Hello! Miss you all. I got married and love it! Goodbye!!

A walk down memory lane

Hello friends! It has been awhile since I have written, and it wasn't until I spoke with a friend this week who said they had read the most recent post that I realized I needed to write.

This week (actually Friday) marks a milestone in my life, but before I get there, I will tell a story to get us there. Most folks that know me (family, friends and coworkers) know that I am quite messy. Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but it runs in my family, and I received the pac-rat gene. For some odd reason, I think I need to keep everything because one day it will come in handy and I won't have to buy it, or need to shop for whatever it is. About 2-3 times a year, the cleaning bug will hit me and I just dump, trash and get rid of anything and the house or office looks good. Well, last week that started for me. Most of my summer trips were wrapping up, so I had time to clean the 4 foot pile of paper off my desk. You should also know that when I clean, it is in stages. Not everything at once, but portions each day, etc. So last week, I decided to clean my conference table and 1/4 of my desk. Strange yes, but it works for me. Monday started the 3/4 cleaning of the remainder of my desk. I think I filled the recycle bin twice with paper, post-it notes, etc. Each piece of paper I looked at to see if it was important to keep, or useless and recycle it. It took most of the day (if you know me, I take my time when I clean) and I was getting to the last 2-3 pieces of paper. To my surprise, the last piece I looked at had some interesting information on it. This piece of paper had the entire timeline of my journey with cancer. If you recall from a post almost a year ago, I had to recall the timeline for the paperwork for my doctor to fill out so I could return to work. This was that piece of paper. As I looked over the dates on the paper, I realized that Friday (tomorrow) is the one year anniversary of the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. It was a sobering moment to say the least.

In the Old Testament, God interacted with his people, such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and many others and had them place rocks or other items to serve as a reminder of what happened at that location and what God had done for his people. Those monuments or altars served as a reminder for God's people every time they passed those markers. Tomorrow will be a reminder for me of what God has done in my life until I am with him in heaven. It still amazes me that a year ago tomorrow, I was diagnosed with a life threatening disease. I never would have thought that would happen. I am also amazed at the incredible miracle of healing God has provided in my life to now be cancer free. My life has changed in so many ways. As I look back over the past year, I see the amazing impact the lives of my family and friends have had on my life, my work, my ministry, and especially my faith in God. God has given me so many blessings, and not until this trial in my life have I really appreciated what he has blessed me with. I am blessed with a wonderful family who loves me and want to walk through life with me, both good times and bad times. I am blessed with friends who keep me accountable, challenge me, encourage me, and keep me real. I am blessed with a wonderful job that allows me to be a vessel of clay in the potter's hands. I am blessed with some of the most passionate and loving co-workers I have ever known. I could go on and on.

Since this journey through cancer, I have many new blessings to be thankful for. I am thankful for a new respect and view of my health. I am thankful for health insurance. I am thankful for the friends i have around the world that pray for me and encourage me. I am also thankful for someone new in my life. Through this experience, I was reintroduced to an acquaintance from several years ago. Her name is Marti Colvin. She is a wonderful Christian lady that has become a very important person in my life. I have spent a majority of the summer away from her, and it just so happens that on the day of my one year anniversary of thyroid cancer diagnosis, I am joining up with Marti to enjoy a road trip through the Southwestern US. We will travel to several national parks and national monuments (including the Grand Canyon). I hope to share more about Marti and about the blessing she has been in my life during this journey.

This journey has been an interesting one, and I think I can even say now that I would not change this event in my life. It has opened my eyes to new experiences, perspectives and issues that I can now face and encourage others in light of God's grace. That's all for now, so I hope I haven't bored you, but have made you smile.

In His Grace,

Jeremy

It is finished!

It is with much joy and celebration that I am able to share that I received a clean bill of health. The doctor says I can say I am cancer free. It was quite the wait from the week of treatment. After an additional blood test and a visit to the doctor, I won't have to see the endocrinologist for a good six months!

