PUZZLE

I think most of you have heard how puzzle challenged I am. This is fun..and I actually got it done. This is amazing,the picture has movement in it the entire time you are working on it. Drag the pieces together to make a picture. Yes, it can be done completely! When you complete the puzzle you will hear applause. Thanks for sharing this Sharon.

THE RESULTS ARE IN......

My TSH level this week is 46.7. As I stated it needs to be 50 before RAI treatment. But it is close enough to get the ball rolling. I will be having a body scan on March 14. I will be informed after that when I can receive the treatment. Looks like I might be radioactive at EASTER!! Or they might choose to do it after EASTER but that would mean I would continue to go more hypo every day, which translate more and more tired and other symptoms as well. Will be glad when all is said and DONE!!!!

Therapy is going well. The neck muscles are improving each day, and the scar has turned loose from connecting tissue. Still have one large "glob" that needs to be broken up. I will go 2 more times next week, and depending on RAI treatment, maybe 2 times the following week. I am doing my exercises 2 times a day, and using heat twice as well. I saw my original therapist today and she was very pleased with the progress. I have some feeling back in my ear, head, and face. I can feel myself put my earring in and don't have to look in the mirror!! YEA!! Still feels like I am lying on plastic cup though!

HOW TO FOLD A SHIRT

My sister send this to me this week...I am fascinated each time I watch it...

YOUNG REPUBLICANS!

This is Isaac, a friend of ours in Ohio. His Mom actually went to school with Mike Huckabee in her primary years. They are from Arkansas originally.
This gives new meaning to Ps 22:6, train up a child in the way he should go...lol.....The young lady standing to his right, we also know from church in Reynoldsburg.

MEDICAL REPORT

Got a call from my endocrinologist. My TSH level is 34 has to be at least 50 before they do the RAI. So I go back next Monday for more blood work. Ho Hum!!

I will continue with my physical therapy for the next few weeks. Go two more times this week and then 2 times for the next 3 weeks. By the way the muscle I am getting therapy on is not the upper trapezius muscle, it is the sternocleidomastoid muscle. It involves ultrasound heat therapy, massage, and some neck exercises. Not hard, mostly time consuming!

That is all I know, from the not so patient, patient!!!

BEFORE YOU GO

Please read to the end and then click on the website -- this is fabulous! My Dad and his 2 brothers served during WWII. His older brother was killed in France. Lest we forget....Thank you Daddy and Jack...and Fred.

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood!
Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Fla. , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.
He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.
At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."
Then the old soldier began to cry.
"That really got to me," Bierstock says.
Cut to today.
Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.
"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."
The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompan ying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.
"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss " the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."
Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.

GOD BLESS every EVERY veteran...
and THANK you to those of you veterans who may receive this !

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR THE SONG AND SEE THE PICTURES:

BEFORE YOU GO

MEDICAL UPDATE

So, today I went back to my surgeon. Overall she thinks all looks good. However, I will be going for some physical therapy for the upper trapezius muscle. The muscle has become very tight, stiff, and uncomfortable. She said I need to do the therapy or it will continue to get worse. I will also be on ibuprofen for inflammation, using warm compresses and heating pad. She doesn't think I will have to take it long and they will probably show me what I can do at home. The scar itself looks good outwardly. On the inside, on the left side, where the mass was and where she removed 23 lymphnodes is still wide and hard. I am to massage it several times a day, continue to use Vitamin E or cocoa butter. Monday, I go for my blood work to see if I can take the RAI soon. I can say for sure... I will be glad when all is behind me and I can get on with life even if that means unpacking more boxes!!!

THE GRATITUDE CAMPAIGN

Don't be afraid to say THANKS!

VISIT TO ENDOCRINOLOGIST

I had my first visit with my latest of doctors, the endocrinologist, today. After looking over the pathology reports we are heading forward with the radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment. He changed the thyroid medicine I was on to a different kind. I will take it for a week, then stop for 10 days. At that point I will be going in for blood work, 2-25, and he will look at the levels. If they are low enough he will schedule the treatment. It is to be outpatient at the hospital. If they are not, he will continue to draw blood and watch for the right levels. He warned me that I will be very tired. I don't know when I will go back on thyroid medicine following the RAI. I think my bed is going to become my best friend. So glad I have a laptop!!

Another Dr. Visit

Went back to my surgeon yesterday. She removed the bandages. She really did slit my throat..LOL!! I would post the picture, but I know I have some queezy stomach friends. I will be going to see endocrinologist next Friday. I guess I will be taking it easy until then. And maybe after that! Incision looks good have to keep it greased up with cocoa butter,or vitamin E or antibiotic. Using cocoa butter right now. Sleeping better at night, which always is a help to me. I like sleep!!

Having a ice storm today, so will be staying inside. Icicles hanging off of everything.

Dr. Visit

I went to doctor today. She removed my jp drain and put a pressure bandage on. It stays on for 24 hrs. Donnie will remove it tomorrow. She had gotten the reports back and all the nodes were clear. I started on my thyroid medicine and will see a endocrinologist as soon as an appointment is set. He will monitor my levels and decide when I am hypo enough to do the RAI. GOD IS SO GOOD.

Don't you love the fashion statement??

BUMP....STEP BACK AND TAKE A BREATH

After following the CONFESSIONS OF A CF HUSBAND I have learned the word bump! If you haven't been following this powerful story and witness for our Lord, take some time and do so.
AND when you have that time would someone PLEASE tell me how to put the direct link into my post without the actual website address!!! THANK YOU CRIS!!!!!!

This week I hit my own bump! While expecting to go into hospital for a simple outpatient surgery to remove a benign mass from my neck, I was bumped into a 6 hr surgery to remove a malignant Papillary carcanoid, my entire thyroid and some additional lymph nodes. Since I didn't get home until Saturday I had not been able to research this type of cancer as have all my other family members and some friends. What we all have learned is that it is the most curable and treatable cancers with no extreme life changes. I will have to take a radioactive iodine(RAI) pill in a couple of weeks to kill all the thyroid cells in my body and take thyroid meds the rest of my life. I will have to go on a low iodine DIET ..least favorite word.. for a couple of weeks before I can take the RAI. Pretty simple, no milk products, iodized salt, red food colorings. No eating out because of not knowing what restaurants use. Fresh meats, veggies and fruits with none of the additives I described. And, oh yea..... NO CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!! I will have to do a countdown to chocolate!!

Right now I don't feel bad but will probably begin to feel worse as my body realizes there is no thyroid and I will go hypothyroid which is when I can begin treatment.

I received a beautiful email from a friend in OHIO who went through this about 5 years ago. I am sure I will be contacting her about what to expect and not expect. God is gracious to put friends into our life that we have no idea how they will help us through our bumps in life.

Thanks to all of you who are praying and continue to pray. I will try to keep everyone updated.

As of today, I still have the drainage tube in my neck, hopefully will have it removed soon.

OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE .. IS BEAUTIFUL

This is our first snow back in Virginia! And what a beautiful one it is!! Of course, when you can just sit and watch it and not go out in it...well, it is always more beautiful.

AMERICA, WHY I LOVE HER

http://sagebrushpatriot.com/america.htm

HAIL TO THE VICTORS

HAIL TO THE VICTORS VALIANT..HAIL HAIL TO MICHIGAN!! AND HAIL TO LLOYD CARR!! GREAT GAME...BEATING NO. 12 FLORIDA..

CONGRATS TO TENNESSEE IN THEIR WIN OVER WISCONSIN!!!!