The final countdown

Well, two weeks of the no-iodine diet are almost up. It has flown by fairly quickly. The food has been good minus the items I can't have. Fresh fruit and vegetables everyday...probably the first time since leaving home that I have had the full recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables. The recipes have been easy and good. I have been cooking for myself for some time, but almost every meal, I think I kinda like this. I have realized that I need a dishwasher SO bad! I empathize with the victims of Top chef and Hell's kitchen. I am cooking for me, they are cooking for everyone else.

The first week of the diet, I felt pretty good. I rather thought my energy level would drop off pretty quick, but that didn't really happen. Then a week passed, and Sunday I felt a bit odd. Monday hit and wow did I feel tired. Not so tired I couldn't function, but I could tell I was hypo (that is low thyroid). Everyday feels a little different. Somedays energy is good, some days...I could fall asleep standing. Incredible to think how a small little organ can produce so much. God really knew what he was doing when he created man!

Monday marks the day of Radiation! I guess it will be to late to make that my Halloween costume. I still have to confirm tomorrow for sure that Monday is the day, but I will take the drink or whatever it is, and I think drive home and then lock the door for a week until the following Monday. At that point, I will go in for a full body scan and then back to a normal diet. I got real tickled tonight, as I have class on Tuesday nights with this night being our last class. As I was driving home I started to think of ice cream and how easy it would be to stop by Wild About Harry's and get a small cup of custard. Then I started to think what would be the first thing I would eat on that Monday when freedom returns. All I could think of was a giant bowl of queso and an even bigger bowl of salted chips. I better stop talking about food or I might just get myself in trouble.

Today was also blood draw day. I guess they need to see if I am low enough in the iodine area for treatment. I have been thinking also about what will I do for the week in isolation. My dad called and said to get him a list of movies for him to gather for me. Also, there is studying for a test I have to take online next week. Books and notes to read for another class. I will work online from home also as I can use the laptop and cell phone. I also think alone time in studying the word of God is needed. My dad mentioned to me that this could be a good time for my own wilderness experience away from the world, except that is hard to do when you are right next to HWY 75/Central Expressway. Sirens, car brakes, car crashes all day long. We'll see what I can get done.

Sorry, this was a boring post, but I assure you something exciting will happen one way or another. Good night and God bless!

Jeremy

The Diet Begins...

Sunday started the next stage in this saga with cancer. I have stopped taking my medication and started the No-Iodine Diet. Sounds good, eh? Well...it's quite the work to say the least. My mother was gracious enough to spend the weekend with my sister and nephew and try some of the recipes from the No-Iodine Diet. She reported one success and one failure. Oatmeal cookies, great. Muffins...very bad. I, too, have taken up some cooking attempts with this diet. It's amazing what common day foods contain iodine. I have cooked more in the past two weeks (and I am sure in the next 3 weeks) than I have in the last year. No eating out for three weeks, which isn't that bad. I can save some money. I have already learn that I don't read the directions all that well. Made a loaf of bread and misread the water content...too much water so I thought I will just add more flour and other ingredients. Next thing you know the dough was coming out of the machine. I grabbed a bunch of the dough and mad a dough ball. Closed the machine on the remaining dough and let it do its' thing. The next morning I pulled the loaf out and it was soaking wet, granted it was baked, but wet. Nasty!!! Tossed it and started another. Yesterday, I spent 3 hours making hummus. I guess you learn from experience... I cooked the full amount of garbanzo beans and it took 1 1/2 hours to boil it. I boiled so much water, that all of my windows fogged up and there was a fog in the house for a few hours after that. Great hummus though!

This diet does take a lot of preparations, and that is exhausting. Still working on the menu for lunch as I think ever day this week I will end up having a PB&J sandwich. The hummus and veggies definitely make up for the lack of cheese and meat! I must say that this diet does make you eat a bit more healthy as I can only have egg whites and only small portions of meat each day. This could be a good thing!

Three days down, eighteen more to go!

Great news, my sister saw had a test, and she does not have thyroid cancer!

