Updates!

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this! I've finally been feeling better, so i've been busy trying to get myself back into the real world again!

I had my post op just over a week ago. My scar is healing well. (I couldn't even be Frankenstein for Halloween it has faded so much, so i had to resort to being an awesome banana instead) the surgeon was clearly very happy with his surgery and didn't have much else to say. He mostly just confirmed that i'm ready to move on to the next step towards being cancer free!!!

The next step is the radioactive iodine treatment. Basically, your thyroid absorbs iodine, so by giving it radioactive iodine any left over thyroid cells and cancer cells will absorb the radioactive version and die! Usually the process for this is that they stop my hormone replacement and allow as much hormone as they can to leave the body before treatment. However, in doing so, it can take many weeks and causes the body to crash into hypothyroidism. This causes depression, weight gain, sluggishness, and a whole mess of other side effects that pretty much make you feel like crap! But, thanks to my doing it at the Hospital in Denver, which is also a research facility, i'm a great test subject (I donated my thyroid too, since i wont be needing it anymore), so we're hoping i can be a part of a trail on new drug that will allow me to stay on my synthetic hormone throughout the treatment and therefor not crash! The new drug is a series of injections leading up the the radioactive iodine itself that will basically trick the body into thinking it has no hormones without all the nasty side effects of actually doing so. of course i'll still be radioactive and need a few days of isolation, but there's a good chance even that wont be that bad! The only reason I might not be able to do this is we still don't know the amount of radioactive iodine i will require yet, and it is most likely more than we had originally thought as the cancer had spread farther than we had originally thought. But we're feeling lucky and have our fingers crossed!

the other part of preparing for the radioactive iodine treatment is an iodine free diet which i started yesterday. basically anything with salt, dairy, or soy in it i can't have! so pretty much everything yummy! But my mom has been a fantastic cook already and we've found some great recipes! and it's lucky i like fresh fruits and veggies! and boulders a good place for fresh food! if only i could eat chocolate too! Seeing all this darned Halloween candy around is a bit cruel! but i only have to do it for 2 weeks, and luckily all things considered its a healthy diet! probably what i need after the cancer diet i was on of my sister cooking massive meals and chocolate cakes all the time!

I've got my endocrinologist appointment on Thursday, and he will confirm everything and give us more details, but if all goes according to plan I should be cancer free by December! With any luck i'll be getting my radioactive iodine on the 12th (with the shots on the 10th and 11th) and will go back in around the 19th for a scan to make sure i haven't turned into a radioactive monster or anything! a week after that i should be allowed to fly internationally and i've even got my flight home booked for the 27th!

Other than that, life is pretty good. My mom and I were starting to rip at the seams from all the stress and overwhelming emotions, so we ran away to cabo for a week! it was exactly what we needed! lots of relaxing in the sun and wonderful food and such happy people! it's kind of hard to be back in the real world of America again, and i've caught a bit of a tummy bug the past few days, but over all i'm in good spirits. My best friend from Australia is coming on Saturday and i'm having a hard time containing my excitement!!! YAY YAY YAY!!!!!

Sorry again it took me so long to update! I'll be sure to update again after my appointment on Thursday with a confirmation on our plans and more details!