This whole experience has been an adventure. It is close to being a year since diagnosis, surgery, and recovery. It been six months since the big radiation, diet journey. Now knowing the cancer part is over, I really don't know what to say. My cousin called me shortly after I posted on facebook about the good news. He was excited to hear the news, and he asked me a very interesting question that caught my attention and made me think. He asked, 'What have you learned from this experience?' I didn't quite know how to answer that at first, but of course the cursory answers came out, like an appreciation for life, family, etc. But I have had time to think about that since he asked. I have realized how many people (friends, family and even strangers) have been and are praying for me. It is humbling to grasp the number of prayers that have been and are being said on my behalf. I have realized just how important my family is to me. I love each member of my nuclear and extended family as they have each played an important part in shaping the person that I am and the person I am becoming. I have realized how important my friends are in my life. The encouragement they are to me as they walked with me, cried with me, laughed with me, and even held me...I don't know words that can explain this. I have realized more than ever before how much my Savior, Jesus Christ, has done for me. My understanding of his presence and purpose in my life is genuinely indescribable. I have realized how precious life is, and that I need to live each moment with purpose, with joy, and as selfless as possible. There is so much more to say, but now is not the time.

I want to share a very special moment with you, so please forgive my ramblings. This past Sunday, I had the joy of being able to return to the camp that I worked with for twelve years. I don't know if I had written about camp before in this blog, but this is a good time to share it. Camp John Marc is the name of the camp, www.campjohnmarc.org. For those that knew my time at camp, it was my perfect job. I spent twelve years building relationships with children with varying illnesses and disabilities. I could wear shorts and t-shirts everyday to work!!! I don't know if it gets better than that. The week I was diagnosed was the usual week that I return to camp and visit. But of course, last year I didn't get to do that. One of my friends and former co-workers emailed me on Friday about helping with getting the kids on the bus to camp and to ride to camp as a bus buddy. For all the years I worked at camp, I had never done this, nor understood the 'mayhem' involved on that side of camp. We always greeted the buses and campers as they exited the buses, unloaded luggage and then vice -versa as the camper left. With it having almost been two years since I was at camp, I quickly replied 'YES' to the request. Sunday morning, I raced to late service at church, and left a little early so I could change clothes (shorts and t-shirt!) and headed to the hospital. I wasn't quite sure what my role was to be at the time, but once the campers were loaded, I was pleased to find out that I was getting to ride on the bus with the kids. It was an absolute joyful time!!! I was able to sing a few camp songs, talk to campers about activities, watch a movie with them, laugh, tell jokes, give kids a hard time, and kids give me a hard time, etc. It was so much fun to see the excitement and joy in their eyes and hear the plans they had for fun! Once we arrived at camp, the CJM staff came on board and started to assist the campers getting off the bus. This particular week was for children with spina bifida. At first, it was exciting to see the staff and volunteer cabin counselors yelling and cheering as the campers got off the bus. As the unloading progressed, I started to look outside and see the campers with their cabin mates high five-ing and laughing. It was then that I began to feel some emotions begin to rise. For twelve years, my perspective was from the counselor side. I was serving these children to encourage them and let them know they can do anything. they can be just like anybody else. On that bus, I sat on the other side of this perspective. I was finally seeing and feeling how these campers experienced life, even if only for a moment. It wasn't until going through this cancer experience that I saw the full circle of what the Camp John Marc experience was all about. I realized how much I missed this special place, these special people, these special kids. I understand with a new perspective the power that a committed community has in life. If you look back at the Israelite journey in the old testament, you see the focus of God's presence was in the community of the people. Festivals, celebrations, harvests, worship, all of these and more were experienced and called for by God to happen in community. That is what I felt in the twelve years at camp, and I really saw it Sunday at camp. What an awesome God we worship!!! I hope you will take the time to click on the link to camp and find out more about it. I am planning on volunteering next summer for a week to be a part of this special community. Won't you?

Blessings,

Jeremy

Day two...much better

This will be a short one as today was much better than yesterday. Got the 2nd shot, this time in the left cheek. Thankfully, nausea was at a minimum. It came and went throughout the day, so it was not a major concern. Thank you for your prayers. I followed up with the hospital, and tomorrow I head to the Nuclear medicine wing at Presby and get to glow again, although this dose will only run a refrigerator or two as the dose is very low. Sorry, you won't see me glowing like last time. Thursday will hold no visit to any doctor or hospital, yahoo! Friday will be the scan and blood tests, so maybe next week I'll will get the results from the doctor. Thank you again for your prayers and encouraging emails, notes, etc. You have all been a great blessing. I will write more after the treatment on Friday.

Blessings,

Jeremy

Day One...what will tomorrow bring?

