Angelo...

Interesting outcome for Angelo. His hair is sooooo soft now. He looks like a much different dog now - I can see both of his eyes, his paws are brindled, resembling a Dalmatian's markings, and he has a bit of a zig zag pattern made of the gray spots on his back! Tess told me that he thinks he was brought here for me. Hmmmm....not sure what my brother would say to that. But, when he finally settled down when we got home this evening, he kept on following me around. So I grabbed an old towel and let him sit on it while I worked on my laptop. The only time he'd leave it was when I got up to get something from the printer or to eat. He does seem a bit attached to me now.

 

Oh yeah, multivitamins!

Aside from the PMS symptoms messing with my energy level last earlier this month, I think I may have been feeling tired the past few weeks because I had not been taking my multivitamins! For a couple of weeks there, I went somewhere straight from work, ate on the road (or later in the evening when I finally got home). As a result, I would completely forget to take my multivitamins. So, this past week, I started to take them again. I did end up rather drained a few afternoons over the holidays, ending up taking a nap, but I also went to sleep late each night that my brother and nephews were in town. And now that they are back in their own time zone, I am feeling a little more energetic. Well, then again, that could also be because I am on vacation for a few days.

Other than that, I have been getting that weird feeling along my scar, in the mornings, esp first thing when I get up, or after taking a nap. Still can't pin point why I get that odd feeling along that area. Is it cold weather? the act of sitting up? or just the scar trying to finish healing?!? I'll have to take note if happens at any other time(s) during the day.

So much for climbing this evening. Tess called because Angelo is afraid of the clippers, so they have to hand cut everything. Poor thing. So I wait...

Just dropped off Angelo, my bother's Shih Tzu, with Tess. She's going to take off all the dreadlocks and matted hair. "We are going to start all over", she said.

On vacation until Thursday. At my WW meeting, we started a new program, so I need to learn all the new points values and what not. Excited. Hope I do better.

How does my neck look? 11/25/10

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot of different things to be thankful for this year. I hope that everyone is having a good holiday with family and friends.

A few days ago my scar looked a little red. Today, it looks pretty good, for a scar. I am thankful that my scar, to most, looks undetectable. I am thankful for the story behind it - that I got it taken care of, that my surgeon had skilled hands, that so far my treatments have been successful. So tell me what are you thankful for this year, and how does my neck look?

"Spreading the joy around..." what my brother does when he leaves you a 'silent but deadly', in a store no less, and everyone thinks you did it.

End of another weekend

It is Sunday night, and I am still in recovery mode from this past week. I had a short day working from home on Friday since I had to take my dad to a Dr appt, then I had a chiro appt. Still stiff along the left side, and now a little on the right (neck & shoulder). Work stress is really getting to me, so it's good I had a fun outlet Friday evening. Yes, I went climbing again.

It is nice to have a venue change every now and then, different routes and different people to watch climb. This one guy, Aki, did a few hard lead routes, one of which crossed the ceiling of the lead route cave. Wow. I only got to see him finish it since I was on my way up a top rope route just outside of the cave. And there was a little kid that was working on what I think was a 5.8 or 5.9 route. I'm still sticking to the white routes, which Serena tells me are about 5.5 or 5.6. There's one route I call the 'Batman route' because the first time I attempted it, last week, it reminded me of the Batman TV show, when Batman and Robin would be scaling the side of a building - the wall slants back, so at times I feel like I am trying to ascend it, much like Batman, because of the awkward way I end up hanging off the wall at that angle. Once again, I wasn't able to get too far up this route. No worries though, another day, another time. Anyway, Serena is in Australia for the next two weeks, so not sure if I'll be climbing at all, esp since this week is Thanksgiving. Not sure if the guys will be going or not on Tuesday. My bro' and nephews are here for the holidays, and some of them are interested in trying out rock climbing, so we may go to the rock gym and let them give it a go. And if I don't get a climbing day in before she gets back, then maybe I can finally get a much needed manicure - climbing really thrashes my nails. Can't believe I just wrote that, but it is true.

