Eyeliner Faith.

2012 was a ride. 

2013 has been a radioactive ride. 

This week was test week here in my house. 

The Big Sister had a midterm in Science. 

I had a Body Scan. 

No joke: she thought they were the same thing. I deserve the first Olympic Medal for 2014 for the sport of Parental Restraint. 

Anyway, this was my second scan of the year. In May, we got a diagnosis of a Thyroid Cancer Recurrence. There were aspects of the testing, diagnosis, and treatment that Spouse and I were not satisfied with, so we we went with Jesus. We were at peace with it. 

This week, after two days of injections and blood draws, I took myself to Nuclear Medicine Department and they gave me a new bracelet! This was my reward for two weeks of Low Iodine Diet. (LID is less than awesome, in case you were wondering.)

They also made me radioactive. This wasn't a treatment dose, so there was no isolation. Nothing like swallowing a pill from a lead canister that you can't touch with your fingers. 

Thursday, we went to Santa's Wonderland in College Station. So fun and so cold. The painful kind of cold.

Friday. Test Day. We had a celebratory lunch at Taste of Texas already planned. We weren't really worried. But, when doubt crept in, my mind would go crazy. What do you wear to a Body Scan? Do I bother with eyeliner? I don't even wear eyeliner every day. Just church. And special dress ups.

I enlisted my army of prayer warriors.

I put on the eyeliner. 

Sometimes, having faith means wearing the eyeliner.

This was my bed for an hour. With a nice, warm blanket.

My prayer was specific: "Cancer-free scan and immediate results". We had to wait a little bit and be a little assertive to see the radiologist, but we did get to see him and we did get immediate results. 

We were so grateful to hear him say, "I don't see any indication that this is anything more than residual thyroid tissue. Not recurrent cancer. And there is certainly no reason to treat that."

Praise the Lord. God is good and I'm his favorite.

Grinning.

Spouse and I didn't even know what to say at first. A lot of "Thank you, Jesus"'s. I'm assuming they were interceded into groanings that were eloquent and articulate. 

All of a sudden, I thought of the eyeliner. 

I got in the car and had a total nervous cry. Like Miss America. Like a sweepstakes winner. Like someone who had just been justified after dealing with well-meaning doubters and questions and spent a bunch of money on medical costs for the last 7 months. 

Like a person healed by an Almighty God.

This happened:

This is my life. Right here. Seriously.
They're all "Love you so much...Dork".

We got some little girls together and went to Taste of Texas for the first time. Can I just say, with all the love, "THANK YOU, ERICA, FOR TELLING ME ABOUT THIS GOODNESS AND I CUSS ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T!"

Our sweet server asked if we were celebrating anything. "Um, Yes, Robbie, we are celebrating a cancer-free scan." Robbie was awesome, "Praise Jesus! Let's celebrate!"
We did.

Are those Christmas nails so cute? They are so distracting while I'm trying to type here!
They are glittery acrylic powder, not polish. This is new to me. I'm very excited!

On May 12, 2013, I asked you for a specific prayer: 

"Pray it to be gone, in Jesus' name.
That's it. Gone.
I'm gonna be very honest here. I don't need "happy thoughts" or "positive vibes" sent my way. I'm asking for real, sold out, fruit-producing Jesus followers to reach out and touch his garment on my behalf and ask the Great Physician to speak life into my throat and kill the death.
Boom. That's it. Pray big. Pray expectantly.

All I want to hear from Jesus is "Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well."
(Matthew 9:20-22)"

Boom.

That's it.

God is good.

FAQs.

Happy Memorial Day! So grateful.

For my five loyal readers *grin*, the "Straight Talk About the Talk" series all ready to go. I have a post for later this week and the subsequent installments ready to post while I'm on vacay. (This sort of planning is so out of character for me, so I couldn't resist telling you. Also out of character is the restraint not to publish all three posts back to back in one day. You're welcome.)

Do I need a reason for this pic? No.

Anyway, on to this post. It's been 14 days of "Prayin' it gone" and juicing.

