Still undetectable!

Woo hoo!

I don't know why that one word, "undetectable", can make me so happy.  But thyca is still undetectable!

I had a great visit with my endo--I love her.  She was thrilled at all sorts of things--my weight is down 15 pounds from this time last year (wowowowowoowowowwow), my blood pressure reading in the office was 115/70 (tends to run high in the office always), and she was happy with my hormone updates.  Overall, I think I got a gold star!

She also thought the gluten free thing was a hoot--she literally started laughing when I told her about my ideas, because the previous patient informed her that she was also going gluten free and feeling much better.  Previous patient also had Hashimoto's.  She said to keep it up if it was making me feel better but to keep an eye on the fat/sugar stuff because of my past issues with insulin resistance.  She told me to tell my sister, also a Hashimoto's victim, to think about going gluten free.

I have to go back in February for a full physical, and I also have to have to do the whole body scan with Thyrogen in October.  She figured that 2 1/2 years was a good point to check it, and then she'll do it again at 5 years.

So I'll have some bloodwork done in the next few days to see how thing are looking, pray that it comes back in the good ranges for stuff, and go have a bone density test done at some point this summer.  And a mamogram.

I'm going to go do my Wii workout and then get on with my day...

Do I dare say this out loud?

A stunning realization came over me a few days ago after I did my Wii workout, and I'm afraid I'll jinx myself if I say it...

I feel really, really good. 

Yup.  There it is. In little letters, but I haven't said those 5 words in at least 5 years.  No, really.  5 years.  

For the first time in ages, everything seems to functioning the way it should.  Brain?  No fog, confusion or processing issues!  Skin?  Not too dry.  Blood pressure?  Registering comfortably under 120/80 when I check it.  Digestive issues?  Nothing like they were when I had gluten in my diet.  Weight?  Under the number I never said I'd go over 5 years ago!  (Ok, still 14 lbs. off my wedding weight, but one can be hopeful that it will come off this summer.) Menopause issues?  Seem to be in check!!  Hormones must be balanced at the moment.  Sleeping?  Like a baby, and all night.  Clumsiness?  Ok,  I don't think that one will ever go away.  That and hair loss, but I can live with those.  Easy solution:  don't wear heels, and put a trap in the shower drain to catch all the hair.  

So there you have it.  I've been off gluten for almost 2 months, and Mr. Wonderful picked me up two cookbooks yesterday!  I guess I need to raid Whole Foods for the wide array of flours that will replace my favorite whole wheat--brown rice, sorghum (what is that?), xanthan gum....that's if I want to bake stuff at home.  I have to admit, the scone pics looked pretty damn good, and I love them.  All of them.  I found a great recipe for nut bars to replace my granola bar addiction.  I'm doing ok except I've gotten glutened at a couple of restaurants--not pleasant.  

School is done for this year, and the end came up really fast.  Really fast.  I even had to go in the day after the last day to clean my office/cave space because I didn't have time to get to it during the year.  I have no idea what next year will look like yet....I have been assigned a classroom and a schedule with 5 classes, but the department chair position hasn't been posted and it's still up in the air.  I want to see the details about the position before I apply....to be honest, there's a great Spanish expression that sums up my attitude towards next year and where I'll be--me da igual.  It's all the same to me.  I know I can teach, so being in the classroom is fine.  I think I can do the other job, so that would be a new challenge.  We'll see.  It just keeps my summer on edge, not knowing for sure.  That, and the dread associated with having to pack up the cave and move it two floors up.  And having a sixie homeroom again.  Wait, they can be cute.  The other thing looming is waiting for the AP scores to come out around July 5.  I'm not sure how this year's crop will do.  

I go back to the endo tomorrow--I wonder if she'll yell at me for the gluten stuff and not telling her?  She'll be happy with the weight shift.  

More later...the summer looks busy, but with a few travel opportunities built in.  

Right now I'm going to take my feeling good little self over to the Wii and get going for today--the boxer is waiting for me.  

Thyca thought for the day....

