i am getting to pay it forward

my husband took such good care of me three years ago, when i had my surgery/RAI for my thyroid cancer. even after i went back to work, he just pitched in there with the cooking or some other household chores. well, on monday i am paying it forward, as they say. my husband had to have a total hip replacement. he is doing well, and i am impressed by his determination to get better. he doing his physical therapy exercises, taking his medication( they have him on a blood thinner, for one thing), and wearing those inflatable leg "pumpers" for lack of the correct terminology. it seems strange for me to be the caretaker now. not that i am not so happy to do this for him, but our roles have been reversed!

one thing that i have noticed is that is not easy being a cancer survivor. there is of course, the new normal that everyone experiences. there is the constant testing and worry about the cancer coming back,too. that was  an attitude changer( for me, anyway). it  made me appreciate my life, and all my loved ones even more than i did before i got sick. who knows how long any of us have on earth, and i for one plan to make the best of things!

the problem  that i am trying to figure out, is how to be "normal" and deal with the reality of my situation. no one could possibly understand this, except for another cancer survivor. that is why i try my best to keep this blog going. i try to have good information about pertinent subjects, but also i benefit from the contact that i have with other thyroid cancer survivors. i do not live in a large enough town for a support group. honestly, even if i did, my work schedule would probably make it impossible for me to go with any kind of regularity. lets face it, i have a difficult time going to zumba! and everyone knows how much i love zumba.

so in my case, and for now, the patient has become the caregiver. i try to remember all of the things that meant so much to me, and made my life easier. not that my husband has cancer. his hip will improve, i am sure, and he will be out walking, out hiking, etc, me in no time. but for now, i get to see it from a different perspective. a good thing, i think.

there are no lyrics for this, that i know of, so those of you who remember playing the old computer game, The oregon trail, just hum the theme song- i'll explain later...

well, i went back to the urologist today for a follow up visit. i had been feeling a little better, so i thought that i would get a good check up. the doctor wanted to do another x ray. i did not think that i needed it, and i thought, it will probably be a waste of time, but what could it hurt? to be honest, i did not want to get any more radiation,though. with the huge dose of RAI that i got after my surgery, along with my latest CT scan( one CT scan is equal to 400 chest x rays!) i feel like i am positively glowing! and not in the good, ready for my close up, way.

anyway, to my amazement and horror, the doctor showed me my x ray, and there was Shirley D. Stone!
this is where the oregon trail game comes in. do you remember playing this on your old computer? my kids loved it, and played it so much that i still remember the theme song. we hardly ever got to oregon,though. i either shot myself in the foot ( or worse), there was a storm with  lightning ( a couple of chickens always died after this event) , or my wagon did not make it across the great river( a fitting analogy if i have ever heard one).  so Shirley D. Stone is trying to make it to oregon, and has been on the " trail" since thanksgiving. i feel just like my body is the map of the united states, and i have been tracking Shirley's every move.

i have drunk tons of sour lemonade, and i have been to zumba. i have been a very energetic dancer in zumba class. so much so that i strained a ligament in the back of my knee- which was really painful, and  has sidelined me for a while. tomorrow, i am going back to zumba and dance my heart( and hopefully shirley) out. i am going to take some ibuprofen before i go, and warm up on the recumbent bike so that with any luck, i will  not injure my knee again.  i still think that there is some connection between my salivary stones and this kidney stone. i have not ( yet ) found any evidence to prove it, it is just a feeling that i have. i had  gone a few months without my salivary stones flaring up, and then, boom, my jaw and face swelled up! was it a coincidence that i developed a kidney stone at the same time? as i said, i have no proof, but i will continue to investigate this issue.

so i have about a month to get shirley to oregon. if that does not happen,  i will have to go to the hospital for the "retrieval procedure" as well as having a stent inserted . honestly, i am dreading the stent- wearing it for about two weeks and then having it removed( without anesthesia) more so  than i am dreading  the hospital procedure. who knew that this trip would take so long?