Sweet relief

The surgery on Thursday went well.  I spent another lovely night at Central Baptist Hospital.  Don't get me wrong: the people are really nice there, but I quickly grew weary of being woken up every three hours, sleeping with an oxygen mask on, and being fed orange Jello and beef broth.  I got to go home pretty early on Friday morning, and as if the whole ordeal hadn't been bizarre enough, leaving the hospital was even more bizarre.  The nurse refused to unhook me from the IV until I ate solid food, but she wouldn't give me any solid food.  She also insisted that I sleep in the oxygen mask even though my oxygen sats were fine.  After the shift change, I got a new nurse who was on duty when I was discharged.  She and the student nurse who was shadowing her unhooked me from everything, and then the nurse proceeded to tell me that when my ride arrived, I could go ahead and just leave.  All I had to do was wave to the nurses at the nurses' station and tell them I was leaving.  By myself.  On my own two legs.  Without a wheelchair.  I mean, I was perfectly capable of walking to the elevator and to the front door alone, but I found it odd that the nurse would let me go alone due to liability.  As I was walking down the hall to leave, a staff member stopped me and said, "What are you doing?  Does your nurse know you're walking down the hallway?"  When I told her that my nurse not only knew but TOLD me to do it, the woman just shook her head and said, "Okay, good luck."

I was so glad to have Nicole, my parents, and Trevor's parents in town to help me with the kids.  I was able to take a nap (if you count four hours as a nap) on Friday and another nap on Saturday.  Lovely!  Trevor stayed home with me on Friday just to make sure everything was okay.  Either that or he wanted to nap, too, so he could stay up for the UK basketball game Friday night.  Other than fatigue, I have been feeling pretty good and slathering my sweet scar with vitamin E oil as often as I can.

On Monday, I had my first appointment with my endocrinologist, Dr. Wendell Miers.  (He is really cool, by the way.)  He was able to get into the CBH computer and see my biopsy results from Thursday.  Drum roll, please...

There was NO cancer in the second lobe that was removed.  Not only was there that amazing news, but I also don't have to do the radioactive iodine treatment.  Dr. Miers started me on Synthroid to regulate the level of thyroid hormone in my body, and I will continue to do checkups with him every three months, then every six, and eventually once a year.

I knew in my heart that everything was going to be okay, but hearing the news for sure was a huge relief.  All I wanted to do was go home and sleep for twelve hours because I felt completely weightless for the first time in a long time.  I didn't get to do that, of course, but last night's sleep was one of the best I have had in a long, long, long time.

I truly appreciate all of the thoughts, prayers, and kind words that you have all sent my way.  I know that every bit of love has helped me and my family get through this rough, insane, and emotional time.  Thank you all!

Now that I am cancer-free, I can get to the business of packing up the house.  But that's a whole other blog...

Inconclusive

So, a week ago, I had a hemithyroidectomy.  Before you rush to google, a hemithyroidectomy is when half of one's thyroid is removed.  And I have a pretty badass scar to flaunt.   

You should see the other guy...

 

During the surgery, the left lobe of my thyroid was removed and sent to pathology.  The initial results looked good; there was no invasion of bad cells.  The sample was then sent off for a more thorough test and was to be returned within 48 hours.  I spent Friday night in the hospital - ugh - and was able to go home Saturday late-morning.  I felt pretty good, albeit hungry after a diet of beef broth and gelatin.  I took a 3 hour nap (!) on Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday, I felt almost back to normal.

Monday and Tuesday came and went without any word from the doctor about the second pathology report.  I started calling on Wednesday, and I finally got someone to call me back Thursday afternoon.  Apparently the results were inconclusive and the sample was sent somewhere else for a second opinion.  Okay.  When I asked the nurse who called me what that meant, she said, "Well, inconclusive means the doctor couldn't make a determination one way or another from the sample."  Gee, thanks for the vocabulary lesson.  So now I wait until the second opinion comes back.

I think everyone else around me is far more freaked out about the inconclusive result than I am.  I'm surprisingly Zen about the whole thing.  I mean, there isn't anything I can do about it but wait.  No matter what the new results are, everything is going to be fine.  I figure that the universe wouldn't mess with me after it waited so long to send me my beautiful family and my beautiful life.  

The only problem now, other than the waiting, is the fatigue.  Holy cow, am I tired.  And it's not just the kind of tired after missing a few nights of sleep.  This is the kind of tired that makes me completely unable to function.  I have headaches with the fatigue, and all I want to do is lie on the couch.  That's not the kind of wife and mother I want to be. 

