Catching up...

Oh so much to do and so little time to get it all done!  Blogging has taken a back seat these days, although I should be “letting it out” into cyberspace more often to help keep my sanity....

So a few updates. 

Thyca developments:  

 My beloved Levoxyl has been recalled.  Completely.  Until 2014.  This whole prospect really scares me--I need this pill to basically stay alive, and without it I’ll be dead in, oh, 6 months.  And I’m pretty sure it would be a slow, painful passage to the next world.  My big fear was the replacement Dr. N would use--I have never done well on the generic.  Never.  I had to fight with the pharmacist to not get the generic.  What replacement ends up in my refill?  The generic.  Mr. Wonderful picked it up for me, and I didn’t think to have him check what was in the bottle.  I just assumed that Dr. N lost her mind and switched me to the generic.  So I (stupidly) started taking it, and within two weeks, CRASH.  Oh, I was so tired and miserable!  I immediately called the office and asked to please be switched to Synthroid...the call back informed me that Dr. N had in fact called in the initial replacement as Synthroid, and the damn pharmacy took it upon themselves without telling me to fill it with the generic.  (*&^%$#@.  I’m now on Synthroid, and fingers crossed feeling ok. Probably a little hyper since I only slept about 5 hours last night and woke up feeling great.  But for now, it’s ok.  No freaky side effects, no dips in functioning that I can find.  

 I have to accept the fact that I cannot be in the sun for more than 6 minutes at a time, or I will fry myself crispy.  I had a lovely lunch on Monday with Mr. Wonderful and Aunt L on the harbor in Salem, outside in the sun.  We sat for a couple of hours enjoying the glorious sunshine--I had on a sweater because I was, of course, cold, so I was reasonably covered up.  Not so on my face and chest.  Painful.  Red, swollen face/nose/lips, and a raging burn on my chest where my tank top didn’t cover me.  We were only in the sun for a few hours.  I didn’t even think of sunblock.  Later we sat on Aunt L’s balcony on the ocean, and luckily my sweater had a hood that covered my face--I looked like the old decrepit emperor from “The Empire Strikes Back”!  I am very pale, Irish pasty pale, and am used to getting sunburns, but never like this and never in such a short amount of time.  I posted on a Facebook forum for thyca survivors, asking if anyone else had run into this post thyca, and I got a ton of responses saying yes.  So I’m not the only sun-sensitive freak out there.  Most people said they started having problems post-RAI, which makes sense.  I supposed the RAI fried me from the inside out, and now there isn’t as much to soak up the sun?  Now I need to go check my sunblock supply and really use it more than I do.  I did see a dermatologist a couple of months ago and had a whole body check, and she didn’t find any spots or suspicious thingies as a result of my Irish genes and childhood spent getting burned.  

Yup, I'm probably as pale as he is too.  

Other than that, not much else to report from thyca land.  I’m still doing gluten free stuff as much as possible and have discovered that sometimes I can eat something with wheat, like chocolate cake and frosting, and have a mild or almost no reaction.  Other times I might eat something that results in a three day bout of intestinal gastric chaos.  I haven’t figured out exactly which foods cause the stronger reactions, so I’m avoiding gluten as much as possible.  Sometimes I wonder if the gluten substitutes cause issues?  

In other news, school is still nuts.  We have a month to go.  And I’m so done.  

A new stamp for my passport! 

I’m going to China in July!!  Woo hoo!!  I can’t wait--I’m going with a group of teachers (groan) to do a comparative study about school changes in the US and China.  We’re going to Beijing, Nanjing, Huangzho and Shanghai for two weeks.  I have no idea what to expect except a long-ass flight and funky probably not gluten free food options.  We’ll hit the major tourist sites in between visits to schools and presentations we’ll be giving on change in the US.  That should be, um, interesting.  And I think we wrap up the trip at a conference in Shanghai.  Who cares--I’m going to China.  

Ahhhh.  West Cork.   

And then once I get home, I have three days to recover before jumping on a plane for Ireland to spend two weeks in the homeland!  We’re renting a house in West Cork.  I can’t wait for that either, although I supposed I’ll be exhausted from running around China and jet lag.  Still, recovering in a cottage by the sea in rural Ireland sounds perfect to me.  

July is going to be busy.   I’ll get back August 4th.  And then?  We’ll see.  School is up in the air as to what my position will be.