Saturday it rained, and rained, and rained. I made it to the last photography class for this session. This class was on filters. I keep on thinking about getting a polarizing filter. I had one, but returned it because I thought having two filters was over kill since I had just purchased my NEX-5. I kick myself now, but I'll get another one, eventually. I also managed to get an afternoon nap in, then a pedicure.

Sunday, did the normal pilates and things workout. I was exhausted and had a bit of a headache when I got home. Didn't feel as bad as I did last weekend when I went straight from pilates to climbing, but still ended up napping for an hour or so when I got home, in both cases.

Since I didn't find out until Friday that my brother was arriving, for the holiday, today (Sunday), I didn't have time to ask if I could switch my vacation days from Friday-Thursday to Monday (tomorrow)-Friday. So, unfortunately I have to work Monday-Wednesday this week. Not a problem though since I've got a lot of work to do on my two projects and a few side things I'd like to get done as well. I also have to submit my 'accomplishments' for the year to my boss by November 30th. I don't think she'll find much merit in 'conquering thyroid cancer', so I need to accomplish a few more things by Wednesday, before I go on vacation. So much to do, so little time.

I've been on my lower Levoxyl dosage for over a week now, but I don't think my body will see the difference until a few more weeks from now. I'm not even sure if it would have kicked in by the time I have my next blood draw on Dec 3. I do know that I have been tired lately, but still can't rule out my environment (bad weather, PMS) as part of the way I feel. So, to be continued....

Longer day than I had hoped for. Got a lot done, meeting-wise, but we didn't finish until 5:30pm, so here I am eating sushi to wait out traffic from Brea.

Return to exhaustion

I'm not sure if I'm tired because of all the activities I've been doing lately, if it is my decreased Levoxyl dosage, or what. At the beginning of last week, I thought it was just PMS. I started my new, lower Levoxyl dosage on Friday, so it really shouldn't kick into my system until Thursday or Friday this week since the T4 stays in our bodies for about 6-7 days. I went climbing twice this past weekend. I was still a little sore from Friday night on Sunday (or was that from having my NEX-5 in my purse most of the day as I walked around the photo expo and the outlet mall?!?) after pilates.

I definitely got more climbs in on Sunday since I was switching off with one of the guys instead of with Serena and someone else. I even conquered a route with an overhang! It took a bit longer than most people, I'm sure, but I didn't give up, and I eventually made it up to the top, not on the route I selected (relax, I'm only doing white, not even close to doing anything in the more advanced ones 5.8 - 5.11). To keep my head at a reasonable size for my beginner level, there was a kid party at the gym too, so a few times I had this little girl climbing up behind or next to me. I got really sick of that girl always being on my tail - really, find some other wall to climb, little girl. Or try climbing at my age after the year I've had. Ugh!

So at work today, I was having a hard time concentrating and getting anything done. Most of the time I really just wanted to go to sleep. I was reading up on some SharePoint stuff, which I mostly find interesting (and it better be because it's mainly what I'm working on now!), but I think it was putting me to sleep. I'm going up to Brea Thursday to meet with a co-worker to go over our two projects, well, I guess to go over all of the SharePoint projects for our dept. It'll be nice to not have to navigate everything on my own. I think our individual experiences with SharePoint complements that of the other, so we should be able to get a lot done, if we get along. I don't mean that in a negative way, we just have very different work styles, so it will be interesting to see how well this goes.

This should at least keep me adequately distracted until my ENDO appt next month. Still kicking around the idea of going back to my 2nd opinion ENDO to see what she'd do about my TSH and FT4 levels not responding properly to the lower dosages of T4. I'm not too worried, Ok, I lie, I still am a little worried about my T4 dosage going down which is making my TSH, not my FT4, go down. My worry is that if my ENDO goes any lower, maybe my TSH won't be suppressed enough (despite the fact that it is still dropping, maybe the labs are wrong?!?), and the next thing I know, I've got recurrence or mets elsewhere in my body. Would that mean another surgery and/or another round of RAI? I think I just need someone (another ThyCan) to tell me the same thing happened to them and it was only temporary, and someone else (my ENDO) to tell me why this is happening and what I can expect. Maybe this is why I'm so tired again?

