" Ch-ch changes, turn and face the strange... time may change me, but i can' trace time; i watch the ripples change their size, but never leave the stream of warm impermanence, and so the days float through my eyes, but still the days seem the same. " from Changes, by david bowie

the fact that i am going through a lot of changes now, does not even seem to cover what is happening to me! so, now, faced with charting a different course for my breast cancer journey, i am forced to postpone  my big six month thyroid cancer check up. i was supposed to get blood work done this week, then go down to raleigh next week for an ultrasound, bone scan and  office visit with my endocrinologist. i called today to re-schedule these appointments. they are now scheduled for august- hopefully i will be able to make them. this makes me so nervous, postponing this. it is big check up! no, i am not having any problems with my neck that i know of. but i honestly thought that my thyroid cancer had reoccurred, and was now somewhere else. the reason that i was convinced of this, was the fact that i was having the two big symptoms that i had before my thyroid cancer diagnosis. those were  extreme fatigue and increased anaphylaxis reactions to foods that contain sulfites. i take medicine for my sulfite allergy, and really the only good " treatment" is avoidance. but there were some foods that had previously caused reactions that i had been able to eat for a while. when i started have reactions to these foods again, i was worried.

this is another example of a point that i frequently make in my blogs. if you feel that something is wrong with your body, then it probably is. trust your " gut" feelings. this holds true for your health care providers,too. second opinions are crucial sometimes, and if you need to change doctors, do so. easier said than done, i know this. but everyone should be their own best patient advocate. it is also helpful to keep copies of your records. one example of this, is one time i was having an office visit with my endocrinologist. she needed to look at my pathology report and she could not locate it in my chart. i happened to have my " thyroid  cancer"  notebook with me,  which contains copies of all of my tests and lab work. i said, oh, i have a copy here. so, she made a copy for my chart. you might look at the practice of  keeping copies of tests and lab work as  not only beneficial for yourself, but for your health care providers as well.

i am continuing on with this blog, as i said, although i am sure that most of the action will be going on at my breast cancer blog: an unexpected journey...my journey with breast cancer. a friend of mine commented on the fact that she knew someone who had thyroid cancer and breast cancer. she asked me if there is a link between the two. i have wondered about this,too. i know someone personally who has had both, and on a popular website for thyroid cancer patients, there are several patients who have   had both types of cancer. is there a link? i think so, but there is no scientific evidence to prove it... YET.  i hope that someone is studying this, and that someday we might have this information. if i had been aware of the possible link, i might have done a few things differently. but that is easy to say now- hind sight is always 20/20. i have always had my yearly mammograms, and that is good. i am hoping that if any thyroid cancer patient who may be reading my blog is behind on her mammograms, please catch up!

so, as i face all of the changes going on around me, i hope that i can make the best decisions that i possibly can. my decisions will be made through research, talking with other breast cancer survivors, and of course paying attention to my " gut feelings".