Running motivation

I have been salivating over the new Nike+ SportWatch GPS since it was announced earlier this year in Las Vegas at CES. At run club this past Wednesday, they finally had the watch at the local Nike store, I was even able to try it on and play with the buttons. The weekend before I went on vacation, the staff at RoadRunnerSports were telling me they would be getting the watch the week of May 15th. I'd rather get the watch at RRS since I get 10% off everything there, so I called them Friday afternoon, and they said they didn't know when it was coming in. I called earlier this afternoon, and I was told they didn't know when it was coming in. So I decided to call the Carlsbad store. They told me the SD store already has it. Huh?!? Crap. So while I was out doing my errands, I decided to stop by the SD store. And, there it was, on display. They had a bunch of empty boxes next to the display. After flagging down a sales person, one was taken out of the glass case for me. I tried on the display to see, once again, just how big it was on my wrist. But I had already decided I was going to get it, despite the fact that later this year there may be more colors (how about one with pink trim!?!). I tell myself I need this new gadget, to step up my running game. To get me to run one or two days more a week. To finally feel like I am ready to run a 5k race.

I also have been telling myself that I need to find a new climbing partner, so I can step up my climbing game. Apparently I need to step up a couple of my 'games.' I think the bottom line is that I want to be more fit than I currently am. I've been slacking on my WW program, so I have not been losing any weight, more like gaining a few pounds here and there. I'm definitely not putting in the time at the gym or exercising on my own. I do strength training sporadically, I don't even climb once a week anymore (I blame Serena for moving back to Philly!). And the running, well, I'm still just doing run club each week, but at least I started to jump on the treadmill after pilates. But I know it is not enough, not my three days of 'exercise each week. So, now I have a new running watch that not only tracks my time/pace/calories burned/distance, but now also tracks where I ran, and can do interval training, and if I get the heart rate monitor, it could also track my heart rate during my exercise activities. For the climbing, I'm thinking of taking a few classes, signing up for workshops and what not when I can. Hopefully I can climb with Magnus once a week. For my other days, I'm planning on running at least one more day a week to start, then work up to two days a week; I'm also looking to adding in a yoga class or a hip hop class (most likely not Zumba); then do weights after pilates, get the strength training in. For now, while I am adding more exercise days, I should not try to do too much each day so I can still get in enough sleep. If I do this all right, then I'll be more fit and well rested.

So there you have it, my running (and exercise, in general) motivation!

Is the T3 working? - part 2

Earlier this week, I would have had to say, "No!"...because I fell asleep at work! Holy smokes! It was after lunch, and I just ran out of gas. I think it was on Wednesday. I was sitting in front of my PC, working on something, and I just felt really tired and sleepy. So, I allowed myself to drift off because I couldn't fight it anymore. One of my co-workers noticed that I had drifted off due to my posture and slammed a drawer shut to wake me. She said she had to slam it a couple of time to get me up. Great. WTF! Thank goodness this only happened once this past week! But looking back, the past month had been full of up and down energy levels.

So I had to think back to my sleep pattern, anything else that could be causing me to be so tired, other than my meds. Well, I was on vacation for a week, but managed to go to sleep at 4am just about every morning. I did all the driving the whole week, in a minivan. I was less stressed over work stuff....well, maybe not really, but at least that is what I was telling myself. I was able to nap on the flight home. The next day I was up early to take my dad to his cardiology appt. Hadn't worked out since the day before I left for vacation (Sun, May 1). Hmmm......nothing too different there.

Then I started to look at my meds. I am prescribed 1/2 of a 25mg T3 each day, which means I have to split my pills in half to get the proper does. Now, the first round I was pretty good at splitting in half. But I remember the second and current round, I was not as precise since I know several of the split pills were noticeably smaller than the rest I had split. I wonder if this could be it, the reason for me not being consistent with energy these past couple of weeks?