If you haven't been reading, you might want to go here first. Then here. Then here. :)

I'm getting a lot of questions about this little nutrition, hippie episode I'm in the middle of right now. I get it. It's a little outside the box. I say that, but y'all have been so super encouraging to me about this decision and I have learned that my little hometown of Plant City has quite the few closet vegans/vegetarians! And, a good lot of serious and occasional juicers! I love it!

I love that several of my peeps are adding juicing to their diet, too! Some are even doing a full-on juice fast. So cool!

I have been encouraged by every story of healing, so thank you for sharing them. They increase my faith in the Healer, no doubt.
I've really only had one negative conversation, which is ok, really. I know that it is my faith that matters to the Lord in my healing process. Mostly, the questions are from curiosity and ALL are out of genuine concern for me. (I also know there is more negativity, I'm just not hearing it. Thank you for that. :) )

I'd like to answer some of your questions here, if that's alright with you, yes?
I promise I won't always post about this jazz.

Just remember:
I'm not a nurse or medical professional of any kind. I'm not a nutritionist.

I am not even a reliable source of celebrity gossip.

There. That's your disclaimer. 

Also, friends, if any of this isn't clear or doesn't make sense, let me know. I'll update it. 

FAQs:

What exactly are you eating?
The goal is 90% plant-based foods. 10% everything else. I'm drinking about 4-5 20 oz. juices a day. I'm also drinking 80 oz. of water. I've had 2 pieces of salmon. I know a lot of my foodie people would even say don't eat the fish, but I have peace about this. Evidently, Thyroid Cancer is different that other cancers in the way that iodine is a big factor in suppressing it. Leafy greens and seafood are good. I'm still sticking to my 90% raw veggie & fruit. I've made bread a couple of times.

As typical with my personality, some days I am super extreme and juice only and others I eat a piece of homemade bread or have a Lara Bar. Total schizophrenic.

Did you go through a detox?

Oh, did I. Please remind me of this if you ever see me touch another diet can of anything! Dude. For real. At the time I wrote that post about the detox days, I didn't know that the Little Sister had called Spouse at work. It was so ugly. Plus, I was embarrassed! Really? You had to go home cause your wife was vomiting from her toes as a result of HER OWN POOR CHOICES!? Bless. I just read that post. It was worse than I described. I was probably still sort of out of it when I wrote it.
I did think I was dying, though. That was the worst day, for sure, but I was tired for several days.

How do you feel?
Now? Dude. I feel grand. Brang it.

As of yesterday, the Diet Coke temptation was still there. (Now's when you remind me of the day I was hugging the toilet.)

Everybody keeps telling me that you crave what you eat/drink. I am finding that to be true so often.

Spouse is even dropping weight like crazy. I want to feel happy for him. ;)

What are you avoiding and why?
Essentially what I'm trying to avoid is Radioactive Iodine Treatment. (Notice the last paragraph of that document.) You can read more about the risks of the treatment here. (Extreme from the hippies, yes, but just think about it. I don't know.)
At the end of the day, these are the instructions I would be sent home with after the treatment. Read it. It's nuts. I would literally be poisonous to my family. I did this before and I'm just trying to avoid having to do it again. I'm not saying I won't do it. I just REALLY don't want to. And, praise the Lord, I have the option of giving it a little time. 

As far as food goes, I'm avoiding aspartame and sugar 100%. That's done. I've had 0%. I'm extremely, not 100%, avoiding animal products (meat, dairy). No milk. I'm not using salt at all.

This is not easy. At all. I guess it would be easier to take the pill and go back to normal, but then what?
I don't know...maybe I'll go schizophrenic again and one day just say 'screw it all' and take the treatment and get a steak. I hope not.

How long are you doing this?
I don't know. Y'all know I have a commitment thing! Right now, I'm doing it until. That's it. Until.
My next endocrinologist appointment is in mid July. We'll go from there.
Now, my goal is to get to the day that my scan comes back clear and continue eating this way because I feel so good! Oh my word, I really do!!

My family clearly has an end in mind. ;) So, we'll see.

Are you going to move to Colorado & build a greenhouse?

Umm... *smiling*. No. No greenhouse in Colorado. Last I looked, Colorado is landlocked. This is not okay with us.