Thought for the day, stolen from another thyroid cancer blog that's listed on my blogroll....Thyroid Cancer SURVIVOR--The Journey:

“Cancer is not a battle that we win or lose. It is not our fault or a sign of weakness. We are not responsible for our cancer outcomes. The crapshoot of cancer and recurrence can NOT be controlled. Celebrate yourself for each time you, despite all the trauma of cancer, treatment, and the mindfuck of “survivorship”, choose to love, live, lust, laugh… We are not a success story based on our cancer progression or not. We succeed when we are courageous enough to keep walking forward even with missing parts, severe pain, addled brains, and broken hearts.”  ~Dr. Erica D. Bernstein

Happy June!

Happy June!  I can't believe it's June.  I'm not complaining either, it's time for summer. 

On the thyroid front, not much has changed.  Brain fogginess is much better and I think everything else is ok. 
I'm still gluten free, so I've been at this for three weeks now?  Four weeks?  And I really do feel better.  The laundry list of symptoms is gone which is a huge bonus.  I'm doing pretty well I think trying to avoid it and have only had a couple of days where I think I got glutened by mistake.  It's not that hard, keeping track of ingredients when I'm at home.  I've tried some gluten-free cookies that haven't been too bad, and I like Udi's bread and bagels.  I had some pasta that was a combo of brown rice and corn, and it was just ok.  Didn't do so well the next day--much harder.  Luckily I'm not a huge pasta fan, so I won't be upset if I can't have pasta.  June 1st was National Donut Day, and it did make me cry inside a little to turn down a free donut with my coffee yesterday.  The happy byproduct of all of this avoiding wheat is a loss of a few pounds.  I'm conscious of the way the fat content seems to go up in gluten free food, so I'm trying not to eat a lot of it--do I really need it? 
The one thing that does make me freak out a little is eating out....it's a little scary not knowing for sure if you have gluten lurking in something.  And I don't want to call attention to myself, but it's hard.  I just finished up a grad class this week, and for the last class one of my classmates brought in a feast of homemade food--an entire table of food.  And I really didn't want to risk eating any of it since I could see that most of the options would come back to haunt me.  The thing that drove me crazy was all 8 people demanding to know why I wasn't eating....I took some carrots and hummus to shut them up, but then they kept telling me to try this and try that...I finally whipped out my pb&j on Udi's bread and ate that.  I know they meant well, but it was annoying and exactly the opposite of what I wanted.  I said I had a food allergy and left it at that.  I have to go to a retirement dinner at school next week, and it looks like my only option on the menu is prime rib.  I hate prime rib.  I know, weird, but I've never been a fan.  My parents would go out to eat and my mother would almost always get prime rib.  Ugh.  And the end of the year school faculty thing is a pizza party.  Maybe they'll have a giant salad? 
I'm trying to make sure I remember to take a multivitamin every day along with fish oil--I wonder if it's helping? 
So that's where I'm at.  I think I go see Dr. N at the beginning of July.  I'm still using my Wii and actually getting better at the boxing thing--I really have a hard time coordinating the moves!  So clumsy and not athletic. 
Not much else going on--lots of drama at school, especially with parents.  Not getting into any of it here, but if I hear the words "mean", "intimidating", "disrespected (as in kid feels)" one more time about teachers, I'm going to start throwing things.  There's this weird shift happening where kids and parents seem to feel that if the teacher says no, holds a deadline, or shows frustration, then they are those adjectives above.  Really?  Just do the *&^%$ work and we'll be fine.  Oh I could go on and on about this year....but I won't.
These next few weeks are usually insane, so here's hoping everyone gets to June 21st in one piece.  My next few weeks consist of keeping the AP kids working and going back into the department book room.  I spent tons of time in there this week, and I'm still convinced that there is a body buried in there somewhere.  I actually came across a set of French books dated 1925 with a copywright of 1899!!  They were used in the 80s and 90s....
Off to eat some gluten free cereal for breakfast now that my hour of waiting for thyroid meds to kick in is up.