" You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life. Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen." Dancing Queen, by Abba

i got my results from my ENT today. it seems that it is not a lymph node, as my dentist had feared, but a problem with my salivary glands that run along my right ear and down to my jaw. it is a result of the huge dose of I-131 that i received( my radioactive chemo, you might say) he said that they are still swollen and sore(golly gee whiz , i knew this already) but really they have improved since last week. i really liked the ENT. he gave me some more insight into  my condition, and the possible side effects of the RAI. no one told me anything about possible long term  side effects- and i was surprised that it could happen this long after my treatment( to refresh: i had my treatment the end of July)

he told me that two of his patients( he does thyroid surgery and prescribes RAI,too) had complete hearing loss immediately after the RAI! some people do not realize how difficult getting the RAI can be. " it is no walk in the park"- those were his words. of course, it is not as" serious", you might say , as traditional chemo, but there can be quite a few nasty side effects- when you receive it, and later on, as in my case. he said that it might go away on its own, or i might continue to have trouble for "some length of time". there are three things that i have to do to treat this: 1) massage the jaw area, and under the neck- he showed me how to do this 2) drink LOTS AND LOTS of water ( oh great, my coworkers are going to love me for this) and 3) suck on sour lemon, or other sour candy.oh, the nurse told me to apply heat to the area- this would be good for the discomfort.

i have more blood work next week. it is to check my thyroblobulin/thyroglobulin AB, among other things. this test is a good way to see  if there are any nasty little thyroid cancer cells that have somehow managed to survive the I-131. my ENT said that my neck " lit up" during my last scan. but he said that this was a good thing- it meant that the thyroid cancer cells were being killed by the I-131. go team,go. i have an ultrasound scheduled for march, and a full body scan for may. the blood test, and the ultrasound are most important- according to my endocrinologist, as well as my ENT.

i got a little peace of mind today. the ENT said that my doctors did everything as he would have done it- i took him copies of all the reports that i had- from my initial biopsy, surgery, RAI treatment, and last reports. he told me that as serious as my condition had been- and i know that i came very,very close to not- well, lets just say, being here to write this blog,   i should try to put it all behind me and look forward. i have been trying so hard to do that! it makes me nervous though, when i have a skin cancer,etc, were they related? probably not, but it concerns me.

i will deal with it,though. i am getting stronger( it's the Zumba!) and i am becoming happier, and less fearful. i am, by the way, the dancing queen.