Day one down and four more to go...I didn't quite know what to expect other than an appointment at the doctor or hospital everyday this week. So today began at my doctors office to get an injection of a drug called thyrogen. I didn't do my homework like a usually do and read up on the drug I would be on, so this morning about an hour after the injection, I started getting nauseous. I then decided it would be a good idea to read the information the nurse gave me on the medicine, and yes...one of the side effects of the medicine is nausea. It stayed with me all day. But what was odd was if I was active, I didn't have nausea. We had a meeting this morning and it started late, so, as any good recreation major should have on hand, I got a frisbee out and started playing frisbee with my co-workers while we waited outside, and no nausea until about 10 minutes after playing. Again, the rest of the day nausea would come and go. This evening I joined my volleyball team and played, and just like the morning, the nausea was gone. Now I tell my story like this, please note the sarcastic humor...I just spent $900 on medicine to make me nauseous. And tomorrow I guess I get to do it again! Oh what fun! In all seriousness, I am sure this will help with the treatment. I must say that I have been very blessed for this to be the worst I have felt during this whole journey! God has been faithful to walk through this with me and to keep the pain at a very low level. So, we'll see what tomorrow will be like! Keep praying for a easy treatment!

Blessings,

Jeremy

Nearing the End...

I never realized how much time it takes to maintain a blog until I got busy with life and as I ran into people who asked me how I am doing and that they were following the blog, I then realized I was not writing like I should have nor keeping folks up to date on the latest.

It seemed like the next phase in this 'journey' was to end this past week. I saw my endocrinologist in March, and we had scheduled my treatment for Monday, May 10. Last week as we approached the end of the week, I started to wonder why I had not heard from the hospital about the treatment, so I called them. I spoke to the person who had originally scheduled my treatment. My treatment was to consist

of two injections, one each day starting on Monday. Wednesday would be a small dosage of radiation followed by a scan on Friday. When I asked about the injections, the lady on the phone said that my doctor would know about the injections. I called the nurse at my doctors office and asked her about the treatment. She stated, "I'm sorry but your insurance has denied your treatment." I was like 'WHAT"! I asked her to explain. She said that she had contacted CVS Caremark and they denied my treatment.

They had appealed the the denial and had written a letter of medical necessity for the treatment and were waiting for a decision. I immediately said, "CVS Caremark is not my insurance. That

is my prescription plan." I told her I would get back with her. I immediately called the insurance people at work, and they had no idea that I was scheduled for a treatment. I told them about the doctors office calling CVS, and their comment was the same as my thought. I immediately connected the doctors office with my insurance. This whole story happened within an hours time. I was praying this whole time for peace and that this situation would be resolved. I was at a loss of words and was in a bit of shock. About an hour after this story, I received an email from the wonderful case workers at my

insurance that they had talked with my doctors office and would process the procedure through my insurance. I was overjoyed! I then figured the treatment would then have to be rescheduled.

It has been rescheduled to the week of May 24-28. It will take a little time after the scan on the 28th to know the results, but the doctor feels pretty sure that all will be well.

Since the last treatment, I have been adjusting to the medicine and seem to be at the correct dosage. I have exercised some and traveled on two trip, one to Guatemala and just recently to Kenya, and I seem to be doing great! I will post a couple of photos from the trip to Kenya. It was a great trip full of great ministry to kids!

I'll try to write more when I get a chance!

Blessings,

Jeremy

The latest update

This will be a quick update as I am headed out for some travels. I saw the doctor a couple of weeks ago, and everything looked good as far as my tests and thyroid medicine levels. We determined my final date for the last radiation treatment to be the 2nd week of May. This round will be different with me visiting the hospital everyday during the week for injections, tests, radiation, and scans. I hope to write a good update when I get back. Thanks again for your prayers, emails and encouragement!

Blessings,

Jeremy

Oh my...I still have a blog out there.

It's been awhile since I have written, and I almost forgot I even had a blog. I will try to write a real update soon. I am supposed to see my doc this week, so I should have a good update at that point. Had a real interesting situation at seminary tonight. One of my fellow students has thyroid cancer. We talked after class and she had lots of questions. It seems God is using this experience to encourage others facing the same thing. I'll write more later. Thanks again for your prayers!

Jeremy

Catching up!

