Friday, September 24, 2010

" In the middle of the night, i go walking in my sleep. From the mountains of faith, to the river so deep...............We all end in the ocean, we all start in the streams, we're all carried along, by the river of dreams, In the middle of the night." River of dreams, by Billy Joel

i live near the headwaters of theYadkin river. it looks like a creek most of the time, but after a heavy rain or flood, it looks like the river it becomes a few miles on down the road. when my children were young, we took them down to" our spot "in the river . it was there  they could swim and slide down a special ( very small) water fall. our spot had a place big enough to support our floats, and we spent many happy summer days enjoying the water.

my children also enjoyed catching crawdads( some folks call them crayfish). it was a catch and release program- my children did not want to hurt them. it was tricky to pick them up in just the right place, so that they would not get their fingers pinched in the process. they got pretty good at this- in fact, when my daughter was in elementary school, she showed some city boys how it was done! they were daring each other to see who was brave enough to do it, no takers, until she overheard their conversation. she promptly picked one up and said" it this what you want?" i think the boys all jumped back about 10 feet or so, and she returned it to the stream. i am glad that my children were raised in the country.they have a great respect for nature, and who knows when crawdad catching might come in handy?

i can see the river from my house. i feel a connection to the water, the way the sunlight plays on its surface in the late afternoon; the way the snow snuggles around it during the winter. i feel fortunate to have such a peaceful place to get better. i still get dead tired from work, but when i come home i can rest and reflect on my life. like the song, River of Dreams, i do a lot of thinking in the middle of the night.  i wish that i didn't- so does my husband ( sometimes i wake him up!)

i think that life is sort of like a river. at this point in my life, there have been many twists and turns. a lot of white water rapids, you might say. i have hung on to the lifeboat, and have not fallen out of the boat yet. i am hoping for calmer water soon. i could never have imaged what has happened to me this year! i took my dad for his check-up today with his surgeon. he is doing great- the final biopsy showed no cancer in the thyroid or any cells surrounding it. my dad must have told his doctor about me, because the surgeon asked me if i was the one with thyroid cancer. i said," yes, stage 3 papillary thyroid cancer". he said," then you are going to be o.k. now?" and i said, " well, that is the plan". i can always dream, in the middle of the night that it is.

4 comments:

  1. Bea,
    I am preparing for my journey! My doctor's office called me today and this Tuesday I have a phone consult to go over getting prepared for my RAI treatment. If all goes well I will receive the thyrogen shot on Monday October 4 and Tuesday October 5 and have my treatment on October 6. Any suggestions on how to prepare for this? I know you have been there I read your blogs about your treatment.. I am thankful I don't have to go off my meds. wasn't looking forward to being more tired than I am. I will keep you updated. If you have any suggestions please let me know...Thanks,

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  2. hey harlygirl! i am glad that you will be doing the thyrogen injections. they inject them in your hip- one side on monday, the other on tuesday. they do not hurt at all( i was wondering about that!) the medicine stings a tiny bit when it goes in, but not bad at all. no side effects from this, by the way- unless for some weird reason you are allergic- but i have tons of allergies, and i did not have any problems at all with this part.

    i purchased disposable dinnerplates,cups,forks,etc.for the first few days anyway. later on, you can probably use the dishwasher, but for the first several days, i wanted to throw everything away. i stayed upstairs in my sons bedroom. he has his own bathroom,too. he is of course, married and not in the house. my husband stayed downstairs. he would fix me food and put in on the stair landing and run. lol i fixed some snacks ahead- the granola i was telling you about- did you buy the cookbook i mentioned? The Low Iodine cookbook by Norene Gilletz. it is a very good source about low iodine foods. you want to make sure that your body picks up the I-131 and not the iodine in your foods.( you want to kill those rogue thyroid cancer cells!) the time you need to be on the diet seems to vary from doctor to doctor. my radiologist had me on the diet for two weeks before and two days after my RAI. some people have told me that they were not on it that long.

    i also had a disposable toothbrush, towel,travel size toothpaste,deodorant,etc. that i placed in my own garbage bag. i think you have to wait 2 weeks before you can dispose of this. after my time was up, and i had cooled down, i scrubbed my sons bathroom, changed the sheets( i bought some really cheap ones, and threw them away), and flipped the bed. i knew that it would be a month before he and his wife would be staying there again.i did change out his comforter, and wash the old one. i was terribly thirsty, so i had a small frig that he had used in college; i filled it with bottled water and "little cokes" for the nausea. remember to suck on sour lemon candy or drink sour lemonade! i had nausea for about 4 days total- the second day was the worst, but i did not vomit. i also had a little swelling in my salivary glands, but the sour lemon helped with that. be sure to drink a lot of water, and don't get constipated- you want to get rid of that stuff! flush twice, i am sure they will tell you all of these things, but since it has not been that long since i had mine, please contact me if you have any questions. my radiologist did not want me going outside the first two days; after that, i put on disposable gloves when i needed to come downstairs( when my husband was at work). i sat on an old towel( also disposed of that) to watch tv downstairs. i read mostly- magazines and one paperback that i threw away. sounds awfully wasteful i know, but better to be safe than sorry. GOOD LUCK!! please be in touch, and do not hesitate to contact me. best wishes, bea

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  3. i tried to post a comment- it was too large for this space! if you contact me at dreamfields4ever@aol.com i will be happy to tell you about my experiences and what my radiologist told me. GOOD LUCK!! i am glad that you get the thyrogen injections. it will make life so much easier. do not hesitate to contact me!! best wishes,bea

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  4. i guess it did take it after all!! lol good luck again,bea

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