Still Missing

I am in the week long process of getting a thyroid scan (haven't had one for 4 years - I know *shame on me*) and can I tell you that it sucks!!! Not the scan itself, or the 2 expensive shots I have to have, or the early morning appointments that are killing me....it is really just that I have to have it in the first place!!!

Unless you have had cancer or have been a caretaker to someone with cancer, it is hard to imagine that it is a lifelong condition. Not to say that there won't be periods where you get to enjoy a cancer-free life.....it is just that it seems to keep slapping me in the face when I least expect it.

I have many daily reminders of my cancer....my right side of my neck is permanently numb and I take a hormone replacement and calcium (and according to Pete the doctor must have also taken some of my brain). However, each time I go to the endocrinologist or to testing, I am always reminded by the diagnosis on my chart....193.0 Thyroid Cancer.

I am grateful that there is a high success rate for my cancer (95%) and that my cure is relatively easy (no chemo). I am also grateful for my expensive shots (over $1,000 a shot) that are covered by insurance and that because of these shots I don't have to come off my thyroid meds for 6 weeks (not pretty for those around me) for the scan.

I feel confident that I will have NO thyroid cells...but I also feel okay with the possibility that I will need to have radiation again (at least this time I won't have to be secluded in a hospital room with plastic over everything).

I am working hard at being grateful for the testing and the treatments versus being upset about the cards I have been dealt. Some days are tougher than others.

I did get some good news yesterday during my thyroid ultrasound.....that pesky thyroid still seems to be missing!!!