Charlcie

Basking in the thrill of being cancer free for a whole six weeks now, I continue to be tired. I hate tired. It sounds like whining...it sounds weak. People give you blank looks when you say, "I'm tired." And yet, most days I could, and sometimes do, climb in my bed about 6 PM for a nap or at least some vegitating. It all feels like a never-ending circle since last summer...major cancer surgery is sure to make you exhausted. Your body has to recover. It never really did as two weeks post-surgery, I'm on this amazingly horrible low-iodine diet in preparation for thyroid cancer treatment and taken off of all thyroid meds. Then treatment....then continued recovery and adjusting thyroid meds. A mere three months later, more cancer...more surgery...more tired. But now, I am through with cancer (rockin' the positive attitude here), and the tiredness lingers. I mentioned this to my family doc on a routine visit lately, and she did some blood work (everyone wants my blood

One year ago today, I went to Fairfax Radiology to have a thyroid biopsy. For some reason, my gut said "this is going to be bad news", and I asked Chris to go to the appointment with me. As I'm getting ready for the procedure, I told the nurse I was nervous. She said that they saw 20-25 patients a day for the thyroid biopsies and typically only one per day was positive for cancer. I was the one on July 14, 2008. I knew what to expect at the biopsy. I was told they would stick a needle in each of the three thyroid nodules that had found on ultrasound the week before. I read they gave you some local anesthetic before inserting the needle. However, that's not how they roll at Fairfax Radiology apparently. They noted, and it made sense, that if they numbed it up, it would be yet another needle in my neck when it would be over fairly quickly if they just went for it, which they did. "Tilt your head back so that your neck is sticking out so we can see the nodules bette

I recently visited my endocrinologist, Dr. Pun , in six-week follow up. He basically said everything looked good after my terrific thyroglobulin results (best since I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last summer!), and he would see me in three months. Really? Three months? I have been seen at least every six weeks, if not more often, by a doctor since all of this started last summer. Don't get me wrong...I'm thrilled! Woohoo! Great news! However, it feels a little weird. For the last year, I've had more doctors appointments that possibly in my entire life. Family practice docs, surgeons, endocrinologist, radiologists...Been hospitalized three times, two times for surgery, once for radioactive treatment. With that said, it just feels a little weird for a doctor to say "see you in three months" after what I've been through. As I get used to the cancer diagnosis, I guess I also get used to being a survivor as well. Happy to do so, but again, just another curve

We arrived back home last Saturday after a week at the beach, Carova, North Carolina, to be specific. I haven't spent a week at the beach since....the girls were 5 and 9 years old. Considering they are 12 and 16 now, it's been a while! After a few challenges with transportation once we got there, it was a relaxing week. I should explain: our transportation challenges were rooted in the fact that our beach house was literally on the beach. OK, not so much on the beach (it was REAL close), but we had to drive on the beach for three miles to get to it. I didn't know this until we got there, but I guess you are supposed to let out some air from your tires when you drive on the beach, even with 4-wheel drive. We did but let out too much air, which had two of our four tires shot, driving on rims on the beach. Chris and the boys spent practically one whole day getting these two tires replaced. $400 later, we were set. It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weeks I can ever