I'm back!

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been awhile but I really havn't felt much like writing lately. I've been stuck in this funk and trying to lift myself out of it. I went in to see my doctor today and like I had already guessed these are all symptoms from the Interferon; fatigue, no energy, headaches.... This is probably going to be the hardest time for me on this treatment. We are getting down to the last three months and my body is wearing down. We have also been battling the flu nonstop at our house, passing it from one person to the next and then starting over again around and around. This obviously doesn't help matters. It's been hard looking after the kids when they are sick when I'm not feeling good myself. But we made it through and now everyone seems back on track and feeling better. Part of this yucky feeling is probably due to the fact that I am tired of this cancer crap. It really feels as though it has been neverending tests and scans and lots of waiting in between.

I found out last week that the thyroid nodule that I had biopsied is benign (not cancerous) and is called a colloid nodule. Apparently it is very common in women and they will be monitoring this every 6 months to make sure that there are no changes. If these nodules continue to grow and start causing problems he will want to go in and remove them but for now I can focus on getting the Interferon done and not worry it. I realized that my doctor is amazing. I never have to wait too long for results and they are very aware of how hard it is for the patient to wait. My thyroid doctor doesn't understand that. After waiting for over three weeks for my biopsy results, the nurse promised me a phone call on the Thursday and guess what? After waiting by the phone all day and getting myself convinced that something really bad was happening, the nurse phoned me back after I left several messages on his voicemail and finally let my know that it was fine - benign. Why do they do that? Why say ,"Oh, the doctor is going to want to talk to you himself about this." And then leave you hanging for five days. It takes less than 5 minutes to call and let me know. Anyway, very happy that my regular Oncologist is much more understanding and is on top of things. And even happier that the results were good.

I also went in for a brain MRI yesterday and when I went in to see my doctor this morning he shocked me by handing me my results. Wow! That was quick! Everything looks good. No changes and everything looks stable. I really should feel overjoyed but instead I almost broke down crying in the lab waiting room. Not sure if this was out of relief or what but I choked it back and did what I needed to get done. Sometimes the feelings I experience I can't even explain.

I had a great chat with my Oncologist and if everything keeps going well I will be able to return to work in the fall. He says that I am doing really well so far and so I need to carry on and continue living my life. We discussed all the new treatments now available for melanoma and he said that since we met a year ago even there has been alot more drugs come out. Granted these are experimental but he is very pumped that these are available and so am I. Hopefully I won't have a reoccurence and so I won't need them but it's good to know that they are there.

So for the next few weeks I am going to forcus on being well. I plan on going for lots of walks, eating healthy, and meditating regularly. I am going to finally use the gift card for the Spa that I received for Christmas and I'm even going to get my hair done next week. This should re-energize me and make me feel better. We are still planning a screening for the Wrong Way to Hope movie in April so stay tuned for more info on that. This should keep me busy and keep my mind off of things for at least some of the time.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is feeling happy and healthy!

Don't forget to take care of YOU!!