Charlcie

WARNING: This should probably be three posts. Unfortunately, I'm just not that creative these days. My dear cousin has a wonderful blog, All Things in Moderation , as does a friend of mine, Soup is not a Finger Food . Both have interesting lives and are VERY funny, witty, and charming. Yes, All Things and Soup, I'm buttering you up...happy? :) But me....my life has just not been that funny OR interesting lately. That's OK, just kinda new for me, what with all of the thyroid cancer fun of late! I think I'll take it. As a result, just nothing much to say lately except.... I have gone six straight days without wearing a scarf! I kid you not...the April 90-degree weather forced it upon me. Couldn't justify it. So my chapstick-looking sunscreen stick is my new best friend. I whip it out on the Metro, at the grocery store, on the soccer fields. My scar is my new badge of courage, and anyone can stare or comment. I don't care now! It's really been liberating. Oh y...

I find myself looking at the weather forecast more lately, hoping it stays cold. I like the winter, always have, but just today I realized that I have a different motive now. I have spent the last winter wearing turtlenecks and scarves. I have always liked to wear turtlenecks and started wearing scarves last winter just because I like them. I wore turtlenecks and scarves the past six months mainly to hide my five-inch scar at the base of my neck from thyroid cancer. Yet, at the same time, I said that I didn't mind my thyroid cancer scar. In fact, when I'm at home, I walk around sans scarf if I wore it at work or just out in general. I truly have a love-hate relationship with that scar. Most of the time, I look at it and am proud, reminded that I did it, survived not one but two cancer surgeries in the past nine months. Other times, I hate looking at it every morning in the mirror as I take my thyroid meds. A few times I have been in public with my scar uncovered and caught som...

Tired of talking about thyroid cancer....Good news: it's soccer season! I love to watch Morgan play. :)

Dr. Pun's office called yesterday and said he wanted me to come to the office and discuss all of the test results from my thyroid cancer follow up in person since the information was so "detailed." As you can imagine, a thousand things ran through my head: Detailed? What does that mean? I'm a new patient, only seen him once, so he probably just wants to go over everything. It's horrible news! Oh no... It's nothing...he wants to celebrate with me! At 8:15 AM this morning, Dr. Pun started the conversation this morning by saying we had a conundrum. He can't say I am cancer free, but there is not enough evidence to say I have a recurrence. Thyroglobin blood test results were elevated, and that caused him some concern as this is the test that with thyroid cancer patients often indicates recurrence. However, whole body scan showed nothing (radioactivity based). PET scan (glucose based) showed some very small things/nodules on the left side of my neck (not necess...

All of the shots have been given, IVs run, PET scan done, whole body scan done, blood work drawn X 2...and now I'm waiting for the tests results. No news yet, staying busy with soccer and family and work and...I'm still waiting. When I know more, you'll know more. I've got a good feeling things will come back how I want, no more thyroid cancer, but I still need the official confirmation!

As part of the preparation for my PET scan, I could not eat any carbs, sugar, or drink caffeinated drinks. That was yesterday...for 24 hours. Fun. PET scan this morning: I arrived at 6:15 AM. After the usual paperwork, I was escorted to a quiet, small room where the technician first pricked my finger for a glucose test like diabetic patients must do. He then started an IV and pushed some sort of glucose mixture into it, then took the IV out of my arm. I told him that I have had bad experiences with IVs in the hospital, but he did a great job, barely felt it. Next, he reclined the chair, gave me a pillow and blanket and said that I needed to stay still for an hour while the glucose traveled throughout my body. I promptly went to sleep. After an hour, he woke me, and I went to the scanner next for another hour of lying completely still. I slept more, luckily. And that's it....rather uneventful. Back home around 9:15. But exhausted...and hungry. Hungry, because, you see, I had to take...