The rest of the cancer story (I hope!)

Someone asked me how my radiation stuff went the other day and I realized I never finished my updates. So, I did my Radioactive Iodine treatment the beginning of September and spent 2 days in isolation. My hospital room definitely put a different spin on the meaning of prophylactics... The floor of my room was covered in paper and everything else from the telephone to the toilet seat was covered in plastic wrap. Comfy. I think I saw the nurses 2 times a day and someone would throw a tray of food over the barrier 3 times a day. The radiation safety officer provided commentary and became my friend when I told him I was a former Army Chemical Officer (I could tell he had been in the Army) and he didn't have to dumb things down too much for me during the whole radiation half life lecture. So they did my scan on that Wednesday before discharging me and said everything looks like it's supposed to and all the iodine is still in my neck area with no 'floaters' anywhere else in my body. I go back in six months for another scan to see if the radiation did what it was supposed to and all the thyroid tissue/cancer is gone. And the good news is I got to start taking Synthroid (synthetic thyroid hormone) and am finally starting to feel human again. I started working out again last week and am hoping that between the thyroid hormones, exercise, and the loss of taste sensation (side effect from radiation) the weight will start going down too!

So during my isolation the kids got to spend some time with Auntie M and my only regret is that I didn't get as much time with her as they did! We also got to have my Aunt B here for a week after M left. It was wonderful blessing to have her here to help out and play with the kids and get out and see the area a little bit. A few pics from her visit:

We seem to be getting into a routine with the big kids in school and twins in daycare twice a week and starting a few activities also. BB is really loving school as evidenced today by not even mentioning staying home today even though BB was home sick. She gladly got ready and got on the bus. It's still a long day for her and she's a bit of a beast in the evenings. BB had a little stomach thing last night and LG had a fever yesterday also, so we've been laying low today. OK, I'll quit now before this gets too long! Obviously haven't been writing enough if I want to say everything in one post...