quarantine

I'm sitting in my room on quarantine so I thought it would be a good time to blog.  I have been preparing for my radiation treatment(I-131) to try and kill any  thyroid cells left in me that might be cancer or turn into them in the future.  By doing so I had to be on a special diet for 12 days that consist of low iodine.  Which means no dairy, seafood, or salt! Because so many prepared foods have salt or eggs or dairy in them I had to make all my own food with out iodine (or red dye #3).  I did make some different homemade breads but I could only have 4 servings of grain and 1 of meat a day.  I ate a lot of oatmeal with fruit, applesauce, and unsalted nuts and vegetable soup.  Today I could began eating normal again.  I couldn't wait and was thinking of all the things I would eat today like chocolate, cheese, ice cream, but unfortunately I don't feel well at all! I barley got out of bed today.  On a positive note (by prepping for this) I found out the thyroid cells were not in my lungs! Besides eating this way I had to get some blood test, shots, sample pills, and a body scan.  The body scan shows any hot spots where cells are.  I was so excited to find out none are in my lungs!  (I will have to get a ct scan again in a few months to try to see what is in there that showed up on the ct scan.  Dr. thinks it is nothing big maybe scar tissue or something.) Unfortunately the scan showed more tissue (suspected benign) then they expected though so I had to get the extra strong does of I-131 to kill it off.  This means I have to be quarantined longer and more possible side effects.  I took the does yesterday and was feeling fine until about 5:30 then started to feel sick.  I have felt like I have a cold and the flu at the same time! I have to stay 6 feet away from anyone until Sunday then it tapers off.  I go back on Tuesday morning for another body scan and then I see my Dr. the next Monday for the follow up plan.  I'm hoping I will be done with all this and just have routine blood test from now on! I can't go back to work until April 1st and the weather looks like it is going to be great here next week! I'm hoping to get lots of walking in the sunshine in!

health update.

I don't have a lot of news but I just thought I would fill you in on what I do know.  A few weeks ago I got a ct scan done.  The next day my nurse called me to say there was some spots they want to re check in a few months.  I got a copy of the report and was really worried the cancer was already in my lungs.  A week went by and my nurse called again, I told her I was concerned and she asked if I wanted to talk to the doctor about them.  I went in the next day and he told me he doesn't think that the spots are thyroid cancer or any other cancer. Some of them are common but one of them is not as common so they want to re-check it in June for more information.  He suspects that its residual tissue from a childhood illness.  Maybe from when I had pneumonia when I was young.  However if it is thyroid related I will know for sure next Wednesday when I get a body scan.  I have already officially started my ri-131 treatment processes.  It's about 3 weeks long. Today was the first day on my eating plan.  It's a low iodine diet for 12 days consisting of mostly fruits and veggies.  Then I will have to have 2 blood tests, 2 hormone injections, 2 body scans, and radiation.  I will also find out how much radiation they will give me based on that scan next week.  After the radiation I will be quarantined for a little while then get another body scan. The radiation shouldn't make me sick or lose my hair.  The most common side effects are a sore throat, trouble with saliva glands and food tasting different.  I have a follow up on April 4th with the doctor to go over the future plan.  Hopefully after this treatment I will be cancer free (if I'm not already) but will have to do check up's about every 6 months for a while.  My incision is healing nicely it's barely noticeable already. 

Kitchen up-date

No it's not finished yet...I seams like once the major stuff is up and running the small stuff takes forever to wrap up!  David has been doing all the work himself and he has been working a lot of weekends at work too so the kitchen is slow going.  I really love the way it is looking though!  Here are a few before, during and now pictures.

we can't find the last handle
 

 The sink side of the kitchen.  I tried to group the pictures to the same area.  Here's the stove side of the room.