TSH level

Interesting: Just noticed my TSH lab info was posted online by my ENDO. As I expected, my TSH is now less than .01
How crazy is that?

Pretty full weekend. Started new Levoxyl dosage on Friday, rock climbing. Saturday photo expo, outlet shopping. Sunday Pilates, more rock climbing. I'm tired.

"Cranberry mustard".....sounds like it'd taste good, right? Not really.

Rock climbing achievement!

I was late meeting my friend at the rock climbing gym this evening, so I didn't get a lot of climbs in, but I did manage to conquer a slope on my last climb. I was almost ready to give up too, not because my arms and legs were too tired to continue, but because I didn't think I could reach the last couple of holds before reaching the top. I was stuck right above the sloped part (yes, a backward slope). Luckily this time when she yelled up at me to help me figure out where to place my hands and feet so I could advance, I was able to do it. I'd say about 90% of the time when someone tries to help me get unstuck on the wall, my body doesn't think it can move the way they are telling me to go so that I can get further up the wall. I may try a few times, unsuccessfully, then give up and have them bring me down. But not this time! I was really proud of myself for making it all the way up. Yay!

Another accomplishment is that I am on my way to becoming a co-facilitator for my ThyCa support group. There is a training call this weekend, then a facilitator conference call in a few weeks. It is a volunteer job, but I'm glad I have this opportunity to help out others who have to walk on the same thyca path as myself. My first meeting as a co-facilitator will be next month, on Dec 7th.

My ENDO didn't request anything but the FT4 test, according to his assistant. Weird, because I thought I saw three vials when my blood was drawn last Friday.

Well, my FT4 level this time went up from 1.6 to 1.9
My ENDO is decreasing my Levoxyl dosage down to 137mcg. Wonder what my TSH level was.

How does my neck look? 11/7/10

When I was at Noah's yesterday to give Frankie a bath, both Hannah and Megan said they could barely see my scar. I guess they can't see it, but I still can. But if they can't see it, then probably a lot of other people (esp those who don't know what I had gone through this past summer) also cannot see it. Yippee! I have been getting that tingling feeling along my scar, not every day, but once every couple of days. Still don't know what that is all about. But what do you think? - How does my neck look?

So, the close to another weekend. This one included the time change, the end of day light savings. Run club should be interesting this week. I was told they are going to give us little (Nike) flashing lights or reflectors to put on our shoe laces so we could have some light as we run in the dark. I hope so. I remember it got pretty scary out there last year, esp when no cars were passing by.

Thank goodness for my chiro appt on Friday! My neck and shoulder felt so much better afterward. I could still feel the tension in my shoulder when I got to the rock climbing gym, but the pain was gone. My chiro told me to move my telephone and mouse at work to the other side - right now both are on my left side - until the pain went away. And, I'm going back this Friday in addition to my appt next Friday. The rest of the weekend it felt pretty good. Every now and then I'd feel something on my neck or left shoulder, but it didn't last very long.

Last night we were out late shooting night shots. We were on Coronado taking shots of the downtown skyline, then at the Hotel del where we discovered that the breaking waves were intermittently light up by this pretty blue color. We still don't know how they were being light up that way, but we got photos of it. We also took some shots writing with light - can't remember what the actual name of this technique is called, but some of my shots turned out Ok.

I managed to get a lot crammed into this past weekend. I'm exhausted. Starting to think about my work week. I'm looking forward to finding out the results from my blood draw this past Friday. Crossing my fingers for TSH and FT4 levels that make sense, and are where they need to be.

Although I feel really hypothyroid, it's probably just really bad PMS. No crying or depression but I'm craving greasy/fatty foods and am completely exhausted.

