I don't mean to bitch or anything...

But my neck HURTS.





Must stop scratching at itchy scar.

I'm missing ybunny desperately just now.

But, the time is coming! For, lo...I have done the following:

1. Cancelled all extraneous credit accounts.

2. Cancelled my mobile. This is important to note! Don't try getting me on my mobile/text messaging me just now. Email me if you want an interim number. :)

3. Been confirmed for an appointment for my last chemo/radiation dose on Wednesday. Synthroid will commence on Wednesday afternoon/Thursday morning and I'm meant to feel close to 100% in 4-5 days. *throws as much confetti as current energy levels allow*

4. Dealt with the last of work stuff. My job has been super nice about me quitting. I say that because I have officially been told that I'm no longer responsible to them as of today. Woot.

5. Enjoyed the smell of cumin rising from the downstairs. Our house is being converted into an Indian restaurant. Mom's got about 8 different curries in the works for my send off party. Yum, food.

While I think I've reached the bottom of the barrel as far as my energy goes, I'm as high as a kite knowing that it's all working out and coming together. *keeps fingers firmly crossed that they keep coming together*

I have one day shy of three weeks before I leave for Scotland.

I've lost a whole week now because of screwups with the chemo. They are all but killing me. I'm so tired now. I don't cry loads, but I'm so exhausted that commercials make me weepy. (Good thing for TiVo, probably.)

I just want to be able to get ready. I'm sick of trying to put the right things in the right suitcases so that weight and contents and etc. are all acceptable to be moved.

I'm sorry for all the complaining. I just need to get it out, you know?




I know you do...so I'm not requiring you to tell me once again. It's got to get tedious.

Apparently the nurse was the least of my worries during this latest round of hospital visits. Though, she may have had somewhat to do with the debacle that was uncovered this afternoon. Nobody's quite sure how the mixup happened.

Basically, I went from very tired to 'can't even lift myself out of bed' in about a 48 hour period of time. So, what went wrong?

The test dose I was given to do the scans this week (the scans will tell them how much to give me in the actual dose scheduled for next Monday), was I¹³¹. That was wrong. It was supposed to be I¹²³. And it wasn't supposed to be so much.

I¹²³ has a half life of 13 odd hours. I¹³¹ has a half life of 8 and some days. Ooops. But, not horrible. It's not going to kill me...or at least not all of me. It did however, kill off a little more of my thyroid. Hence the jump up in tiredness.

It works, from a scanning standpoint, just like I¹²³ so the scans went fine.
The problem? They aren't sure if they can give me the final dose this Monday. Giving me the wrong isotope on last Monday may have shocked the cells. In other words, they might not uptake anything else until the test dose wears off.

So, I may or may not be able to take the real or 'ablative' dose until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Hmph.

So, no Synthroid for a while yet. Boy, it's a good thing I like my bed...

The good: Today's trip to the hospital was painless and I have a ticket to come to Scotland for 3 August.

The bad: Wedding shower that required attendance this evening. Meh. Though, I did have a great time talking to church friends that I'd not seen in a while. That made it on the good end, I suppose.

The ugly: The nurse that checked me in for nuclear medicine was bitchy and about as apologetic regarding it as a bag of cats. Refused to do what I asked about forwarding my records until I went over her head and complained. Then had the nerve to say that she had already told me that she would hand deliver them when confronted. Whatever, I don't care about your attitude, but don't delay my treatment. Bizaycat.

Poll #530603 So, I got a question (or two):
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

How many times have you been to the hospital (not an office or surgery, but actually the hospital)?

Your opinion of service was

The worst part was

I did have a problem with my stay!

I live in

Now see? Wasn't that fun? :)

I'm scheduled to begin the chemo/radiation regimen on Monday.
They'd told me that they couldn't do the test if my TSH levels weren't high enough by today.

Normal TSH: 0.5 - 5 mIU/L Most experts say it should stay around 1.25

Mine as of yesterday: 124 mIU/L





Yeah, I'll be starting with the radioactive iodine on Monday. :)

Many pianists (and other musicians for that matter) take pride in their pedagogical heritage. For example: 'My teacher, Miss. Buttons was taught by Mr. Clever, who was taught by Sir Herring, once a student of Herr Fisch, when Beethoven taught Musik fur Blochkopfs.'

Anycase, I have no lineage of that sort. I began singing when I was in fourth grade (otherwise known as 9-10 year olds). My parents, to be precise...my mother, began me on the piano when I was 4. ( ...cut for length and possible disinterest... )

I had this idea about a post, but it's going to take some thought. I'm fresh out of that at the moment.

So, in place of that...a quick update.
(and, since I lurve lists...)

