!
Then there was the 1st trip to the potty! I didn't know if I could make it to the bathroom, but was willing to try. The nurse helped me get up out of bed and I wasn't going to make it..Nausia kicked in..um out. So, I ended up using the bedside commode, it was interesting. But soon after Mom and Bill left to let me sleep for the night I was feeling much better and the trip to the toilet got easier and easier.
I was released for home the next morning, hurray! My mom arrived to visit and I was getting the exit papers all at the same time!!! I was slow moving, but not in any real pain, my neck just felt very sore. I haven’t really needed the painkillers, which is a nice feeling. Everyday I have more mobility in my neck, but still I get tired quickly and am slow to wake up in the AM. Today I feel really well, but my bandage is driving me nuts. It itches like crazy. My daughter, Charisma, thinks it looks kind of gross, but she seems pretty used to it now.
My next step: I am just waiting to here my results on the Lymphoids they removed and sent for tests to see if the cancer spread. If it did, then I will need the Radiation Iodine. It is administered via IV.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Today..
Much to my sister's love of "The Blog" here I am finally joining the band wagon.
Last week I was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Cancer. My reaction: "Weird, I have cancer." I have been extremely calm about this whole cancer thing. It was caught very early at 1 cm. Surgery should be all I need (I have my appointment with the surgeon Wednesday). And a pill the rest of my life to replace the function of the thyroid. OK, that is simple, telling my family not so simple. I didn't want to mention the word cancer, it is an evil word that tends to freak people out. But I called my brother Martin first then my Mom. My mom called the other two to let them know. Everyone called me to get more info and let me know they are here for me. Thank You!!
I have noticed that I have been starting to get more testy about stupid things. I am getting nervous about the surgery. I want all my questions answered now, I don't want to wait until Wednesday! Ahhhhh!! But still, I am only nervous.
It was a little awkward telling my boss at work. I punched in a stood at the office doorway waiting for her to finish a phone call. I never do that to her, so when she hung up and I said "I have some interesting news for you." Poor thing thought I was quiting! I continued by first mentioning not to worry I wasn't quiting, but I had my results of a biopsy on my thyroid and explained everything very matter of fact. Everyone at work is concerned and most let me know if I needed anything to let them know. I do work with a great bunch of people. I hope I won't be out long.
My husband, Bill, has been great making sure I am OK and have all the information I need. He thinks it is strange that my reaction to having cancer was pretty much the same as when I realized I have bunions on my feet. Hey, why do I need to freak out when there is someone else in the world getting diagnosed with a limit on there life. I am lucky, I have a cancer that was found early and is very treatable. It doesn't make having surgery less stressful, but it could be worse, I am not going anywhere!
Last week I was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Cancer. My reaction: "Weird, I have cancer." I have been extremely calm about this whole cancer thing. It was caught very early at 1 cm. Surgery should be all I need (I have my appointment with the surgeon Wednesday). And a pill the rest of my life to replace the function of the thyroid. OK, that is simple, telling my family not so simple. I didn't want to mention the word cancer, it is an evil word that tends to freak people out. But I called my brother Martin first then my Mom. My mom called the other two to let them know. Everyone called me to get more info and let me know they are here for me. Thank You!!
I have noticed that I have been starting to get more testy about stupid things. I am getting nervous about the surgery. I want all my questions answered now, I don't want to wait until Wednesday! Ahhhhh!! But still, I am only nervous.
It was a little awkward telling my boss at work. I punched in a stood at the office doorway waiting for her to finish a phone call. I never do that to her, so when she hung up and I said "I have some interesting news for you." Poor thing thought I was quiting! I continued by first mentioning not to worry I wasn't quiting, but I had my results of a biopsy on my thyroid and explained everything very matter of fact. Everyone at work is concerned and most let me know if I needed anything to let them know. I do work with a great bunch of people. I hope I won't be out long.
My husband, Bill, has been great making sure I am OK and have all the information I need. He thinks it is strange that my reaction to having cancer was pretty much the same as when I realized I have bunions on my feet. Hey, why do I need to freak out when there is someone else in the world getting diagnosed with a limit on there life. I am lucky, I have a cancer that was found early and is very treatable. It doesn't make having surgery less stressful, but it could be worse, I am not going anywhere!
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