No back splash yet

Here's another sink view but with the dishwasher and refrigerator. We still want a new curtain. I didn't "stage" any of these pictures so they have the way we really live in them stuff on the cupboard, fridge and all.

you can see here the top cupboards aren't done yet

I love the way the counter top turned out.  I thought it was cool how we got to pick the piece of garnet out then they came over and made the shape we wanted from wood.  After that we got to lay out how the pieces went together. 

I'm not sure if you can tell but this next picture is one of the dents from the dryer installation I blogged about before. (we didn't do it)

We did change the doors to white and the trim but I don't think we have any pictures where you can see it. Eventually we will get new doors and trim in the rest of the house too. Here's our back splash idea unless we find something we like more before we do it.

We did put the flooring in the hall and living room area to I have a picture of the living room to if I didn't already post it.

We still have to do the back splash, trim, and top cupboards.  I can't wait for it to be all finished so we can move onto the next project.

food, fun and family

We planned on having Doranda's family over for dinner and gifts when they got back from California.  We had each others names for Christmas and decided not to mail them to each other.  I wanted to make a nice dinner but couldn't think of what everyone would like.  A few days ahead of time my friend invited me to lunch at a Korean BBQ place.  I had never tried it before. You cook your own food at the table.

Korean BBQ

 I didn't really like it but it gave me the idea of cooking your own food so I thought fondue sounded fun for everyone.  I borrowed the pots from a friend and we made cheese, broth and chocolate fondues.  We had lots of dippers for each. I think it was a hit. 

the cheese dippers

Leon enjoying the chocolate

The chocolate was probably everyone's favorites.  After dinner we exchanged gifts.  I love the things the kids picked out for us and the selfie stick and Seahawk game day bag were both things we wanted but didn't have so they were perfect gifts for us.  I think the Weostman's liked their gifts too.  I didn't get many pictures though.

Just what the doctor ordered

David and my anniversary was this week so we decided to take an impromptu trip to Las Vegas, where we had got married 3 years ago.  With everything that has been going on I decided we needed a little get away.  It was perfect.  We used some airline miles then rented a mustang when we got there and stayed in a hotel off the strip.  The hotel had a movie theater, bowling alley, bingo hall, about 10 restaurant's and more so we really didn't need to go anywhere else but we did.  While there we went bowling for our first time together and David saw StarWars (again) while I took a nap.

The first night we saw a comedy show in the hotel that was great.  Louie Anderson was the headliner and he was really funny!  Since we had a fun car the next morning we drove to Red Rock.  I can't believe it's rated the best thing to do in Vegas and I have never been there before!  It is a beautiful area with lots of hiking trails.  I didn't have enough energy to go hiking yet though but should next time.  The weather would have been perfect for a hike though.  It was about 60 degrees and sunny the whole time. 

We also went shopping were I stocked up on jeans that I thought were a great deal and they even shipped them home to me for free so I didn't have to limit myself to what fit in my carry-on. :)  Another day we went to the Shelby car factory for a free tour.  It was interesting to see and learn.  I liked this one car and took a few pictures of it then during the tour I learned that one was worth over 26 million! It was the first Shelby ever made and all original still.

First Shelby

inside the factory

 Later that evening we enjoyed a great steak dinner.  On our anniversary we drove to the Hoover Dam.  I've been there before but don't think I have done the tour before so we did.  I learned a lot about how they built it.  It was impressive!  After the tour we walked across the bridge for an amazing view.

Later that day we flew home.  It was the perfect relaxing, sunny weekend that I was hoping for.

funny story (well sorta)