It's been two months since my last post...sorry! It has been busy since the last post, so I thought I would at least get folks caught up. Mid-December I saw the doc again, and he said I was progressing as expected. He increased my meds (Thank the Lord for that!) My energy from the treatment until the increase of medicine was pretty low. I found myself tired through the day and then when I got home from work, I had no energy to do anything! Literally, I would sit on the couch and had little energy to get up or even change the channel on the remote. Pretty sad, eh? After the increase, I really couldn't tell a difference for a week or two, but then I had to prepare for my first trip since being diagnosed. I was really surprised how well my energy was during the trip. I kept up with the students on the trip and the most of the kids in the orphanage as well. Praise God for his provision of energy during the trip! I will have another blood test next week, and I hope to have a small increase in the meds. I won't see the doc again for another 6 weeks. The plan for the rest of the year will be as described above, plus I will have another round of radiation in May very similar to the first round. Once the second round is complete, if nothing is found, then I can officially say I am cancer free! This was a short post. I hope to write more very soon. Thanks again for all your prayers and encouraging messages!

Blessings,

Jeremy

Go ahead...Raise the roof (sort of)

Moving from the emotion of yesterday to today has been quite the story! This will be a short posting, but a good one! Got the results of the body scan at 4:30 pm today. The doc called and said that the scan came back and was as it should be. Meaning...the scan showed that the radiation was taken up by remaining thyroid cells as it was designed to do. Those cells were located where my thyroid was before surgery (exactly where he expected them to be) and so there was no indication or signs that the cancer had spread. That alone is a wonderful praise! I will have to have another dose of radiation in 6 months which will be used to confirm that the first dose killed off any remaining thyroid cells. The next 6 weeks I will continue my meds and will see the doctor in mid December to check the dosage of meds to see if it is at the right amount.

Thank you to all of my friends and family for your prayers, notes, and calls concerning this journey. I still have more to go, but I thank God for walking with me through this. He has carried me through alot of tough moments. He also placed each of you in my path to encourage and support me as well.

My prayer request now would be for my mother and sister as they both undergo tests, medications, and possible treatments for their thyroid issues. I'll keep you updated on the latest!

Blessings!

Jeremy

A hole in the armor...

Well...I must say that today may have been the toughest day to date in this whole experience. It seems I have looked at this as a small 'bump' in the path of my life when it actually has been quite big. I think maybe twice during this time I have come to tears(with one of those being a clear lesson in empathy towards the emotional roller coaster women experience) and today added another. Not quite sure what brought it on. It could have been the test in class today that I had no idea about and left knowing it was not good. Maybe it was mom calling earlier this week to say she may have thyroid issues now as she visited the doctor. Or maybe in the back of my mind knowing the results of the scan are due anytime. Could also be that I have not really grieved in this whole process and it is finally surfacing. Whatever it caused it...Thank you Lord, because I need it, and I need to continue to do it.

My sister called this morning and she heard me tearing up. Thanks for listening sis. Today was also, what I described, as the most discouraging day, like a spirit of discouragement was upon me. Thanks to my life long brothers in the faith in Central Texas and the Dallas area that responded to my text for prayers. I don't know what I would do without you guys! God has blessed me with some truly Godly friends!

I bought a new album on itunes yesterday and finally got to start listening to it today. It is Switchfoot's new album, Hello Hurricane. Great album! I think the band wrote this album to address the storm of life that we face and how they toss us around. The songs give alot of hope in those situation we face that toss us around. Exactly what I needed to hear today.

"What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul." Jewish proverb

So much more to say, but I will save it for another day.

Love you all!

Jer

Oh...the Queso...with a capitol Q!!!

Well, this morning started early and I didn't sleep much, so I was tired. In fact, I had three alarms set this morning and I somehow turned off all three of them and fell back asleep. Thank God for Hwy 75 morning traffic!!! Up and out by 6:45 to drive up to the hospital for the scan. Made it with time to spare (don't worry mom...traffic was light, yeah, I couldn't believe it either)! Got right in. They walked me in and had me lay down on the scanner. I forgot to get a photo, so I found one on the internet.

(There was supposed to be a big picture of a plastic donut shaped machine here, but it won't show up now, so you get this lame description instead.)