What about your vacation?

I'm pretty pumped about this trip, as you can tell. I know the Lord's timing was perfect in it. It was bought and paid for before any appointments or scans and I'm so glad. We wouldn't have gone. I even looked into postponing it. But, at the end of the day, I believe the Lord is going to honor the time spent with my Spouse. We are going to go and enjoy. I am committed to the 90%. The resort can accommodate meal restrictions. We will pray over every. single. meal. and believe Jesus to fix it to what my body needs. Then, I'm going to be eating digestive enzymes like candy. :)

Do you eat out at all?

Uber limited, with vegan choices. (With the exception of one meal. It was planned.) Listen. The resolve here is pretty good right now. I don't know how long this will last. We not perfect at it, but we are doing well.

It seems really expensive?

We have been spending an obscene amount of money eating out. So dumb and so wasteful. The produce can be a little more expensive, but when you eat at home, cut out buying meat (Hello? Priceyyyy!) and the other junk, there is plenty in the budget.
At the end of the day, we spend on what we want, don't we?

Is it a big ole veggie mess?

I make 1 or 2 batches of juice a day. I clean the juicer twice a day. (We have the Breville.) I keep cut up fruits and veggies in the fridge. I am finding that I'm getting more efficient even to the point of washing my veggies in a certain order for less mess. Like anything else, you get a system.
Overall, I don't think it's messy. Well, other than this day.

What are you cooking for your family?

Listen. These turkeys are on their own. I'm kidding! Sort of. My fam is awesome. Spouse is on board with me 100% now. He takes juices, fruit, and nuts to work.
We are mostly eating raw, but I have cooked broccoli, mashed cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, that sort of thing. We've made some eggs. (Not for me.)
My girls are trying really hard to be supportive. If they eat something questionable, they try not to do it in front of me. They have tried several new foods in support of me, but they don't have the resolve, of course. They are operating on about 80/20 plant-based. I'd like to get them to the 90/10.
I haven't gone totally cold turkey with them...yet. :)

You have to remember that I'm eating to cure. They are eating for health. These are different things.

Are you scared?
Nope. Not even a little bit. None of this led by fear. I am not even really fearful of the treatment, I feel more...I don't know...knowledgeable? Is that the right word? I know I have choices. I know that the more I'm exposed to radiation, the higher my risk of getting leukemia later on. I know about processed foods. So now, rather than fear it, I feel like "I know something you don't want me to know and I don't have to follow along with everything you have told me to believe since elementary school." (Example: the myths of the food pyramid.)

Wanting to avoid something doesn't equal fearing it. I hate birds at the beach. I hate them. I come out of my skin when geniuses feed them. But, I don't fear them. I want to kill them. See the difference?

As a matter of fact, I feel more empowered than anything. I believe the processed foods are bad for us. I've believed that for a while, but I didn't want to admit it. Still, you can't unknow it. At the end of the day, I like food and I didn't want to detox.
Well, I detoxed and it was ugly. I'd rather give birth 10 times.

Hopefully, if some of you have been thinking that I have lost my "elder lovin' mind" (what Maddy used to say), this will at least help you see where we are coming from. Cause I know you've been awake at night wondering. 8D

Even if you read this and you still think we're nuts, can you pray it gone anyway?

Juice Shenanigans & Ballyhoo.

For the love of Joe the Juice Man. I am cry laughing.
Shenanigans and Ballyhoo. That is what has gone on here this morning. Shenanigans and Ballyhoo.

Such a high level of shenanigans that I am typing this post on a PC that has reached the age hip replacement. The homeschoolers felt like their math took precedence over my post. Whatever.

I was late on making my juice for the day. As I got started, I was so bummed I hadn't done it earlier because it looked so pretty and earthy.

My grocery was out of fresh kale so I had to make do last night. Spouse and I bought 3 bags of this jazz. Never again. It was much more expensive than the fresh and was a dadgum hassle putting it in the juicer. Crumbling up all over the place. Falling out of the chute. My assistant juicer, Maddy, and I were dying laughing about how ridiculous it was. Meghan left the room cause cackling was disturbing her studies....

