IS IT FALL YET?

Well, I can't say that I am officially all the way back yet but I am going to make an attempt tonight to at least update this blog and get my life back to a somewhat "normal" existence.

To update you all: I had my radioactive iodine treatment and it was AWFUL! I was sick all the time, I couldn't eat much, I lost my appetite AND THEN... I got a urinary track infection that was really bad. They gave me horrible antibiotics that had side effects of NAUSEA. (As if the nausea I already had wasn't enough). Then, after all that I ended up with acute renal failure and had to be admitted into the hospital. I spent 3 days there and they treated me so great, I didn't want to leave. And that is coming from a person that has always hated the hospital. Well, I guess I had an awakening regarding the hospital because I felt so safe there and like I was going to finally make it.

After I left the hospital (it was a Thursday, just like tonight) we celebrated by having breakfast with our entire family and celebrating my "coming out". That was the following Sunday. By Sunday night all hell broke loose again with a phone call from my daughter that my Mom had called and was having heart problems. They took her to the same hospital that I had just left, took her to ER where they discovered that her pacemaker wire had become fractured and she was having huge highs and lows, with the lows almost making her pass out. They kept her in ICU overnight and transported her to a heart hospital in Sacramento where they kept her another two nights in their ICU and late last Tuesday night they finally performed surgery where they had to replace her existing pacemaker with a totally brand new one. So, as you can imagine, it has been a really stressful two months. And on top of that, I caught some sort of head cold or sinus thing that really put me under again. I have been being tested almost weekly to make sure that my blood levels are remaining stable and that my kidneys are back to normal. I haven't heard about today's blood work yet and it is almost 8:30 PM so I am hoping that no news is good news.

I am hoping that life will be returning to normal very soon. I am walking a bit now. I walked two miles (very slowly) today but at least I am walking again. I know that I have to force myself to do things. It is too easy to just sit and feel sorry for yourself. But, the silver lining to the cloud is that the Endocrinologist called and said that I don't have any metastatic thyroid cancer anywhere. I had a Gamma scan that confirmed this. I feel like I have been given another gift and I am so thankful for it. I am trying to change my way of thinking; trying to remain more calm, focused, in the present. I am very emotional right now and find myself crying at the simplest things. I guess you get yourself stripped down to the core and this is what you find out about yourself. You find out what is really important to you and what needs to wait.

So, I am hoping that I can be doing some posting in the near future. I have some wonderful Fall photos that I want to post. Just be patient with me and send me good thoughts, won't you? I am looking forward to reading past postings from all my favorite blogs. I bet you all have been up to some really great things and I just can't wait to read them all. Oh...that's the weird thing too: my vision has changed. I can't wear my glasses to see far away any longer. Things are more blurry WITH the glasses than without. It has been difficult reading without feeling queasy but I seem to be doing pretty good right now so things are looking up.

The Bodhi dog and his keeper (B) are doing well. Thank goodness for the two of them who have been able to keep things running around here. What would I do without the two of them? (Especially Mr. B!) Love you!