They had me lay down on the plastic stretcher, which by the way was actually pretty comfortable. I ended up laying on it for almost 3 hours. And when I said I was cold they brought out a blanket that had been in a heated box. Wow!!! I may have to plan to have my own blanket warmer someday!!! The stretcher raised up and the two arms enveloped me like a pair of tongs. They lowered the top one to what seemed millimeters from my nose and explained that I needed to stay still. My only response was "Can I sleep?" Unfortunately, the machine is a loud machine! So no sleep, but it was nice to just lay there with my eyes closed. I figured I would eventually go through the machine, but no. The two arms, starting at my head, scrolled down to my feet and then returned to my head. I think that one was a 45 minute test. Then they mentioned doing one more, don't quite remember it as well as the first one. The testing lady came in and adjusted things for another short test. Then she returned and said she would take the scans to the doctor and would return shortly. When she returned, she said the doctor wanted more scans, so another hour or so of testing. This time, the two floating arms focused on my neck area and did a complete 360 around my head, yet it took 45 minutes to do that. Then, to my surprise, the stretcher started moving and I went into the donut for a CT scan. Finally I came out of the scanner and they said I was done. I should get the results later this week, so now is the waiting game.

I left the hospital and headed straight to work. I also started my medication back except at a height dosage. My new doc had given me samples that would last until I see him in 6 weeks. I got to work and was greeted by my coworkers eager to say hello and welcome me back. As I updated them on the past week, I mentioned to them that I wanted to have the queso from Matt's, called the Bob Armstrong dip.

It is probably one of the best queso dishes to have ever been created. It is the perfect blend of ground beef, queso, guacamole, and sour cream in a bowl. You mix those ingredients and...a taste of Heaven!!! Here are a few photos of sheer pleasure!

Unbelievably good! Once the work day was over, I attempted to find a local laundromat as all the clothes, sheets, towels, and anything I used during the week that could be washed, needed to be washed. Finally found one, but didn't have time to do the laundry, so tomorrow after work, I will be at the laundromat washing and studying for class. Well, it's after midnight and I am exhausted! Good to see people, hug them, and say hello in person! God is good!

Goodnight!

Jeremy

Counting down to a bowl of queso...mmmmm...good!

Well, two more days, then I can enjoy the foods I have missed for so long. This hasn't been too bad of an experience. I haven't seen a person since 11 am on Monday, so tomorrow I think I will venture to the front porch to do some studying. I have felt OK over the past week. Much more tired than I thought. Wednesday, the area around where my thyroid used to be swelled up and has remained that way. That was explained to me that that would probably happen, so on Wednesday, I described it as that I can no longer see my Adam's apple. I know many of you have wondered, "so what is it like to have radiated iodine in your body?" Well, let's see...for me, my taste buds taste less. I have to suck on lemon drops to try to get any radiation out of the saliva glands. My appetite is down which is a good thing as I have gained about 15 pounds over the past weeks. I do have to be honest and say that I was not glowing. That would have been cool, but nope, didn't happen. Mostly this week I spent my time on the computer working online, catching up on email, studying, reading, watching some movies and TV. It has been an interesting experience to say the least. thanks to those friends and family that called to check in on me. It was always nice to chat. I am sorry I didn't get to catch everyone. I have greatly improved my cooking skills, so I may have to invite some of you over when I get back to normal for a home cooked meal. Who knows, maybe the family will let me fix a dish for the holiday get togethers.

Like I said, two more days and then on Monday, I will head in to have the body scan and once that is done, start my meds and can eat those prohibited items. I have started to hallucinate giants bowls of queso and ice cream, so Monday will be a GOOD day indeed!

That's all for today. Catch up with you later! Thanks for your prayers, calls and messages. They really have encouraged me.

Blessings,

Jeremy

Glowing like a neon light...

Well, today was radiation day. How exciting! I mean, I could plug in my refrigerator, laptop, and tv, and power them from the remnants of my thyroid. Who knows...maybe I could also be a night light at the local airport too. Anyway, I arrived at the hospital around 8am and checked in. The nurse called me back and they took a blood draw to see how my TSH levels, kidney's, and white blood cells were. Then back to the waiting room. About 1 1/2 hours later, they called me back for a consultation on the procedure, paperwork to sign, etc. Then they brought me to the nuclear doctor who went back through everything one more time. Then...radiation time. I had been under the impression that it was a drink, but instead it was a pill. The guy helping me sat me down, copied all my paperwork and gave me a copy. He left for a few minutes. I noticed that there were three cups of water on the counter next to me. He walks in with white jar about the size of a large can of facial cream. When he placed it on the table, it landed with a thud sound. It was a lead lined container and pretty heavy from what he said. For the size of the jar, I was surprised that it only had enough space to hold the single pill for my treatment. Along with the container, he also brought a Geiger counter. Yes...Geiger counter. Now I was thinking this was pretty cool. He removed the pill, actually he poured the pill from the container in to a cup and then handed me the cup. I took the pill and drank two cups of water. He then took the Geiger counter and starting at my neck, started to search up and down my chest for the location of the pill. You could hear the clicking noise like on tv shows when they use one. He then asked me to wait for another five minutes and then I could go. He handed me one more glass of water, used the Geiger one more time to see if it had reached my stomach. He stepped out, so I quickly took a snapshot with my camera phone.

