How does my neck look? 7/31/11

I've been holding off on posting another neck photo since I keep on seeing a red tinge on my left side in all of my neck photos (on the right side if you are looking at the photo). It's still there. The people at the Sprint store said 'maybe it's from your purse strap' since it didn't show up in the one non-neck photo I showed them. Well, I decided to take photos of lighter colored things in my bathroom, and to take photos with my phone turned on the other end. And sure enough, the red tinge switched places when I took photos the other way. So, I have to say it is the camera on my phone, not me, the lighting in my bathroom, or the strap from my purse that is making that red tinge in all of my neck photos. Hopefully I can take my phone in sometime this week, have them fix this, or replace it if it is defective.

So the funny feeling in my neck...is still there, after a week. A tugging feeling, only on the right side, not anywhere close to where the scar is. Still on the fence about emailing my ENT or my ENDO about it. I'm sure it is fine...kinda.

So in this photo, I turned my phone the other way around, so the red tinge is on the left side instead of the right side. It looks like I am sunburned on my right side. Oh well. So, despite the weird red tinge in the photo, how does my neck look?

Random commentary

I have too many random things going on in my head to focus on one for a post, so here they are, not in any specific order:

*PT is going....well, but yesterday it felt like I pulled my right glute, yes, my right butt muscle, while doing my PT exercises. Thank goodness it doesn't feel as bad today. Left knee is still acting up, though. Yesterday was my third session, so I am halfway through. I wonder how they will be able to tell if my hips have gotten strong enough, or if I will need to continue with more sessions. If it wasn't enough of an improvement, would they make me go twice a week in addition to doing my exercises twice each day? Why are more aches and pains showing up now that I am going to PT?
*My right arm still hurts, but I can't pin down exactly what is causing the pain. It was sore during my run around the lake on Saturday. It hurts on and off through pilates. It rarely hurts while I am climbing. I think the pain started after a yoga class the weekend of July 4th. Maybe I should ice it, when it hurts. If it doesn't stop hurting soon, I may have to get my PCP to call in some PT sessions for it. Right, possibly more PT.
*Bummed I am not climbing this week, but it will give the bruises on both of my knees a chance to heal, and hopefully I don't get any new bruises on my knees from anything else this week! (Climbing) Nick, is back from Canada/Pennsylvania/Germany next week, so I may get to climb next week. Still a bit of a surprise since he just moved back to Canada last December. Now if Serena would just move back....
*Still not so sure why my neck feels weird. It is not constant. It definitely does not feel weird when my right arm starts to hurt, so I don't think it is referred pain from that. I was trying to find my pulse on my neck this afternoon, and I felt a lump on the right side of my neck, not where the weird feeling is, but still a little worrisome.
*The guy at the kebab place is HOT! I have been in there once before, and I'm pretty sure I thought the same exact thing, 'So your kebab comes with falafels?...I'll have those, thank you!'
*Gene Simmon's hair just REALLY bothers me. Comb it, already! - it always looks so lifeless and fake. Maybe try a different style/cut, just do something to make it look real.
*Looking forward to using my Garmin at run club tomorrow evening.
*What is that red tinge that shows up on my right side every time I take a neck picture with my EVO 3D? It doesn't show up on any of the 3D photos of my neck, but it does show up in just about every single shot in 2D. WTF?!?
*Every week at run club for the past month or so I have been inching closer and closer to having a wardrobe malfunction with my workout pants falling down to my knees in mid-stride. I love these workout pants - they looked great on me 43 lbs ago, and I think they still look good on me now, but they have gotten too big to wear on a run, well for any kind of workout. So, this past weekend I broke down and finally bought some new workout pants. I have to admit that better fitting clothes makes you feel better about yourself.

Garmin Forerunner 210 - first impression, first run

As much as I didn't want to give up my Nike+ SportWatch GPS, the inaccuracy of the GPS mapping was driving me nuts. The mapping did improve a little over the past couple of months, but just when I thought I would not have the problems anymore, the GPS mapping would be way off again. I was not confident that the mileage for all of my runs was accurate, especially if I was mapped starting on another street, or on out-and-back runs, when the out wasn't even close to the back. WTF!

I actually wanted to exchange it for the same watch, but decided I may as well try out a different GPS watch. The Garmin Forerunner 210 was the closest in price range, and with the added shoe pod, it cost less than the Nike+ kit, so I was told. $179.99 for the Nike watch, and $224.99 for the Garmin, which included a heart rate monitor (HRM). The Garmin shoe pod, to track your indoor runs (treadmill), was an additional $62.99. They had a kit that included the shoe pod and the HRM for $269.99. For the record, the Nike watch came with a shoe pod (normally $19.99 if you need a replacement), and the Polar link Nike+ HRM is $62.99, for a total of $242.98, so for the record, no it was not cheaper.