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Blessings,

Jeremy

Diet preparation week...oh what fun!?!

Greetings friend! I hope this posting finds you well. This will be a short one until I find some time to sit down and really write. You will be happy to know that no more emotional breakdowns or hot flashes for me! Shortly after that episode, I took a long weekend and went fishing with a friend down on the coast, and boy did we have some fun fishing! The day before we left was the day I had my appointment with the endocrinologist. Wow! This has to be the best doctor visit I have ever had. This doc sat down and visited with me for over an hour about the whole cancer event, what is to come, and even sat through the details of the fishing trip to come. Good doctor!!! So...here is what is to come...I started the day after the doctor visit to take a different thyroid medication. It is a short term med taken twice a day. On Sunday, October 18, I will stop taking the medicine and start a three week long diet with low- to no-Iodine. Sounds like fun eh? I will not be able to have any foods that have high iodine content. That actually affects many foods I like. No seafood, no iodized salt, milk and products from milk, salty food, commercially made bread, no pizza, no chili, no Chinese food, and no rhubarb...does anybody eat that?

This week will be my practice week for recipes for the diet. There is a 90+ page cookbook provided by a thyroid support website with recipes for foods. I have already started to try some of these out, well at least one. I made homemade bread in a bread maker a friend let me borrow. Boy was it good! Here's a photo of my fist loaf. I am mourning many items that I will miss out on. Seafood, milk products, and no fast food...I may start to cry...not really. This week will also be the last ditch attempt at eating all the things prohibited on the list...I may even try some rhubarb.

Once I have completed the first two weeks of the diet, then on Nov. 2, I will have the radiation treatment. I will go to the hospital and take a drink cocktail of radioactive iodine. I will then go home and will be isolated for the next week from physical contact with people. I will not be able to leave my house or see people for the week. This is where the diet will come in kinda hard. I have a few folks that have said they will make some of the recipes from the recipe book and freeze them for me to use during the week. From what I have read, there will be some specific things I will have to do while the radiation is in me, such as bag clothes I wear, flush the commode 2-3 times after use, change the sheets nightly. This is apparently to remove any residual radiation that I may give off. I will continue to work during the week from home. When the week is over, on Nov. 9, I will have the body scan. Following the scan, I will immediately start the my medication and can start to have the no-iodine items again! I will say that that Monday will be a day to celebrate and finding an all you can eat seafood restaurant!!! Six weeks after the scan, I will see the endocrinologist again to see if the meds I will be taking are at the right dosage. I am very happy that for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I can eat the family cookings!!!

That's all for today. Thanks again for you prayers! Also, please pray for my sister. She went to the doctor recently, and she has an issue with her thyroid as well.

Blessings,

J

It's been awhile and lots to say!

Well, it has been quite awhile since I have written. I apologize for not keeping up with the blog like I wanted to. Work, school, life and many other things have kept me from updating, so I will do my best to update more often. I think the best idea right now is for me to post a few times over the next week to fill you in on how my life has been.

The last time I wrote, which now that I look at the blog, was almost a month ago. So... lets catch you up from that writing. We'll start with right after the last blog.

The last posting ended with my return to work and the "grandma" of the office escorting me from the office premises. Since that experience "grandma", Mrs. Pat, and myself have become quite the friends! Mrs. Pat has been a great support during this time as she always checks up on me to see how I am doing. Now, many of you know that I work in an office that is predominately women. There are two other guys that work in my office, and they are almost never at the office. I tend to be the receiver of any aggression or fun joking as the women vent about life. Well, I was able to provide them with a well deserved laugh once I safely returned to work.

A little over two weeks after the surgery, I felt good as I was back in the swing of things at work and school. I found myself able to stay fairly active exercising with friends through some tennis, biking, and some jogging. I started to notice that about mid afternoon I would get tired. I found myself yawning more and looking for something to get my energy up. At first, I looked for food, and that didn't help. I got up and walked around some, and that didn't help either. I then realized that my medicine was at the same dosage as it was from surgery. After surgery, they gave me a certain dosage that is normal for right after surgery. I would need to see if I could get my medicine dosage increased. I also knew that this probably wouldn't happen until after I was to see the endocrinologist in a couple of weeks. I told myself, "Just a couple of weeks of this and we'll get the medicine worked out, you can hold out to then." That seemed like a great rationale for the time being, or so I thought...