He then showed me the way out, and I left wondering how would I explain my condition if I were to get in a wreck or get a speeding ticket..."I am sorry officer, but you need to step back from the window as I am emitting radiation waves." That would be a cool story if it had happened.

Once I got home, I started emailing, texting, and letting folks know the latest on treatment. Well, that's the gist of things for now. I'll try to keep the blog updated...better than I have in the past!

Blessings,

Jeremy

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

A return to normalcy...part 2?

My Thursday night class is a little better than I thought it would be. With all the snacks and such that I brought this week, I stayed awake, and the lecture was much more enjoyable and fruitful for application. In fact, we raced through the book of 1 Samuel. There is a lot of good stuff in there that is very relevant to today in our global community. It is amazing to see just how patient David was after being anointed as the king of Israel. Saul, the first anointed King of Israel, pursued and tried to kill David many times to keep David from the throne. David, throughout Saul's pursuit of him, was faithful to God's promise to be the next king and never tried to take the throne himself by force. He had so much love for God, love for the king, and for the king's son Jonathan, that he waited for God to bring him to the throne.

As we studied that story, it reminded me how patient I need to be with regard to returning to work. Yes, the FMLA story continues from the last posting to this one. And again, I have to find humor in this situation. I also have to thank God for allowing humorous situations while dealing with this cancer and the steps I have to go to while trying to rid my body of it.

First, I want to acknowledge and say thank you to the many members of Porch Club from Camp Sanguinity! If any of you are reading this blog, the years of sitting up late after the kids went to bed and telling stories, jokes, and pranks (sorry Vance) have prepared my humor to deal with many situations with laughter and a smile. I do think of you often when I think about or deal with the cancer issues! Thank you for giving me the ability to laugh in the moments of darkness! Sander, Webb, Robert, and many others, I have opened my mailbox very slowly everyday expecting a thyroid, or some other body part, to be in my mailbox with a funny note attached! Thank God it hasn't really happened!

I find humor in alot of things, so this one story continues. I think I left off last time about sweet Pat escorting me from the premises, and finally returning when I got a note from the surgeon saying I could go back to work. I still laugh at that thinking of High School and walking the halls without a hall pass...gotta laugh at those days!

Anyway, since that last posting, sweet Pat has asked me everyday about the FMLA papers. Everyday I have called my doctor, and of course I end up leaving a message for the nurse. She eventually calls me back and says she will get them to me. Well, here is where the story moves to the humorous side. I called everyday this week, and the Corporate office called Pat everyday to ask her where the papers were, and of course she asked me, and I asked the nurse. I have a hard copy of the papers in my desk, actually the originals in my desk, and everyday I called I would pull them out and look at them, 4 pages I think, and would say to myself, "I could fill these out myself and go have the doctor fill them out." The papers say your doctor must fill these out, so of course I would just call and ask if they were done. Well...Tuesday afternoon, I get a call from the nurse and she says, "Jeremy, I have placed these papers on your doctors desk with a note that he needs to fill them out asap. He will fill them out first thing Wednesday morning." I was like, Great! Finally! Great idea, but it didn't happen. Here is where I started to laugh, a little. I also started to get a little frustrated. Wednesday afternoon, the nurse calls me back, and of course I am thinking, "she forgot the fax number, so she is calling me." No! The nurse informs me that the doctor has told her that I need to come in and sit with her to fill out the papers! Of course, I was immediately ready to get this done and over with, but I had to leave work early to go fill out the papers that the doctor was supposed to fill out!!! At first I was a bit livid. I was thinking, ok my doctor can feel a bump and say go get this test and that test, you have cancer, let's get it out. Then we have to fill out some paperwork and he says no, the patient needs to fill it out! Maybe we do have some issues with out healthcare system.

