HEY! I'm still here---sorry I haven't blogged!!!!!

Hi, all my loyal blog followers! I have been bad...not blogging.


We just got back from vacation (FAMVAC as it is known...a 16 year traditional trip to a state park with 25 - 40 of my relatives). Mike, the kids, and I started a day early. We spent Monday at Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN, one of the best places in the world. After my scare with blood clots, I was afraid I wouldn't be riding coasters this summer, but am happy to report that I was able to do whatever I wanted, arms high in the air on The Raven and The Legend. About 7 pm I "hit the wall" and got fatigued, but that was the first time all day I thought about my lack of thyroid except for making sure my scar was drenched in sunscreen.


Then...off to Brown County State Park. Monday we arrived at 11:30 pm so we didn't see the group until the next morning. Long story short...I got to spend 3 full days playing with my nephews Brian (age 5) and Ian (age 4) who I hadn't seen since last November.


So, now I am home and trying to get out of "vacation mode" (sleeping till 9:30 every day...far cry from my pre-radiation withdrawl period when I was up at 4:30 am). Next week I finally get to go for my first bloodwork check and hopefully get my Synthroid dose updated. I think I am still low, albeit functional, but my skin is really dry and I still am having weight gain issues. (Considering I got sick with some nasty gastrointestinal bug on vacation for 2 days, I doubt overeating on vacation has much to do with the gain!)


On the basement front (or as I have been calling it, "the Underworld") we are, for all intents and purposes, DONE. I even finished sewing the curtains and pillows. Of course, as time goes on, we'll add more furnishings, but the construction is COMPLETE. I love my craft room...I can leave all my stuff out and close the doors and no one will bother it (at least not if they value their life!) And my little TV/DVD player in there is wonderful when I am working on a project.

Feeling Crappy: may as well blog

Warning: the following has been written while PMSing and feeling like crap. Read at your own risk.


Welcome to Day +15. I still have all the taste alteration issues and now my skin is drying out (I am having "winter skin" in July--ugh), I am gaining weight, feel like a big balloon, have too much to do, time to do it, but feel like doing nothing. I have 4 more weeks until my next appointment with Dr. Myers, won't adjust my Synthroid until then, and I'm not sure the annoyance factor is tolerable. I want everything right RIGHT NOW. I feeling like I am wasting my summer.


Anyway, yesterday evening Mike, Anna, Josh, Anna's friend Kasey, and I went to the US National Swimming Championships at the Natatorium and got to see Michael Phelps break a world record (so I guess we are doing something fun!!) I just wish I had more energy.

Day +10; feeling OK

I have been on just the Synthroid now for 5 days (no "tide-me-over" Cytomel.) Although so far I feel pretty normal, my tongue feels numb at the tip (more like I burned my tongue) and I have a metallic taste in my mouth still. I was doing a bit of searching today and this might not be because of the radioactive iodine, but is a symptom of being hypothyroid (it is called "Burning Mouth (or Tongue) Syndrome). I hope it goes away as the Synthroid gets into my system, because a lot of stuff tastes funny. Strong flavors seem to be better (salsa tastes really good, but chocolate is just so-so; ham tastes good, but turkey is bland, etc.) Lemonade with extra lemon tastes great, plain water tastes like metal.

My doctor said that he usually low-ball estimates the Synthroid until the first set of blood tests (TSH and T4) are done and adjusts from there. (Too high can cause blood pressure and heart rate issues, among other side effects). I have a feeling with my size that 125 mg is probably a bit low...but we'll see. My body has a habit of metabolizing drugs oddly.

We spent the 4th of July at my in-laws and had a wonderful, relaxing time. I love going there...naps are not only accepted, they are encouraged!!! Fortunately, cheeseburgers and hot dogs are foods that still taste good!