1. Will take pictures of things to be given away, I'll try to post them tonight.

2. ybunny's off on the rig in Cameroon. Miss him.

3. I'm a bit miffed about the 4th. I wanted to just stay in bed, wander down and have about half a hundred veggie hot dogs later and crawl back into bed. No such luck. We're going to my dad's cardiologist's place for dinner. I have to go because his wife had thyroid cancer and wants to talk to me about it. Ugh.

4. I've got most everything sorted, I'm just trying to figure out if I have enough room to bring everything at this point. I'm likely going to spend a few hundred dollars and ship my kitchen goods over to avoid hauling them.

5. I'm less than a week to the scans. I'm dead tired at this point. I am making use of my time in bed. I've made a bunch of new icons. Gotta fill up all those spaces, ya know. :) I'll get them up eventually. Soon. Maybe.

I got the stitch out. Yes, only the one. I don't know. It's some plastic surgery trick.
It hurt, more than anything so far, to be honest.

My neck still looks like the picture in ybunny's album. Quite bruised. It feels sticky from the bandage tape. I can't seem to take the harshness of scrubbing needed to get it off.

I'm dead tired.

Yesterday we took ybunny back to the airport. I didn't cry too much...just a little on the way back to the car. It's not very long before August, but the airport thing is just never fun.

kiltmir, redthought, and I did a little playing around on the way back, though it was cut short by my exhaustedness.

Speaking of which, my oncologist is all for the chemotherapy/radiation. (Apparently it's both, who knew?)
( A quick aside about thyroid hormones )
The oncologist wants to wait until the TSH levels are pretty high and then scan to make sure that there is no cancer anywhere else via a radioactive iodine (I¹³¹) scan.

They can't give me the synthroid because it will keep the brain from making the TSH so I get to wait three weeks to even get the I¹³¹ and then another week until they do the scan(s) with it.

Then, and only then, do I get the synthroid. I could refuse the chemo thing, but after an hour and a half talking to this guy, I get the feeling that's what they call A Bad Idea.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to feel fine and he seems to think I can go back to work once the surgeon releases me on 23 June.

Lemme just tell you...it's a bunch of bull. The reason he gives for this is that 'surgeons rarely get all the thyroid tissue out and so you probably have enough still in there to keep you going pretty strong until the last two weeks or even the week before the test'. I'm no expert. I can only tell you what I'm feeling. And I'm feeling exhausted. It was bad by Sunday, it was worse Monday, and again on Tuesday...and today I don't even want to walk around without bringing a chair with me. And, I know that while most surgeons may leave all manner of things...mine likely didn't. I've never met someone more anal-retentive. But, that's what you want in a surgeon, yes?

Remember, this is my job. And I'm still doing a lot of this, even though I was promoted. I don't think I can do that right now.

So, pretty much...keep your fingers crossed that I can figure out how to stay employed long enough to get all this done while covered by insurance (and not the dreaded Cobra!) and still leave work in time for Scotland.

Well, today's the first day that I've felt not-so-bad since the surgery. The problem is...apparently today's the day that the rest of what my thyroid produced before it went bye-bye also, well...went bye-bye.

So, basically walking from the basement to my room (two flights of stairs) is a real chore. Like a sit-down-at-the-top-and-have-a-think-about-it type chore.

I spent most of the morning waiting to get an appointment with the oncologist to start all the post-surgical type stuff. Including that thing which is becoming my quest as though for a grail: synthroid. At 11:40 or so they said, 'Oh...we can't see you until tomorrow.' Bah.

So, ybunny and I had breakfast somewhere in there and had a small chat about the amusing nature of people who bring drama-filled/bad situations down on themselves. And then we watched copious amounts of Scrubs.

The rest of the day was spent towing the truck which apparently has a bad alternator and picking out a new kitchen range for my parents kitchen.

Then, kiltmir, ybunny, and I had a talk about the unreasonableness of people when confronted with logic for a short while. Then we bought wallets. Last, we took turns molesting a giraffe.
Warning!One of the above statements is untrue. (You can ask the giraffe which.)

Now I guess it's time for me to get all sad since ybunny leaves tomorrow at 5. Meh.

Night, night, LJ. :)

What I forgot to post about after I got back from Chattanooga was that
junni and albanach rock!
Thank you two so very much. I'm absolutely gobsmacked. :)

More surgery today. Whee.


Yeah, I know...no one says 'Whee' anymore. ;)

I'll sleep any ways that make my neck happy. Oh, yes, oh yes.

Well, after some hellish vomiting from narcotics which we already knew I was allergic to, I'm home.

More surgery next week. Hopefully on Wednesday. We'll see.

I have the absolutely best boyfriend ever. Yes, that's right...ever. :)


Now, large amounts of sleep, please.