So I get to the doctors office, the nurse comes and gets me, (please note that the nurse is still the fill-in for my nurse on vacation, so she has no idea who I am or experience with my medical history) sits me in an examination room and begins to ask me the questions, like...when did the doctor discover the problem? I don't know about you, but I would expect medical professionals to document the date that they felt a lump and the ordering of tests. No, they had no clue! Just before I left the office, I printed out an email I had sent to a doctor friend that outlined the timeline of events from the first doctors visit to the return to work (well the pseudo-return to work). As we went through the questions, this is exactly what the nurse needed, but also, there were questions asked that I had no business answering as they were for my doctor to answer. I left the doctors office wondering if I should continue to stay with this doctor if he couldn't even fill out this paperwork! But in the end, I realized he did feel the bump and was proactive in diagnosis, so I figure I should give him a break...

Well...maybe I shouldn't. The story continues!!! Thursday comes around, and before I left the doctors office, the nurse told me she would have the doctor sign the papers and would fax them over to our office. I took it on faith that the papers would be faxed on Thursday. I truly forgot to follow up on Thursday until wonderful Pat came by near the end of the day to ask about the papers. Of course when she asked, I was in shock the papers were not there. So I picked up the phone and called the office to ask for the nurse. Pat headed back to her office while I spoke to the nurse. The nurse explained that the doctor was just returning from lunch...this was near 3:00 in the afternoon...and that she would leave the papers on his desk with a note to sign them. I had just hung up the phone when Pat came back to my office. I was smiling thinking, ok, this paperwork thing is over finally. Well...Pat, in her kindest grandma voice, says, "Jeremy, the Corporate office just called and said if the papers are not here by 5:00pm Friday, you could lose your job." WHAT!!!!!!!!! My eyes grew bigger than grapefruits, and my jaw dropped to the ground. I was in utter shock. I picked up the phone as fast as I could and dialed the doctors office. When the receptionist answered, I, as kindly and as patiently as I could, asked her to take a message and deliver it to the nurse asap. I told her, "Please take this message to my nurse, if I don't have the papers signed and to my office by 5:00pm today, Thursday, my Corporate office says I could lose my job." The receptionist replied, "Oh my, I will get this to your nurse right now." I hung up the phone and told Pat to stay by the fax machine. Then for the next 10-15 minutes, I was alone in my office praying and talking to myself. Next to the surgeon telling me I might lose my voice, this was the most stressful time of this whole experience. I was talking to God about what was going on. I kept saying to myself..."hmm, I could get fired because of the program that is supposed to protect my job." I was livid for those 10-15 minutes. So many thought went through my mind. I was not a happy camper, as we would say at camp. Those 10-15 minutes passed by and suddenly Pat bust through my doorway, hands in the air with one hand clasping newly faxed papers. I thought she was Rocky running up the stairs next to the statue from Rocky 2 (I think it was Rocky 2). I, too, joined her in the celebratory dance probably for 5-10 minutes of dancing and thanking God!!! Needless to say, I was still a bit angry with the Corporate office and with the doctors office, so I left work and went straight home. I wasted no time and threw on my running clothes and took off. I ran my usual route and knocked 6-7 minutes off my best time. I felt so good afterwards, that I started to laugh about the whole FMLA paperwork thing.

I am happy to say that all the paperwork is in place and seems to have settled so I can work without problems. One great lesson I have learned is...I will never use FMLA again!

I have been amazed by the number of humorous and interesting experiences I have seen through this medical issue. I am thankful for a healing God, loving friends and family, and a good sense of humor!

Besides the drama that unfolded this past week, I feel pretty good. I do sense some tiredness in the middle of the day, but I still feel good. I meet my endocrinologist on September 17, less then two weeks away. I think at that point, I'll get a better understanding of the next steps with radiation and diet.

I would ask for your prayers as I meet this new doctor. That he would be a good one and that he will fill out paperwork on time! Ha,Ha. Please also pray for my patience as my voice is not back to normal. I love to sing, and I still can't really carry a tune at this point.

J

A return to normalcy...sort of

It's been over a week since I posted last, and I seem to be doing pretty good. I spent the weekend visiting with family and friends in Waco. It was such a shot of joy to see them, tell stories, laugh, and even do a bit of exercise! I took my mom's cocker spaniel out for a run, or should I say she took me for a run. It was a nice break form the lounge chair or couch a TV. I forgot how hot it gets in Texas. Not the best idea to go running in the middle of the day. If something had happened, I am glad to share the dog would have eventually pulled my body to the house! The visit with my friends was a real joy. One of my dearest friends was celebrating his eldest daughter and son's birthday party, so I stopped by for a visit and was able to catch up with some other dear friends from college that even sent me a cookie bouquet, well actually two bouquets, as the delivery person delivered it to the wrong house, and when the home owner found it, the bouquet had (and I mean this literally) melted and the cookies, which were still edible, had fallen off of the sticks and broken into pieces to some degree. The company redelivered the next day a new one with a balloon! What great friends! My weekends in Waco are never complete until my great friends and brothers get together for a 3-4 hour session of Rock Band. It is non-stop fun, and was a great healing dose of love before returning to the real world. I was glad to leave Waco when I graduated college, but now it is sometimes hard to leave with the family and friends who live their lives there now.