Then, one whole entire pound of kale produced this much juice:

 So ridiculous! All we could do was laugh. I had to juice all three pounds just to get a spittles worth of juice. This has tripled the amount of normal juice time, by the way.

My struggle with juicing is the waste of the pulp. I hate it. We don't have a garden or any way to compost and we end up with a lot of wasted pulp in the garbage disposal. Spouse doesn't like me putting it in the disposal, but I don't like it in the trash cause I don't want stink.

Then, this:

The last freakin bag of horrid bagged kale. Clogging up the disposal and just sitting in my sink mocking me. You got a spittles worth of juice out of me and now I shall clog your drain! 

I'm running around the house like Sweet Brown, "Lord Jesus it's a clawg! Where's the plunger?!" Then, naturally, this is a semi-emergency so I nearly peed my pants. I was dying. It's what I do. Some people ugly-cry. I pee-laugh. Who am I kidding? I do both.

So to screw it all, I left it. The plunger didn't work.  I hit the reset button on the disposal and all that jazz. I scooped out what I could and put it in the trash. I vacuumed the floor of kale bits and left it just like this:

 I took my juice and grabbed this decrepit computer and gave you shenanigans and ballyhoo.

You may return to your own shenanigans. May you be free of the ballyhoo today.

Wheezin' the Juice is hard.

Spouse thought it would be a good idea for the girls to make a documentary of my little faith and veggie journey here, but they don't seem to keen on the idea, so I'm journalling it. And, since a lot of my journalling is out there for all 5 of y'all, you can keep up, too.
Maybe I'll post a vlog or something, I don't know.

Also, the disclaimer is the same:  
I'm not a doctor.

I'm not a nurse or medical professional of any kind. I'm not a nutritionist.

I am not even a reliable source of celebrity gossip.

I'll just tell you now that there may be a sentence fragment or nine. If I do not make sense, don't feel like it's a cipher, just ask. I don't want you decoding anything. This should be informative and inspiring, right? Also, some of it I write in real time, and some is not. Ignore any and all tenses that do not agree, please. I'll try to keep it straight, but ya know...

Here's a little backstory. (In case you missed it.)

Monday, May 13, 2013

Today, we made the decision to hold off on treatment for a while and redo the body scan in 4-6 months.
Then, like geniuses whose god is in our stomachs, we went to Gringo's.
I had chips, salsa, a fajita, and 3 glasses of Diet Coke. Poison.

Came home and read from my book about how all that is food for cancer. Awesome. Jesus, kill it.

We resolved to do the thing. All of us. Eat mostly cancer-fighting foods (vegetables, fruit) and starve the cancer of its food (sugar, animal products). I need all the iodine I can get, so I'll do fish. (I'm certain that the occasional Chick-Fil-A has to be okay cause it's the Christian Chicken. Annointed.)
I'm kidding.
Not really.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

God is amazing. I prayed and others prayed that my withdrawals from aspartame and sugar would be absent and that this transition would be more pleasant. Today, I had no headache or fatigue. Now, to be clear. God did give me several hours at the pool with beautiful sun. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever experienced headache at the pool. Hmmm...
I wasn't super tired during the day (again, sun), but I fell asleep on the couch watching Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead for the fourth time for inspiration. :) (Netflix it.)

Also, my people, near and far, are the best cheerleaders ever. Texting, calling, and getting on board with me in the most tangible ways. So cool and so very motivating. All Jesus people.

I am supposed to be eating about a pound a day of vegetables and a pound a day of fruit. I just can't do that. It's so much. So, I'm juicing, which I already like and have a little experience with.

There are so many conflicting ideas about how to eat. Paleo is best for optimum health, straight vegetables for cancer fighters, fruit, no fruit.
Here's where we are with it: I need a full on detox. No doubt.  Cut sugar, Diet Coke (!), and drastically reduce meat, if not cut it all together. I also know that I need seafood. With Follicular Thyroid Cancer, iodine is key.

Spouse and I started shopping for a new juicer. It's hard. They all do different things and have different features. Bless.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

6:26am- Woke up with head feeling full. Uh-oh. "Jesus, I know I did this to myself, but please do today  what you did yesterday."