I specifically remember the day and time that it happened. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't want to call my family or they would get worried. I didn't want to call my friends because they had already helped me so much, I didn't want to ask for more from them. One of my friends not in Dallas ended up being the right person at the right time.

Here's the story...

It was a Wednesday afternoon. The mid afternoon tiredness was kicking in, and I was looking for some leftover tidbit in the refrigerator with no luck. As I returned to my office, I decided to text a friend of my, Lyndee, who used to be a co-worker that had started a new chapter in her life by going back to school. She was having a rough time adjusting back to school, work, and a new city. I sent a text asking how her third week at school had been. After texting, I got busy and forgot that I had sent the text. I went on with the afternoon working and doing my thing. Work was over, so I headed home. I remember as I was driving, I was feeling a bit strange. Nothing that I could describe at the time or even describe in detail now. I arrived at my house and walked in, dropped my bag on the floor, checked the mail, and turned on the light. I turn the A/C off during the day, so the house was pretty warm. I walked to the couch and sat down, and just as I sat down...it happened.

As it happened, I looked around in disbelief. For some reason (and I know most of the women who will read this will know what I am describing) I started to cry for no reason! As I sat there, I remember saying out loud, "What is going on? Why am I crying? Nothing bad happened today, and I am just sitting on the couch!" I thought to myself, 'Is this what it is like to be a woman?'

I looked around my house and was thinking, 'Oh my, I cannot tell my family about this or they will want to come stay with me. Who can I talk to about this?' Within seconds of this thought, my text notification goes off. I dry my eyes, click on the text, and wouldn't you know it...my friend Lyndee responded to my text. I immediately texted her back to see how she was doing, and it turned into a frenzy of text joking with each other. As we were texting, I thought, 'God, did you have Lyndee text me at this time to help me?' So, I texted her that for some reason I cried today...and no response. I immediately thought back to the years we worked together and realized...of all my coworkers, Lyndee was one that I did not share the deep down feelings with. My thoughts were, 'Oh, crap...I just freaked Lyndee out!' As that thought and others raced through my mind, my phone lit up like a Christmas tree and started ringing. It was Lyndee, and she was checking on me. (Side note: Lyndee, she is a dear friend and is one of the most sarcastic persons I have ever met. She and another former coworker, Julie, made it a mission to give me a hard time, and loved to play pranks on me, and of course I never gave it back to them...well maybe I did.) As I answered the phone, the first words out of my mouth were "Of all the people in the world to tell them I am crying, you would be the last, because my crying will somehow come back to haunt me." Lyndee immediately responded and said "Jeremy, I was in the middle of class when you texted me you were crying. I can't text you back about that, I had to call to check on you." For the next 20 minutes, I asked her if this is what it feels like to be a women, and we laughed the entire time. Thanks for giving me some more insight into what women deal with! Oh yeah, I left out the story of me having hot flashes too! Let me tell you, I went a week or so thinking something was very wrong with me after crying and having hot flashes. Fortunately, the Thyroid Cancer support website lists those as possible side affects of the surgery. I feel more like a man today than I ever have, but I do have a better perspective about what you ladies have to deal with! I told this story to some coworkers at our corporate office, and they were on the floor in stitches (they were all women, and one was visiting from Ethiopia), and one of the went on to explain to me, that when I see a women crying for no reason...leave her alone and don't ask why she is crying. Now I know!

I will try to post again on Sunday and update you on the doctor visit, fishing trip, and continuing treatment plan!

On a side note, one blessing from this experience is that several people have informed me that my situation has encouraged them to go see their doctor for a checkup! In fact, my sister visited her doctor, and they have discovered some issues with her thyroid as well. Please pray for her as they do some of the same testing to determine this issues with her thyroid and for a peace for her family during this time!

Blessings,

Jeremy