I have an appointment with an endocrinologist, but I can't get in to see him for two weeks.  I called my GP and basically begged to be seen, and I have an appointment with her today at noon.  I can deal with a heck of a lot, but I can't deal with being so rundown that I can't interact with my family and friends.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that we can find a solution to get me back to my former energy level.

I wouldn't have been able to do all of this without the support and help of my family and friends, especially Trevor, my parents, and Nicole.  Knowing that I have people behind me and cheering me on is the best thing in the world.  And thanks to all of you who have asked how I am and sent encouraging messages.  You guys rock!!!!  

Unconventional thanks

I may be a housewife and stay at home mom, but that's where my conventional life stops.  I have never been a cookie cutter gal, and I hope I never am.  I change hair colors every month, I don't talk baby-talk to my kids, and if I could only pick one genre of book to read the rest of my life, it would be true crime.  Yeah, it's a little weird.

So you'll understand why my thankful post isn't going to be about the normal stuff.  Of course I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my home, my health, and all of the amazing intangibles in my life.  But I'm also selfishly thankful for lots of things that make my life easier or more fun.  Or maybe I'm just not in a shlocky frame of mind tonight; I don't know.

So here is my list of top five things for which I am thankful this holiday season.

1.  The Otterbox

I am really hard on electronics.  Actually, that's an understatement.  I lose them; I break them; I mangle them; I render them completely useless.  I'm on my third iPhone: I swear I don't know what happened to the first two.  When Trevor brought home the third phone for me, he also brought home an Otterbox case and suggested demanded that I use it.  It's big, bulky, black, and ugly, but it does the job.  So far, nothing has happened to my phone, and I guarantee the Otterbox is to thank.  I do have the pink version on my Amazon wish list, though, just in case anyone wondered.

2.  Earth Balance
I have become a master at substituting dairy- and egg-free ingredients in my cooking and baking.  For a while, butter was an issue, though.  I found a fantastic vegan margarine that comes in sticks as well as in spreadable form.  It's a totally random thing to be thankful for but now I can cook and bake without having to freak out too much.  And it's really delicious.  I made chocolate chip cookies for Dallas's class a few weeks ago, and no one could tell the difference.  Even the teachers asked me for the recipe after they tasted the cookies.  So, rock on, Earth Balance!  Thanks for making my life easier.  

3.  The Ford Flex
So this one is completely vain: I recognize that.  But for quite a while, I was a mini-van mama.  No big deal as a car is pretty much just transportation, but sometimes driving the brown Quest was a little demoralizing.  I lucked into a maroon Ford Flex, and I love it.  It's hip, it's roomy, it's fun, and it's not a mini-van.  (What?) I don't have the automatic sliding doors anymore, but I do have Sirius Satellite Radio.  Trust me, the trade was worth it.

4.  The Kindle
I never, ever, EVER thought I would be such a huge Kindle fan.  Trevor has had his for quite a while, and he loves it.  I'm pretty old-school, and I love the feel and smell of books.  However, for my birthday a few weeks ago, Trevor got me a Kindle, and now I'm a new woman.  I mean, I'm never giving up paper books, but the Kindle is pretty darn awesome.  I can get books anytime I want, which is fiscally dangerous but totally cool.  I can even check out ebooks from the library.  The selection isn't the best, but it's free and easy.  Plus, there are some awesome games on the Kindle.  I'm completely obsessed with Grid Detective; if you have a Kindle, check it out.  I would be happy to get Kindle gift cards for every occasion for the rest of my life.  And a new Otterbox.  Pink.

5.  DVR versus Magic Shell
This is a hard call for me.  On one hand, the DVR is incredible.  I can record shows at 3:00 AM and watch them whenever I want.  I can record a series by touching a few buttons.  Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the Real Housewives franchises on Bravo, but I can record all of them without even thinking.  (And watch them without thinking, too.  Zing!)   I can pause recorded shows or even live TV when Dallas comes out of his room at bedtime for the seventeenth time at night or if I need to get a drink.  Brilliant, no?  On the other hand, there's Magic Shell.  You pour it over ice cream and it becomes a hard shell of tasty goodness.  Can there really be anything better?  Maybe watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and pausing it to dish up some Magic Shell?  Winner, winner.

  or

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  :)