7am- Full on headache. This is one that, normally, I can feel is going to become migraine-ish. I'm throwing back water. Also, I text about 14 Jesus girls. :) Enlist an army.
The prayers are so sincere and so specific. Overwhelmed and teary. So precious.

9:15am- Dude. I'm dying. I've drank a juice and a half and I feel sick.

10:00am- My brain feels like it's going to pop out of my eyes and ears. Turned on a documentary for the Little Sister (Big Sister is doing internship).

Got sick. Violently. I texted Spouse in the midst of the episode, somehow. I knew it was detox,  although I hadn't heard of vomiting being a part of it. I was wondering, Why the crap am I throwing up good stuff? 

I went back and forth from the couch to the bathroom for I don't know how long. At some point, I texted my girls again to ask for urgent prayer. Amazing. Spouse came home and worked the rest of the day from home.

I was knocking on heaven's door, dude. I knew that a Diet Coke and ibuprofen would stop all the pain.

Finally, I was able to fall asleep. I slept off and on for a few hours and about 4:30pm woke up to this:

Actually, there were about 17, but it didn't occur to me until a few minutes later to screen shot it. These are texted prayers to Jesus on my behalf that I got to see. Gracious. I woke up feeling a great deal better. I even went to swim practice and verbally vomited on some sweet swim moms. Bless em.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

I am praying the worst of it is over. I feel reasonable this morning.

I wish I could say that the horrid experience left me saying that I would never have another Diet Coke again. I still want one. I'm not going to get one, but I want one.

The sun is shining again today. I'll be taking this school to the pool later.
That helps.

I won't always put all the gory details out there, but somebody is going to feel this stuff and will hopefully need to know that he or she will, in fact live through it.

Plus, it increases the intensity and frequency of your prayers.

Praying it gone.

Good Work: STILL Under Construction! :)

Remember that one time, last week, when I had a week of doctor appointments leading up to a Body Scan on Friday? Here's the story.
Well, I did it.
Got injected. ("Which cheek?", she says.)
Swallowed Radioactive Iodine. (Jealous?)
Got a blood draw. (Blood suckers.)
Got the scan. (50 minutes of not moving.)
All week, I kept thinking this is so dumb. I'm feeling good, I don't need to subject myself to the radiation, this is a waste of time and a bunch. of. money.

But, it was already started and Spouse said I had to. So, we go.

Ready with my special bracelet!

So the pill is in this little canister. So weird.

 48 hours later...on Friday...

Looks comfy.

It wasn't bad. 

I got a nice, warm blanket, so I tried to sleep,
but as soon as I got in the thing I had to go to the bathroom.
Something about being trapped.
Plus, I kept thinking how my Superman friend, Mike,
used to flip out like a school girl in these things. Spouse & I had a giggle.
We miss him.

The appointments weren't bad, really. Plus, I didn't really care cause I am feeling so very good! Getting my thyroid levels in a good place has made all the difference in the world! I've felt back to my Getter Done self. Punching my to-do list in the face, going to the park, cleaning my (horrific) room, catching up (!!) on laundry, schoolin' the Sisters, schoolin' the Sisters at Rummy, lying about schoolin' the Sisters at Rummy, getting my tan on, getting a pedicure, a volleyball clinic, swim practices, swim meets, getting concessions for swim meet, got my windshield repaired, car washed, etc. 

Bee-Oh-Oh-Em.

Not to mention the clarity of thought I've had! Sweet Milli Vanilli! I am a champion decision maker! 

So, after the scan, we were to "wait for the doctor to look it over, she may want some more pictures or to talk to you or she may say you are free to go", the technician tells me. We waited. No big deal.

Tech guy comes in and says doc wants to talk about my results with my doctor, so please wait. Ok. Still waiting...

We waited until the doctor came in and ruined my lunch date. 

She did!

She told us that my endocrinologist wanted to see me this week, much sooner than my follow-up appointment. I had to go into my famous/notorious Inquisitive Mode and she showed me my scan photo. 