I have a hilarious story, well at least to me hilarious about getting back to work. I started back to work on Monday, and it was kind of a slow day as I was getting back to returning phone calls, and trying to catch up on emails from my absence. There was a short meeting at a facility not far from my office to inform some of the employees about supplemental insurance options for us. After the meeting, I returned to my building and office, when I was asked about my FMLA papers (FMLA is the Federal Medical Leave Act). My time off was under this, so I have to have paperwork filled out by my doctor to get my leave approved. It had not been completed, so I left a message with my doctors nurse about the paperwork, and did not get a call back. The rest of the day went fine. Ok, here comes the funny part. I returned on Tuesday to the office and as I walked in, I noticed that we were having a staff meeting, so I ran to my office to grab a pen and paper for the meeting. As I walked in, I was intercepted by our office Administrator Pat. Pat is like the worlds best grandmother! She is so sweet and full of wonderful stories. Well, Pat quickly pulled me from the meeting and asked if I had a note from my doctor to return to work. I immediately assumed she meant the paperwork to be filled out. I said I had not heard back from the nurse. She said, she was sorry, but I could not be at work. I gave her a confused look and ran to my office to call the nurse. When I phoned, I asked for my nurse, and the receptionist informed me that my nurse was out of town for the week, and left me another nurses name and transferred me to he voice mail. I left an urgent message for the nurse to call me back. As soon as I finished, Pat came in with a sad but serious look on her face. She said, "I am sorry Jeremy, but you will have to leave the premises immediately. You cannot be at the office until we have a note from your doctor saying you can return to work." At first I was shocked, and then I got mad. I was like what the heck is going on. Again, Pat said someone from the Corporate office had just called and said I had to leave the building right now. I was mad at this point. I was thinking, I don't want to go back home and sit on the couch or recliner anymore. I want to work, but they won't let me work. As I walked out, Timeka, our office assistant at the front door was confused at me leaving as I had just come in. I was thinking, "I am getting escorted out of the building!" I left the office and was pretty upset. I drove home fuming, then a thought popped in my head...You just got escorted out of the building by the grandmother of the office. At the point, I started chuckling, then it broke into a giggle, and then into full on laughter by the time I reached the house. I finally got home, and quickly realized I could call the surgeon. I reached his nurse, and she said she would be happy to write me a note. Well, within an hour, Pat called me and said I could come back to work. Now it is a pretty funny topic for the office as I 'claim' to have been escorted from the office by Pat the sweetest, kindest grandmother ever. After that, everything was fine at the office.

I also started back to school this week. I have two classes, one is Old Testament history, 1 Samuel to Ecclesiastes. The second is Angelology, Harmiotology, and Anthropology. It has been a year or more since I have sat in a class. I have been taking online classes, and I am so excited to be back in a classroom with people around me to talk to. I can't tell you the number of times I dreaded being online watching video and reading someones paper. Unfortunately, the Old Testament class will be a hard class to NOT sleep through as the professor is very monotone. Good, applicable information, but presentation is missing quite alot. The second class will be the highlight of the year! This professor is amazing and exciting, and he loves what he is teaching, so it may be hard to finish all he wants to talk about. It should be good.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good. I was able to be pretty active this past week. I rode the bike a couple of times, ran some, and even played tennis with some good friends. I am seeing a bit more of tiredness during the middle of the day, but for the most part, I feel full of energy and excited about what is ahead. The only strange thing for me is that I still cannot sing, and I feel like I have something stuck in my throat. Thankfully, many people remind me that it has only been two weeks since the surgery, so I cannot expect to be back exactly where I was before all of this.

Once again, I want to thank all of you for your prayers, cards, thoughts, messages, texts, and support throughout this time. I can literally feel the prayers affecting me everyday! I will do my best to write more frequently as time allows. Blessings!

J