I charged the watch last night, set-up my Garmin Connect account, then tried to see how fast the satellites, shoe pod, and HRM connected. The shoe pod and HRM linked really fast, I guess due to the ANT+ technology that connects them to the watch. Cool. The satellites took a little longer. I like being able to see the distance, elapsed time, and pace all on the same screen - you could only see two of these on the Nike screen. What I don't get is how to erase a run on the Garmin. I hit the start button last night, on accident, so I hit the stop button, then the reset button and I think the only option I had was to save the data, but I wanted to delete it. How do you delete it?!? I guess I still need to get used to all the buttons on this thing.

So, this evening was my first run. I decided to run a similar route that I did with the Nike watch a few weeks back because there were discrepancies with that route and the Nike watch. As expected, the  HRM and shoe pod linked right away, but even outside it still took what seemed like forever for the satellites to link to my watch. I stretched for about two minutes and I did not lose the satellite link, something that happened to me from time to time with the Nike watch. Not bad.

I was surprised that the distance was the same. Nice to see the HRM info. I will have to set up my target heart rate. So how did the mapping feature track me? Surprise again, the Nike mapping was better than the Garmin mapping. So is it just me?!? Am I just too detail oriented that I expect to see my run tracked on a sidewalk and not on someone's yard because I was running on the sidewalk, and not across the street? Argh. I plan to run all my usual routes with the Garmin so I can compare GPS tracking. Hopefully the overall mapping for the Garmin will be more to my satisfaction than the Nike mapping. And, hopefully I will figure out how to delete runs off this thing.

My neck feels....weird, like it did a couple of months after my thyroid surgeries last year. It started at my chiro appt this afternoon.

Trading it in....I am exchanging my Nike SportWatch GPS for a Garmin Forerunner 210. It comes w a heart rate monitor and a shoepod. Excited!

How does my neck look? 7/19/11

I haven't posted a neck photo in probably a month now. I've taken a few photos of my neck, but didn't have time to post them. So, here's the latest neck photo:

So, how does my neck look?



I was given another set of PT exercises to add on to the first set. The new exercises concentrate on my hip flexors and IT bands. I am also trying to take a break from sitting so much during the day at work. By my last PT session, it will take me about 60 minutes to do all of my PT exercises. I wonder how often I will need to do these exercises when I finish my PT sessions, to maintain my hip strength.

I have been on the new T3 prescription for a week now, and so far I have had maybe one afternoon where I was fighting to stay awake between 2-4pm. Thus far, an improvement.

So far my hips have not been bothering me during my runs. But this evening, my hips, right side, were bothering me while I was climbing. Not that I want to, but I'll be taking the next 2-3 weeks off from climbing since my climbing partner will be in Sweden on vacation. Although, it might be a good time to see if there are any climbing clinics at the other gym location, or maybe take a climbing class. Or what about a yoga or hip hop dance class on a Monday night? I'll figure it out.

I'm really excited about my local ThyCa group. We are working on changing our meeting format a little, and are hoping to get a speaker (a local ENDO) at our meeting next month or at one of the meetings before the end of the year. Pretty exciting stuff.

Oh soccer heart break...US Women's team lost to Japan in the FIFA Women's World Cup, in penalty kicks.

Technology fails me again...or maybe it's just the crappy proprietary Sony software that can't play nice with 64bit Windows7? 4 hrs later...

Physical Therapist says.... my hips are weak, hence the knee pain. Wow. So 4 exercises to do, 2x each day; 3 appts over the next 3 wks. TBC.

Finally got an appt for PT on my RT knee. It was fine after climbing and driving to/from LA earlier this week, but today, not so good.

Day 1 - T3 dosage change

This morning I started on my new T3 dosage. I took the first one at 6am, as usual with my Levoxyl. Then the second one around 1pm, after lunch.

I was a little worried on the drive up since at times I felt tired, something I usually feel on those days when I have fallen asleep at work. My morning meeting went Ok, despite still not knowing why I needed to be there since I wasn't supposed to say anything - what was my role in the meeting anyway? Last night my climbing partner reminded me that I was probably there in case someone else had questions about the system, and he was right. There were some questions that couldn't be answered by anyone but me. My brain fog issue wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I did find myself pausing several times because the word I wanted or needed to use wasn't coming out of my mouth. At least I didn't get tongue-twisted at the same time. But, it was the same thing at my afternoon meeting with the brain fog thing going on.