We saw it. A noticeable black spot where a thyroid used to be and nothing should be. I did not love it.

She goes on to tell me that my doctor will tell me more, but to plan on doing a round of Radioactive Iodine Therapy to treat this as a recurrence of cancer. Go back on the Low Iodine Diet and do not take my Synthroid. 

Whoa. Remember? I mentioned that the isolation from the RAI was the worst part! Blesssss.

Also, the Low Iodine Diet is less than awesome. Low Iodine is not the same as Low Sodium, it's just that most things with sodium are made with iodized salt. So, basically, it means prepared, whole foods sans seafood & leafy greens. We should be eating whole foods anyway, I just wasn't prepared. We'll get there. Right now, it just seems like it's all consuming, ya know? Having to constantly think about what I can and can't eat. I've been juicing, but without my spinach and kale.

Instead of an awesome lunch with my Spouse, we left the hospital in the pouring, flooding rain and went a got a juice from the juice bar. He got his things from work and didn't go back for the rest of the day. We just needed to process.

OK, so Saturday Meghan had a swim meet. It was wonderful & there's a few swim moms that I've met &, of course,  just love and have already begun praying.
Mother's Day has been great and my Jesus people are praying.

I'm really not worried, I'm just keepin' it real. Yet again. Y'all are eventually gonna get tired of my real and I'm gonna need to make up a happy story about the time we said we'd never live in Texas and...wait... :)

Here's what's we know:
Jesus is King.
The King is not surprised.
Thyroid cancer is the "best cancer" to have, even a second time. :)
"Best cancer" is a dumb statement, no one should say it to anyone, ever.
This body is not mine.
The "good work" is still not complete. Philippians 1:6
It's all gonna work together for my good and His name.
I have an appointment on Monday.
We've got tickets and reservations for all kinds of fun beginning May 31, which would be right in the middle of treatment.

We have many more questions than answers right now, but we do have a specific prayer for you:
Pray it to be gone, in Jesus' name.
That's it. Gone.
I'm gonna be very honest here. I don't need "happy thoughts" or "positive vibes" sent my way. I'm asking for real, sold out, fruit-producing Jesus followers to reach out and touch his garment on my behalf and ask the Great Physician to speak life into my throat and kill the death.
Boom. That's it. Pray big. Pray expectantly.

All I want to hear from Jesus is "Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well."
(Matthew 9:20-22)

And, I'll tell e'erbody!

Good Work: Under Construction!

He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete 

it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Fact: He started it, but He's not done. :)
(Tell me you read that in Dwight Shrute's voice.)

This week is sort of an anniversary for me. Eight years since I had this little "cancer episode".

The BackStory: 
In Spring of 2005, it was discovered that I had a nodule on my thyroid gland. By the Lord's direction, we tested and tested and two surgeries later my thyroid gland was removed, along with the cancer that was growing on it. With some RAI (radioactive iodine) treatment and whole lot of prayers, the cancer was gone and I was free to go about my life with a Spouse, a four-year old, and a two-year old.

That was the year of the cancer, but also the year of the headache. And, I mean THE headache. All year. 11 months of one solid headache. I remember walking around the outlet mall one day with my praying, cooking, and cleaning friends and I said, "Hey, Y'all. Stop. I think my head isn't hurting!" I had to focus for a second because I wanted to be sure!

Let me tell you something, that was not an awesome time. But, it was. I got a front row seat to the show called "The Body of Christ Takes Care of Its Own". My people prayed incessantly and specifically. The headache was keeping me from sleeping, so my friends, Kay & Stephanie, called one another and prayed for me one night over the phone without my knowing. I slept. Jesus. My people showed up.  Spouse and my very best sister friend on this planet were the first faces I remember when I woke up from both surgeries. Meals came floating in to my house for three solid months. I sometimes watched as my laundry was folded, floors vacuumed, and dishes were put away. It was so weird, but I was grateful. And, when I was feeling good, they just showed up. I was going to be recovering on Easter, so my friends came for an Easter Egg Hunt at my house on a Thursday. A sweet young couple who had gone through a great deal of medical bills in the past dropped off $400. No joke. Young couple with two young boys at home. Not wealthy grandparent-types, either. Amazing. Only God compels that kind of sacrifice for your sister. My girls' birthdays were made great. A week after one of the surgeries, I tied a little scarf on and we had dinner with Cinderella & Prince Charming at Disney. Magical. It was something not easily forgotten when your people show up for you that way.