I just started round three of T3. Since my T3 can be generic, this round was in fact made by a different manufacturer. The pills are round now and thicker than the first two rounds. I bought a new pill splitter since I broke the one my mom uses. I actually broke her pill splitter, then realized I could easily split the pills manually, between my fingers! Silly. Anyway, I tried to be more precise this time. I actually busted one of the halves of one pill, so I hope I remember to take that pill last so I can take all the scrap pieces and hopefully make up for it being crushed and possibly smaller than it's partner side.

I am still trying to get more hours of sleep in as well. Friday and Saturday nights I ended up falling asleep in front of the TV for an hour or two. But, on both days this weekend I didn't take any naps. And, I was pretty busy both days. Hopefully my energy will be more consistent and not non-existent as it was last month.

Am I the only person that HATES Zumba?!? Argh!

How does my neck look? 5/10/11

On this day last year (May 10), I learned that the tumor that was removed with my left thyroid lobe was indeed cancer. It was a week after my first surgery. If I only had one surgery, my scar would probably be a lot thinner and more unnoticeable, to me at least. Anyway, since I didn't post a neck photo on my year anniversary earlier this week from last year to compare with a current neck photo, I thought I should do it now.

All the bruising and swelling along and above the incision site is gone. It took a while for the derma bond tape and the scab to come off. My neck has definitely come a long way in the past year.

How does my neck look?

Vacation activities

It is so nice to be on vacation. It has been pretty relaxing, so far. I have been doing all the driving this trip, and it is finally taking it's toll on me because I am exhausted from driving. Unfortunately for me, I eat to keep myself awake. So when I get tired, if I have nothing to talk about, then I eat. Do not even want to know how much I have gained when I get home next week.

Not trying to focus too much on it, but I think my meds are not working. I'm tired, I'm gaining weight easily, I am having a lot of brain fog issues, and my left eye has been very watery. I just have to see how all my symptoms pan out once I get home, when I am back on my normal daily schedule.

I could use an easy vacation day. Not sure today will be it though. Today, May 6th, is my parent's 51st wedding anniversary. We are celebrating their 50th anniversary now since it was overshadowed with my dad's triple by-pass and my first thyroid surgery last year. 50 years is a long time for anything. I hope that I can remain cancer free for that many years.

One year ago today...

On this day last year my left thyroid lobe was removed. I was nervous. I had to walk down a few hallways to get to the OR. Thank goodness I didn't have to take off my underwear.

It was the start of my thyroid cancer journey. When my surgeon spoke to my mom after my surgery, he told her that everything went well, and that he didn't think it was cancer. But, that wasn't the story my pathology report told a week later when my ENT told me that my 3.2cm tumor was indeed Hurthle cell carcinoma. He said I could seek a second opinion, but all I wanted to know was how soon could he remove the rest of my thyroid, and when would I have my RAI treatment.

I still can't believe all that I had to go through in the past year. The uncertainty. The fear. The emotions. That reminder on my neck that I no longer have a thyroid. That pill that I have to take every day now for the rest of my life. Everyone telling you that things will be alright and having a hard time believing it. The upheaval in my life. There is only so much preparation one can do for these types of things. And even when you think you know everything, you don't. This journey is different for everyone, no matter what kind of cancer you have. I felt like I was marked for the rest of my life, like my thyroid cancer was always going to be hanging over my head, that I couldn't do anything but live in fear of my cancer. I see where that kind of thinking was wrong because I know now that life does exist after thyroid cancer.

One thing that is certain is that it can come back. If I could choose between having every side affect from RAI and thyroid meds with the guarantee of it never coming back v. having clean scans and blood work (TSH, FT4, stimulated Tg, TgAB) for 25 years but it comes back all over the place, I'd take the latter. I'd prefer to enjoy my life now, really take it in, so that when it finally came back, I knew I did everything I wanted to do and had no regrets. So sure, come and get me. I see nothing good about suffering with side affects for the rest of my life, even if it never came back.

One day at a time, one year at a time. I still don't know everything about my cancer. I'm still not done battling my cancer. But I have survived a year now. That is something.

Vacation

I am finally on vacation. Relaxing. It snowed here this past weekend, so there is still some snow on the ground and on the hills surrounding the resort. Looking forward to exploring the area and taking a lot of pictures.