"anxiety, why do you always get the best of me? why am i never where i am supposed to be? it's the weight of the world, but it's nothing at all. .. i want to be strong and steady, always ready, now i feel so small, i feel so weak." anxiety, by jason isbell and the 400 unit

i will tell you guys a secret. well, actually, a few years ago, when i was " only" dealing with thyroid cancer, i wrote a blog about it. that nasty little secret has been following me around for several years now. it has a name- anxiety. my anxiety started when my thyroid went all crazy. and yes, i was HYPOthyroid. anxiety is more often associated with HYPERthyroid conditions, but i know of several other people who have had extreme anxiety that can be, at least in part, associated with being hypothyroid.

the unsettling thing about anxiety is that you never can be sure when it will strike. it is sort of like a poisonous snake hidden in the garden. there you are, having a good time, smelling the roses, when, BAMM, it comes out of nowhere. i had sort of gotten my anxiety somewhat  under control,thanks mostly to finding  an endocrinologist who decided to treat my symptoms, even though my blood work was, let's just say, unusual. as my family doctor put it " wow, your thyroid blood work does not make sense!". do you think??

then, seven years ago, along came thyroid cancer. stage three, fairly aggressive. anxiety slithered out of the garden and into my life in a big way. surgery, treatment, tests, it seemed like  i was handling everything well. if you suffer from anxiety,too, you know that it is sort of a closet disease. anxiety patients  deal, make excuses when we can not deal, and try to go on with our lives. honestly, though, it takes a toll. i think it raises our stress levels, which raise our anxiety levels- an endless cycle, it seems.

so, i was doing fairly well with the anxiety, and then came the breast cancer diagnosis out of left field. maybe it had been hanging out with the poisonous snake, but i certainly did not expect that one either. i think that i have done pretty well considering everything that has happened to me . i owe a lot to the support of my family and friends. but anxiety is a solitary stalker. as i said, you never know when or where  it will strike. it does not have anything to do with your happiness level, or what you have or have not. anxiety makes no sense whatsoever.

my anxiety is mostly vampiric in nature. i will admit to taking a mild anti- anxiety medication at bedtime, although this can be addictive, and i do not recommend this for everyone. it has helped me deal with the anxiety somewhat. another method- better, really, and not addictive, is deep breathing. yes, we all know how to breathe, but honestly, taking several deep breaths, in and out, and being aware of your breathing does help. meditation or praying also can help free up a cluttered mind, as i sometimes call anxiety. exercise is  a good method to treat anxiety. but i need a knee replacement, which i was supposed to have before my bilateral mastectomies, so exercise for me is somewhat limited at the moment. i am working up the nerve to have my knee replaced but have not as yet , as i am tired of surgeries, hospitals, PAIN, etc... i do get outside to walk a little.  well, at a snail's pace for sure and that is helpful. connecting with nature helps as well.

i retired in january, so some of you- probably those lucky enough not to have had any issues with anxiety- are wondering what i have to be anxious about. being retired is great. the work stress is gone, and that is helpful. but anxiety does not necessarily leave the minute we turn in our work badge and door keys. being a two time cancer survivor, i realize that i certainly can have a recurrence at some point. i try to live my life as fully and joyfully as i possibly can. i go for my check ups, blood work, and scans when my doctors schedule them. scan or test anxiety is difficult, but i need to be responsible about my health and do all that i possibly can to take care of myself- for my family, as well as for myself.

i would like to say that anxiety does not get the best of me. in reality, sometimes it just does. but i keep on going, doing the best that i can- and that includes wearing boots in the garden.

" we are family, i got all my sisters with me...and we fly like birds of a feather...we're giving love in a family dose...have faith in you, and all the things that you do." we are family, by the pointer sisters

i have had the opportunity to, hopefully, help another woman who is dealing with lymphedema. i was so happy to be able to do this. why? well, when i was first  diagnosed with thyroid cancer, i started this blog- and that was seven years ago. for the first few times, i just wrote about my feelings and experiences, mainly so that  i could have an emotional outlet. i received just  a few comments, and i made  a few really good facebook friends . and while that was wonderful, i was hoping to accomplish more. as luck would have it, the author of a tremendously popular thyroid website came upon my blog. she was so nice to feature my blog in one of her posts, and all of a sudden i was getting lots of  comments from new thyroid cancer friends. we were sharing experiences and information, and it was wonderful.  i really owe this person a lot. i do not think that she will mind if i tell you her name- it is  Mary Shomon. she is the author of several new york times bestseller books, has a website devoted to thyroid issues, and has been on several talk shows. if you have a thyroid problem- cancer or something else, you really need to be familiar with this person's material. mary works tirelessly as a patient advocate, and i ( no surprise) really admire her work and her desire to help others.

fast forward to 2015. i am living " La Vida Loca ", thinking everything is just fine in my world, and then to my surprise, i get a breast cancer diagnosis. after a few days of having a pity party for myself, i do what i always do- try to come up with a plan of action. i really was not sure of what to do- sure, there is a lot of information out there on breast cancer. of course, i had a very uncommon kind, invasive lobular, so this complicated things a bit. and then something pretty amazing in my world happened. a high school friend of mine, someone that i had not seen since high school- no, i am not going to tell you how long ago that has been , contacted me. she herself is  a breast cancer survivor, and had just been down the road that i was going to have to travel. she shared her story with me, and allayed some of my fears regarding surgery, treatment,etc. she did not sugar coat the facts, though, and for that i am grateful. i am one of those people who do better when they know how it is going to be. " not knowing" is one of my worst fears.

because of all of the kindness shown to me, i am trying to "pay it forward" as the saying goes. my thyroid and breast cancer "sisters" are just that. they are family to me. we have helped each other, shared information, prayed for each other, and cheered each other on. now, i love my biological family, but to be honest, no one understands what a cancer patient is going through better than another cancer patient. it is helpful for other cancer patients  to reach out, in whatever way that  may be comfortable for them - facebook, blogging, personal messages,etc. this sharing the load, and that is really what it is, helps us all.

before my thyroid blog was "discovered", i felt somewhat adrift in an unknown universe. i did not know what lay ahead of me, or where exactly i was going. i had no idea about the treatments for thyroid cancer, what my choices were in regards to medication, or how my life was going to be changing forever. i think that it is pretty much like that for all types of cancer patients. i am thankful for those who helped me, and the friendship of others who face the same challenges as me. i would like to mention a very special friend, becky- you know who you are, who has been especially supportive and helpful. she was, and still is, always there when i need someone to talk to. i am so thankful for your friendship, although i am sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances!

so my point is this. i have a cancer family, made up of all kinds of women. we support and take care of each other. some i have met face to face, and some i have not. but all of my "sisters" are very important to me, and i love you all. i am trying to help others, like others have helped me. it makes me very happy to pass along any good information to someone who needs some help. after all, what is  family for?