As far as the treatment, it wasn't much more than a little drama, really, and I was never scared. February to May and it was over. Surgeries were not great, but it wasn't terrible. The worst part was the radiation. I took a Radioactive Iodine pill that resulted in 5 days of isolation from everybody. I mean everyone. The nurses only came in my room once a day, wearing a lead vest and pointing a Geiger counter at me. Seriously. It was crazy. I was crazy. I had taken my trusty Beth Moore Bible Study materials with me, declaring it was going to be "Me, Beth, and Jesus." Whatever. I think I did one day of my Fruit of the Spirit Study. I was stir crazy. SANGUINE girl was alone. Isolated. Not really feeling well. I could see a Target outside my room window. Sigh. And, it was the weekend of the Runaway Bride from Georgia. Y'all remember her!? Lord, I'm sorry I didn't do my study, but I was nothing less than obsessed with that bride. She was the cutest thing. I did eventually complete all my homework. :)

Honestly, though, it was all pretty quick. I consider myself and my family on the receiving end of the gifts of early detection and a good life.

Gifts given by the One who gives perfect gifts for His own name's sake. Jesus.

The NowStory:
Follow up treatment includes taking a synthetic thyroid hormone every day and getting my TSH checked every 90 days. My TSH had been pretty stable for several years, but in November and every test since then my Thyroid has been off in one way or another. And, I have felt it. Suffice it to say I was livin' in a fog: there was not enough sleep to be had, inability to make a decision (me. no opinion. that's all.), just foggy. I'll not even mention the rest of the physical stuff, but to say there has been some physical stuff. Evidently, moving can be a major life stressor that can discombobulate your endocrine system. Yay. That's what I need. Discombobulation.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, my doc changed my Synthroid dosage. It was actually a little too high and as of 4 or 5 days ago, I am feeling brand new! Puh-raise the Lord! Seriously! I can make decisions all by myself! I have gone a good week without crying! *Happy Zumba Dance here.*

<<<<Note: I have mentioned before that silence on the part of this blogger is typically not a good sign. It's been a month since the last post, but I noticed today that I have 5 drafts. Fog brain couldn't even finish a post. Well, I'm over it. Brace yourselves. <--- That may be a little unnecessary hype, but I'm excited! >>>>

Also, since my doctors had different ideas about body scans and whatnot, I haven't had one since May 2005 (Hush. I know.)---well, now it's time. This week I begin to prepare for the scan on Friday. I will have an appointment of some sort each day of the week and stop taking the Synthroid. I am getting an injection called Thyrogen that allowed me to stay on the Synthroid longer and avoid the Low Iodine Diet (Which I unknowingly did for 4 days. Boo.) I've already had an ultrasound, which showed no thyroid tissue and I am not concerned in the least about this scan. Not a bit. Jesus peace.
My biggest concern was feeling better and I am. Now, I don't know how I will feel after 5 days off the medicine, but it sure is a lot better than the original 3 weeks off the medicine. :)

Here's the schedule, cause apparently, I can make decisions but have no boundaries:
Monday, Tuesday: Thyrogen injections. Wednesday: Radioactive Iodine pill (Not as high of a dosage as last time, so no isolation.) Thursday: Blood draw. Friday: Scan.

So, here I sit in a little camper while my family sleeps giving you, my five faithful readers, the longest status update in the history of Facebook. (I say "five" because I learned my friend Ricky reads. I used to say "four".) Those of you who get upset about mundane FB posts may never read my blog again! Ha! I am tempted to comment how boring this is must be for you, but I won't.
The God of the Universe began a work- a good work- and His work is never boring. With Jesus, it's a ride!

Thank y'all for being so patient with me and coming back to this little space on the interwebs.
I love it and I love you.
It is the coolest thing to me that you read this jazz.