My husband and several of his brothers, besides trying to kill the rest of us by not reading the directions for one of the fireworks, set off some great fireworks this year. If there is anything more dangerous than one Francis man not reading directions, it is 4 of them (Josh being one of them) not reading directions. Happily, the rest of the fireworks went up according to plan and we had quite a show. Anna, my niece Courtney, and I took shelter behind the pine trees until we felt like the men had it under control. Everyone survived.

Day +5: Out in public: no longer a menace

I am back among the general populace. The radioactive iodine was not too bad...I stayed in my basement craft room for 3 nights. I watched a lot of really (I mean really) bad movies, slept, drank copious amounts of water/diet soda/lemonade to flush my system from any leftover radiation, and of course, peed--a lot! My stomach was upset on Friday and Saturday...not sure if from the iodine or from the steady diet of fast food and take out that my family provided me with.


Friday till Monday I had a metallic taste in my mouth and food tasted funny, but it seems to have resolved today (Tuesday). I am still drinking lots of lemonade (with extra lemon juice to make it more sour. The sour candy and lemonade are thought to help the salivary glands keep from getting plugged up...from the iodine more so than the radioactive part).


I am feeling pretty good today. I went back to work and cooked a REAL, NON low iodine meal. Now the fun of tweaking the Synthroid dose begins (I was told to take 5 days of Cytomel along with the Synthroid to jump start things...it takes about 3 weeks to establish a decent blood level of Synthroid, so there still may be ups and downs).


So thus I begin the rest of my life as a "cancer survivor"...please keep praying that I am among the 80% of patients who do NOT have a recurrence after radioactive ablation therapy!!!

Officially Radioactive!!!

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...I am officially radioactive for the next 3 days, since precisely 11:45 am this morning. The good news is that there was no indication of any thyroid tissue except the leftover from the surgery (which is normal since you don't want to cut things like nerves, other glands, etc.)

The I-131 (radioactive iodine) will now go to work to ablate (destroy) all that remaining tissue.

The treatment itself was anticlimatic...a small vial of liquid to drink and then home. I need to stay away from my family (in passing is fine) so I am staying in my new basement craft room which is complete, as of yesterday, and is stunningly beautiful.

I can go back into public on Sunday afternoon.

The best part of today was getting off the low iodine diet and eating take out...in fact, I'm not supposed to prepare food for other people for 3 days (what a change from the past 2 weeks!). I think we'll eat a lot of take out in the next few days.

Day -1 1/3: Tomorrow is the big day

I have labeled this T-1 1/3 instead of T-2 because I now have really good information about what is going on. I just got back from Radiology where I took my "Tracer Dose" of Iodine-123. Tomorrow I go in, get scans and then (most likely) take my therapeutic dose of I-131. But the good news is that after that, I can go off my low iodine diet almost immediately. (Do I smell Pizza in my future???)

Day T-5: Strike while the iron is hot

I'm not even sure where that phrase came from, but it has become my motto. Welcome to Day 12 of hypothyroidism. I am your host, Lisa Francis.

Today my parents and grandma are visiting so I am recreating my Spaghetti dinner for them. As what has become usual, I woke up at 5:30 this morning (after an 11:30, yikes!, bedtime). By 9:30, I had 3 lbs of hamburger browned, the sauce made and simmering, the chocolate fudge pudding cake ready to go into the oven, and the 2nd batch of bread ready for its second rise, not to mention 3 loads of laundry done. I had unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, put away the 2nd load of dishes and am deciding if I have enough time to stain my pocket doors. When I have energy, I have it all at once. Will I still be awake at 2:00pm?? Probably not.

When the fatigue hits, it hits hard and fast, but I know that I absolutely have to sleep. But otherwise, I feel pretty much OK. I notice that I get a lot more head rushes if I get up and down too fast, but otherwise, frankly, I am shocked at what I can do. But I never, ever take it for granted that I'll be able to do it tomorrow.

Hopefully, I'll be back on meds by the end of the week or early next week and be able to even out a bit.