Seems like we just go here, and now it is almost time to go home! Too short, but nice we all made it for the graduation, even Viv - a very nice surprise!

Our flight was cancelled! I got myself & mom on an earlier flight, dad on a much later flight, different airline. Should be interesting.

Thyrogen shots: Don't get to go to my local UrgentCare, have to go to the one at my ENDOs office for my shots. The good news is they have Thyrogen, on hand.

How does my neck look? 5/22/11

I haven't been good at posting neck photos this month. Been very preoccupied. I even missed posting on May 17th, a year after my second, completion surgery, to remove the right side of my thyroid. How did that day pass without me posting about it? Not sure. Was that more of a defining moment than hearing from my ENDO three days later that a different type of thyroid cancer was found on the right side? That day I felt like I should not only pig out on froyo, but buy a bunch of lottery tickets as well - how lucky was I to have not one, but two types of ThyCa?

Thinking back to what I was feeling and going through a year ago today (Saturday, May 22, 2010), I know my neck, back, and shoulders were still very sore from the surgery and from having to sleep at a 45 degree angle for so many days. I remember the pain and soreness in my upper back stayed for several weeks this time. Maybe that was from not fully recovering from that first surgery. I was looking forward attending my very first ThyCa meeting. I was wondering what RAI was going to be like and the LID diet I would have to do for two weeks before hand.

Today, I'm worried why I'm always feeling tired - is it a bad batch of T3? will my meds have to be changed again? I am not looking forward to my next round of LID that starts on Memorial day (May 30th), and a little worried about what my 1-yr WBS (scheduled for June 15th) will look like - will my 'mystery tissue' show uptake? What about the areas of my thyroid bed that showed intensity last year? Then there's the unsuppressed Tg/TgAB blood draw. What about the two Thyrogen shots I have to take before my RAI scan dose? - will it be affected by the global Thyrogen shortage? So, different year, different worries. But there are many worse things I could be worrying about right now, so I am fine with where I am now because at least now I have a better idea of where this is all going, so far, at least.

Anyway, how does my neck look?

A little freaked out because I forgot to put sun block on my scar this morning, and it is sunny today.

Cancer has claimed another

I just found out that a friend of mine passed away from cancer about an hour ago. No, it was not thyroid cancer, it was a more vicious one. The details are not that clear. All I know is that he has been fighting it for three long years.

I just saw Gary in March. A group of us had dinner one rainy Saturday evening. He just had a round of chemo with complications, but he was feeling well enough to be out and about. A couple of days later I met them downtown for lunch at Monsoon (indian buffet), then we all walked down to the diamond market a few blocks away to visit with one of their neighbors that owns a jewelry design business. I guess it is a good thing for your last memories of someone to be around food and good times. That is how I'd like to be remembered.

Jerry, one of my friends from San Francisco (and also one of Frankie's god-fathers), came down earlier this week because Gary was not doing well. They worked together for many years at the same airline. Jerry also had cancer several years back. About a month ago, Nick (Frankie's other god-father) and Jerry told me that Gary was in the hospital, I said I wanted to visit, they said they'd let me know when he was home and feeling up for visitors. I never got that call. I am starting to wonder if it was because he never got to go home. I got a text from Nick two days ago that Jerry was here for Gary. Two days later, and I don't get to see him again. 

So many things can happen in a day, week, month, or year. You never get that time back. Some of us have cancer growing inside of us and don't even know it until it is too late. It doesn't matter what kind of cancer it is, the words "good" and "cancer" should never be used together in the same sentence. Never! And even if you survive cancer for many years, it is always waiting and hanging out in your body just waiting for any opening to get back in there and start stirring things up again when you least expect it. It may not happen today, tomorrow, or even next year, but it will happen. Cancer will rear it's ugly head in your face because it can. Stupid cancer. Why having we found a way to prevent it from growing in our bodies yet?!?

Still not on top of things

I crashed again this afternoon, but I was able to keep my eyes open this time. I think I was frustrated enough with two of the projects I am working on to stay awake. I tell you those project management terms really don't make sense - I am sure they help keep projects on track, but they all seem to ask the same exact thing, so they all seem rather pointless. Just let me start working on the fun stuff already!

I did make it to yoga this evening. It was not until 20 minutes into the class that I remembered that this particular instructor's classes always kicked my ass. So many chattarangas. Lots of asanas that were new to me. I sweated a lot. My hamstrings were killing me. Regardless, I hopped on the treadmill after yoga.

I just had to try out my new Nike SportWatch GPS on a treadmill. Now the cool thing about this watch is that you can use it indoors as well as outdoors - I guess most GPS watches only work outside since they need to link to the satellites in the skies above? Anyway, you turn off the satellite link so the Nike+ shoe pod takes over, working just like the Nike+ SportBand works. Last night I was having problems linking my SportWatch to my shoe pod and the satellite. I walked around on the street for several minutes trying to link the darn thing to both. Was not happy. This evening, it couldn't even find my shoe pod! Well, user error as I finally realized that I never linked my watch to my shoe pod. Once I did that, everything worked well. I'll have to try the interval training part next time I'm on the treadmill.

So, energy level still not good, hamstrings still not happy (not with running, climbing, pilates, and definitely not with yoga), projects at work not going well.....so, still not on top of things.