I had lunch with some colleagues at a dumpling house. Not bad, but I probably ate too much. I will be surprised if at weigh in tomorrow morning, my weight is down again. I had dinner around 6:30pm, close to five hours after my second dose. By the time I got on the road around 7:45pm, my afternoon dose had probably worn off. The drive home was Ok. I didn't get super drowsy as I can on weekend afternoons or weekday drives home from work, where I have difficulty keeping my eyes open. I just got very agitated the last five or so miles, impatient with the speed of the vehicles around me. Hopefully my afternoons going forward will continue to improve over the next couple of weeks. To be continued.....

ENDO says - part 9

My Endo said all of my tests (1-yr WBS, Tg/TgAB blood work, follow up ultrasound) look good, except my ultrasound, because of the scar tissue. It didn't grow, but it is not something that would normally show up on an ultrasound for a ThyCan, so instead of being 'normal', it is 'stable'. He wants to continue to monitor it, so I will be getting another ultrasound in six months.

As for my afternoon low energy levels, he said it would be Ok to split my T3 dose. But T3 only comes in two doses: 5mcg or 25mcg. Changing my dose to 5mcg twice each day would be the way to go, however, this would lower my overall T4 levels, but he thinks my current levels are high enough, so the 2.5mcg change each day probably would not make that much of a difference. The good thing is that I won't have to split my pills anymore! He said to take the second pill 6-8 hours after the first dose. So, I'll see how things go starting tomorrow. Hopefully this will help me to stay awake during my drive home from LA tomorrow afternoon.

He said the main goal now is to get me feeling as good as possible, then to bring my TSH up to just below normal. I should have asked what he meant by normal. This is where I get a little lost. At one point last year, he said he wanted my TSH below 1.0, then a few months ago he said he didn't want it higher than .01 during the first year, and would consider bringing it up to .5 after that. So then, what does he consider to be 'normal'?

Anyway, I don't have to go back for blood work for 4 months (at least a week before my next appt), but I need to let him know if I start to feel worse on the new prescription. He says we are progressing because I feel a lot better about things, overall.

Waiting for my Endo appt. Turns out my medical group was affected by the Thyrogen shortage afterall. Good thing I gave them a heads up.

What weekend?

I don't know where the days go, especially the ones on the weekends. I do remember taking a nap this afternoon. Saturday, I needed one, but instead fell asleep at Borders while looking at MS Project 2007 books, then again at home while trying to watch SNL.

Saturday was more social than usual for me. It was Gary's celebration of life mass and reception. Gary being my friend that died from cancer a few months ago. I got to visit with Nick and Jerry, and the guys with the $1000 toilet, and so many others that knew and loved Gary more than I got to in the short time I knew him. During the mass, as always at funerals and the like, I wonder what will be remembered about me. What impact did I make on others? Was it even close to what was being summarized of the lives of those who have gone on before me? In the past four or so years, I've been to two funerals for co-workers, a cousin, now a friend, and a handful of relatives. This one is a bit bittersweet for me because at a time when I can breathe easily because I am cancer free, how can I be happy about it when someone I know died from it? What is there to be happy about? That I got the year-pass and someone else didn't? Well, I just hope that when I go, it isn't because of thyroid cancer, and I hope that everyone that comes to my celebration of life get together has a good time - whether they bitch about me or fondly remember me, the food better be good, and people better be enjoying themselves! Just like at Gary's.

So, I didn't get a lot of running in this weekend. Friday night was climbing, Saturday was Gary's thing (so only my stomach got a workout), Sunday the usual pilates class, but I ran in the evening instead of on the treadmill at the gym. My Nike SportWatch is getting better tracking my runs, kind of. I still want to try at least one more run at the lake and somewhere completely different to see if there was any improvement in the GPS tracking before I take it back.

So, now it is 1 AM in the morning, I still have a million things to do before I go to bed. It is going to be a bit of a crazy day since I have a follow up ENDO appt, then right after that I have my annual eye exam. Hopefully I will be climbing this evening as well. Then Tuesday morning I have to get up really early to drive to LA for a meeting on my big project. If there is going to be a time during the next two days that I could count on falling asleep, it would be while I am driving back from LA Tuesday afternoon or evening. I emailed my ENDO to see if possibly taking my T3 med twice daily would help with my afternoon exhaustion. I'll find out at my appt later today if we go that route or not. I'm thinking that I will really need it Tuesday afternoon if I want to make it home in one piece.