 We are still working on the remodel.  Things are mostly going well.  Didn't get quite as far as we had hoped but we had a few unexpected things come up, not from the remodel just life, ok me.  Anyway I was waiting to post pictures until we were done but maybe I'll post some early.  One thing we got was all new appliances.  How exciting! But things weren't going so smooth.  When they brought the washer and dryer they scratched our brand new floor!  First the installed them flip/flop from the way the hook ups were and how we wanted so we asked them to change it.  When they pulled them out to change them they didn't protect the floor like they had the first time.  That's when I figured the scratches happened.  I didn't notice until they had left though because I was to worried about the fridge not fitting!  We had ordered the nicer, fancier one and had measured the space ahead of time but for some reason it wasn't working! David had to cut the counter top off to get it in.  Good thing the new counter wasn't here yet.  It had been already been measured but we adjusted it in time.  Back to the dryer, needless to say I was distracted and hadn't noticed the scratches until they had left.  I thought about it and decided not to say anything about it to them.  A few weeks later as I'm loving my new dryer (it works so fast) David says to me does it always make that funny noise?  I said yep! He said that's not right, I said it's fine I just ignore it because works amazing!  He called the repair man to fix it.  About a week later the guy came out and of 'course had to order a part.  He came back and put the new part in.  I didn't do laundry for a few days and had fallen a little behind because of the surgery's.  When I finally went to do it the dryer wasn't drying anymore! Ugh!  Now what!   I knew it had to be something simple when the repairman was just there, but David couldn't figure it out.  He called the guy again.  He could come until the next week.  I was running out of work towels and jeans for both of us.  I actually went to my friends house to dry a few necessity's. She is pretty pregnant and has an older dog that was being protective and bit me.  (It was nothing really just figures the way this was going)  The next week the guy didn't call or show up.  David called again.  He said he ordered the part and was waiting till he got it to come out.  I really didn't think we needed a part since I knew it had to be something simple.  I told my client I was on towel ration at work because of the whole ordeal. She insisted on taking them all home and she wash, dried and folded them then brought them back for me with dinner that she had made me too.  Today the dryer guy called the part came in but he wasn't sure if he could get there before David went to work. After I got home I went to see if the dryer had got fixed when I noticed the big dial on the top was turned to no heat instead of heat! Really could that have been it.  I called David and asked if the guy had came out to fix it today.  He said no. He can't make it till next week.  I told him about the knob.  He couldn't believe it either!  Sure enough I turned the knob and was back in business.  Now David has to call him to tell him no need to come out! Ugh  I'm now catching up on laundry and blogging while I'm waiting for them to dry!  2 loads down already! Time to get folding. :)

new year, new start?

By now I think you all know 2016 has not started out as I was hoping.  I had thyroid surgery at the end of December and was recovering well when I went to my follow up appointment and to my surprise they had found caner cells in the part they removed.  I think the surgeon was surprised as well.  I have been watching this growth for about 6 years now and have had multiple ultrasounds and 2 biopsy's none showing suspicion of cancer, but  because there was I had to go back into surgery so they could remove they rest of my thyroid to prevent any more cells from starting.  I got the pathology back from the second surgery with no cancer cells found.  This is good because it means hopefully it hasn't spread yet. They aren't certain yet though.  I don't go back to the endocrinologist until February 17th.  That's when he will tell me what our next step. Most likely I will then have a radioactive iodine treatment, a few weeks later.  This kills any thyroid tissue left (they usually don't get  all tissue in surgery because it 's to close or touches other parts).  Because thyroid tissue is the only tissue that can absorb iodine they put the radiation in iodine form so no other body parts get the radiation.  Then its a mater of regulating my thyroid hormone levels through medication and blood test.  Follow up checks will be likely every few months.  My exact diagnosis was stage 2, follicular carcinoma, minimally invasive, partially encapsulated.  Thyroid cancer is one of the most curable kinds of cancer.  Although there is better diagnosis's then mine my surgeon says he believes I have a 98% chance of being cured.  After treatment most likely no cells will start growing again, but in case  they do, they grow very slowly and people can live nearly as long of a life with them.  My second surgery went well also.  I am already feeling good and my scar looks great!  It's not to swollen or big.  I like the surgeon I had, Dr. King.  He said it looks great because my body was healing good not because his great work.  I do have a few pictures I could add but wasn't sure if anyone really wanted to see them.  This information is all how I understand it to be and hopefully correct.  I'll keep you all posted.  Keeping my fingers crossed this will be all behind me in no time.