Caatje's Artsy Stuff: I'm published!

Caatje's Artsy Stuff: I'm published!

Look at my friend Caatje!! I'm so proud of her!

I can't believe it's true

March 30,2011 at 7pm I received a phone call from the surgeon telling me that I have thyroid cancer. Two areas on the right side of my thyroid. The left side will have to come out!
The thought of going through this again is not at all comforting. Six weeks after the completion thyroidectomy I will have to have radioactive iodine!


The thought of putting something so toxic into my body scares me. I have been fortunate to have others reaching out to me who have gone through this. The tips are going to be helpful. My husband is so supportive and my endocrinologist assures me he will get me through this.

In the mean time the shock has worn off. I think about the cancer less. I try to eat a bit healthier. I have to be strong and get through this.

post op hemithyroidectomy

I have spoken about my hemithyroidectomy ad nauseam. I feel it is important to blog about for those who will be going through it soon. I am a nurse and it wasn't any easier on me than it would be on someone else. I had a 2.3 cm nodule that we had been watching for a year. I knew it was there for a longer time but it wasn't until I had difficulty swallowing and felt discomfort that I finally said something to my doctor. The first Fine Needle Aspiration showed that it seemed to be ok. Just needed to watch it. The FNA a year later, after it had grown some, shows multifollicular cells in a pattern. Pathologist recommended it came out. The endocrinologist recommended I call Dr. John Lew at the University of Miami. He specializes in endocrine system surgery. He was an expert. I called and was able to see him three weeks later. My surgical date was another four weeks after that! What a build up. I asked the pre op nurse on the phone if I could have the parking attendant administer the Versed! I arrived at the Sylvester pre op area. The nurses were amazing. Tia, my nurse anesthetist, listened and understood I was fearful of post anesthesia nausea. They gave me a pill, Emend, to stop the nausea receptors. It worked. I woke up in recovery room, no nausea, happy to be alive. A little worried because you feel swelling and discomfort and wonder if you will breath easily. Its a mind game. I kept watching the pulse oximeter and saw the numbers were good. Roxicet helped me through the day. All in all I took about 5 doses including that post op day. I am using tylenol at night now to ensure a good nights rest. This is post op day 5 and I am almost up to speed. I had some post intubation hyper reactive airway issues that I my own issues (most people do not get this). I get it after a cold. Now with the right combo of medicines I am hardly coughing. I will see the PCP tomorrow and may go back to work on Tuesday. The next step is to get the pathology report. If it is positive for cancer then the other side will have to come out. The first two days were rough.. It got easier day by day.

New at this and want to learn more

So watch here. This military family will soon be enduring another deployment. Yep, number four. Each time my son deploys I attempt to learn something new. This time it will be blogging. So watch here..and more will come. Hope you will send the word out for people to subscribe and come watch this grow.

another deployment day gone by

I last spoke with our soldier on June 27th, his 23rd birthday. His sisters and brother ask every day if I spoke with him. I see a trace of him on his web page.. no updates, no blogs, just a sign on, which for the most part on most days is enough to keep me going. Today though, I just miss him. I just wish he were here to see his sister's belly growing and his sister in laws belly growing. Wish he were here to see that Isabella is walking now. Emma has so many new adult teeth growing in and is excited about starting first grade.

We all miss our soldier and pray for his safety and the safety of all the men and women there. I just want to hear his voice. I hope he calls today.

keeping motivated

In the past, I had started some of my scrapbooking projects and left them unfinished. I am happy to say I have been working right along and will complete a project before moving on to the next.

I promise not to purchase anything new, papers, stickers, etc..until I do a hundred pages. The mini album I am creating now I will count as 5 pages since it is so small but still has taken quite a bit of time.

Besides having four wonderful adult children, I have three stepchildren with beautiful children of their own. I am Nana to them and love them dearly.
My own children are having grandbabies numbers three and four coming soon. That is motivation enough to get all the albums in order.

I promised my SrA I would finish his album before he comes home from this deployment from a sandy area . I will do so, NG, I promise.
I sure am lucky to have so many photos to organize.