Ultrasound follow up appt - Jul 6, 2011

Today was my six month follow up ultrasound appt to check on the mystery tissue that was found on the right side of my thyroid bed last December. My ultrasound tech said she did my ultrasound earlier this year. She asked if I had some blood work done recently. I told her I did yesterday, but had not seen the results online yet, and that the results from my 1-yr scan (clear) and my unsuppressed Tg/TgAB labs (undetectable) probably mean that my mystery tissue is most likely just scar tissue. I asked her if she does a 'careful neck ultrasound', or checks all the levels around my neck and thyroid. She said for normal thryoid studies, no, but if you have a history of thyroid issues like thyroid cancer, then she checks all your lymph nodes. Great, confirmation I needed to hear for myself.

She started by having me turn my head to the left, away from the monitor of the ultrasound machine, so she could look at the right side of my neck. I don't remember having to do this back in January. As she was taking pictures, she asked my about my surgery - when did I have my TT. I said, left lobe on May 3rd of last year, then the right side on May 17th, also of last year. She asked why they didn't get it all the first time. I had to tell her, 'because they found cancer on the left side'. I still have to pause when I say that to people. While she did the left side, I watched the monitor as she selected odd shaped dark areas and put some sort of colorization on the screen or zoomed in on the area, then saved the picture. I think the blue and red colors represent blood flow going either in or out of that area, something like that. I fell asleep during the last part of my ultrasound, when she had me turn my head to the left again. When she was done, I waited in the exam room while the x-ray doc reviewed my ultrasounds. She said everything looked Ok, my ENDO would have the results in the morning, and I was free to go. Sounded good to me.

Yesterday, before my ThyCa meeting, I had my blood draw so my ENDO can decide if my meds still need to be tweaked or not. I think my ENDO said my Total T3 was going to be drawn as well, since I am now on T3 meds, but I didn't see it on the paper work. My phlebotomist is the manager for the lab. I told her about my experience last month, when the tech couldn't seem to find any of my veins for my unsuppressed Tg/TgAB labs. She told me if I ever feel uncomfortable with a tech, it is Ok to tell them that you want someone else to draw your blood. Good to know because I have always waited for the tech to admit they were doing a bad job of making me look like a heroin addict and offer to have someone else poke my veins. Now I know I don't have to suffer longer than necessary. Thank goodness!

Anyway, my lab results still have not been posted online by my ENDO. I think as part of the questions that I will be sending to him for my appt next week, I should ask about my failing energy levels in the afternoons and my speech issues - yes, they are back. I now think one reason why I am exhausted in the afternoons could be from the fact that I increased the number of days I run each week, but I still wonder if being over caffeinated throughout the day during the work week may also have something to do with it.

Happy 4th of July!

I remember at this time last year I was worried about being out in public because it was just my third/fourth day after taking my RAI ablation dose, and I was still supposed to steer clear of pregnant women and small children. How do you do that at a 4th of July picnic? I remember feeling good and bad about telling people they needed to stay at least three feet away from me - bad because I knew a lot of people wanted to talk to me, see how I was doing which was very awkward having conversations standing 3-5 feet apart from them. But good because that meant I could eat in peace, I had a fair amount of room around me at the picnic table. This year, can tell everyone I am officially cancer free. I can enjoy the picnic and the company better. And, I don't have to stand by myself when we are watching the fireworks.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July. Happy Independence Day!

Cancer is....expensive - part 2

Most of the billing for my 1-yr scan and blood work has been processed by my health insurance. Wow, those Thyrogen shots were really expensive. My insurance was billed $2137.00 for each shot. In addition to each shot, my Urgent Care 'visits' were added on top of the shots. My portion of the bill is about $120 for each shot. Thank goodness I reached my deductible a few months back, or I'd be paying a lot more than that.

My share of the lab work (pregnancy test before RAI scan/diagnostic dose, and Tg/TgAB blood draw) is less than $6. The WBS was $705, my share is $59. Not sure if that also includes my RAI pill (scan dose), but I'd really like to know what the 5mCi of radioactive iodine cost. I'm almost half way on my maxium out of pocket expense for the year, but I doubt I will get close to hitting the maximum amount because I don't have too many other appts scheduled for the rest of the year. And sadly, I can't even count my dental appts and expenses on my health insurance. My meds don't count toward my out of pocket max either. I am so glad I have a job and health insurance to cover these things.