Activities

Red stained foot from my climbing shoes

I'm still trying to get my workout routine down. No, I have not added on a weekly yoga class, but I am at least getting in one climbing day every other week or so. This week I get to go twice since I went Tuesday night and plan to go again Friday after my chiro appt. My climbing friend will be in Australia for a family reunion over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I think I may try to take a climbing class through REI one of those weekends. The class takes place outdoors, at a local rock climbing area. I figure by then I may have picked up enough technique at the rock gym to be able to scale something outdoors.

Running. Here is my heart break. I really need to get in more than one day of running a week, or I'll never be able to go longer or farther. At this time last year I was already running 3 miles without stopping. I know, my serious runner friends will chuckle at that, but that was saying a lot last year just three months into running, with my weight, knee issues, etc. Every now and then I am able to do a little over a mile on my Wednesday night run club outings, but have not quite made it to the 1.5mi mark. But last night (Wed), I finally did it, in fact I made it to the 2mi mark!

I'm not quite back to where I was in pilates before my surgery either. It seems every time I miss a class (Th or Su), it takes a lot more to make it up. I just try to do the best I can though, and listen to my body (or my cramping legs/feet). The most important thing is that I am going to pilates at least once a week, but twice a week most weeks.

Good thing I at least have these activities to distract me. I have been feeling really stressed at work lately. I always have to take off time for something - some medical appt whether it is my own or for one of my parents. My boss is Ok with it, but I feel like I'm not getting enough time to do all my work. I haven't even worked on the redesign project since the off-site meeting last month. Something always seems to come up during the day. Last week my boss asked me about restructuring our group, if say I were to report to someone else on a dotted line (but still to her, ultimately) and be on the more technical side of our team. I started to get heart palpitations afterward, which have continued into this week I have not had that sensation in my chest (over my heart) since before my surgeries in May. And, I'm getting the neck (left side) and shoulder tension (both side) issues again. I can feel it when I run and when I climb. I need to remember to leave my work stress at work, and be more present in my other activities. Have fun again. And if all of that fails, I at least have a chiro appt Friday afternoon, so he can fix it for me.

More info on my levels: from my ThyCa email group, the thought is that the reading was wrong or my ENDO suspects something, hence the extra draw this month.

"Low metabolism".... means new shoes?

Today at my WW meeting I shared my ThyCa experience with the group. I decided to just because the topic was metabolism, and there was a lot of talk about how people say their metabolism is s/low. I was a victim of slow metabolism as I could not, for years, take off the weight. Well, I also love to eat food, but no matter how much I exercised or ate what I thought was a healthy diet, since 1997 I had problems losing weight, but no problem at all putting it on. So I explained how and why my thyroid problem was found, all the way up to my two surgeries. But what I really wanted to share with the group was that one of the Thyroid disease books I bought actually named Weight Watchers as being a recommended program to help with weight maintenance if you are hypothyroid. So although I joined before I even knew about my disease, I was already going in the right direction.

As much as I want to do well again on WW, I have to admit I am struggling, and this is only the start of week #2 for me. Somehow I did manage to drop three pounds. But I have to preface that with the fact that I decided to eat like I had no cares in the world the week before I joined so I could get all my cravings out of my system. I don't think that worked too well because right now I would really like to eat some creamy brie cheese with Trader Joe's Kalamata Olive bread, or a giant tub of PinkBerry plain tart froyo, or.... pretty much anything and everything that is now off limits, or rather put into moderation. ARGH! I just have to keep in mind that if I did stay on track last week, perhaps I would have lost five or more pounds....

So I turned to retail therapy to help motivate me. Yes, I bought another pair of 'toning' shoes. I have a pair of the Reebok EasyTone shoes that I got last year before Thanksgiving. Those shoes are Ok, but now I can leave them at home and use my new pair at work, or vice versa. The new pair I got are by New Balance, the 850 TrueBalance shoes. Much different technology than the Reeboks. My hams were sore after my walk this evening, so I guess they are working! So I have a new pair of walking shoes. I think I may need another pair of running shoes too, but I think I'll give it a couple more weeks before I start seriously thinking about new running shoes.

Tomorrow is Election Day, so remember to vote!