There is no place like...Mom's!

Hi everyone!

Lets see how much I can get posted. My fingers are pretty stiff and its hard to type. But I have lots to post and update so I will start and come back if needed.

I am at my moms now. Phase two of the isolation. I get to go home on Saturday. I miss my kids and husband but know they are in good hands with my Mom and Husband taking care of them.

I last posted 5 minutes before I took my dose of 102millicuries of Radio Active Iodine. Door was shut to my room and I was alone within a minute of taking it. James was outside as they did "readings" on me as I took my pill and they closed the door. It was a odd feeling.

Then I found myself alone in my room. I had a phone and TV. There was a chest high "guard" by the door so anyone who opened it (nurse,dr ect) would be somewhat protected from radioactive"ness". Although I didn't see anyone really. I communicated by phone to the nurses desk if I needed anything they would open the door set the item on a table behind the guard and shut the door. I could then come get it and bring it back further into my room. This was done for things like food, ice, & medication. Sometimes my food would sit outside until a nurse could bring it in to me as the staff from the cafe didn't want to open my door. So most nights cold meals arrived a hour or so after placing my order. Pretty typical things I had been eating all week prior to the treatment on my LID (Low Iodine Diet) chicken, plain pasta, steak....plain potatoes or rice. Very boring after a while.

I didn't feel sick really right after taking the pill. I think your mind freaks you out to make you worry more about it than you should. But I did get sick around 3am that night. But a pill later of medication to help and by 6am I was fine.

I slept really well actually, napped every day and slept 7-8 hours a night. Although I was woken up every hour or so from drinking so much water I needed to use the restroom ALOT and that's what they wanted as they wanted me to flush out the extra RAI out of my bladder. So they even came to wake you to make sure you got up. Just knocks on the door to remind you.

By day two I was just pretty bored and could only watch so much "election/poll" coverage on CNN. By night time I was pretty jittery and kinda pacing around. Its a weird feeling to know you cant leave. With nothing to do but watch tv and sleep it gets old fast. I tried to relax but found it hard and I went to bed and then this morning I woke up feeling pretty down but happy to know I could go home.

James picked me up at Noon and I was back at my moms by 1pm!!! Its nice to know I can go for a walk, or even to the store if I felt up to it. (more about that later) I am very grateful the treatment went so well and the worse part was just being cooped up. I would take that over being sick any day!!! So that I am thankful for.

I am now 3 weeks off my medication, in a state whats called Hypothyroid. Its hard. I feel like my finders are "old" that's the only thing I can think to describe it. Must kinda be like what arthritis feels like. My back still hurts really bad and walking is very hard. I am also very very very cold all the time. Which is odd for me since normally I am always warm.

Luckily I get to start my medication tomorrow (Thursday) and it should only take a week or two to start feeling much much better. With some slight improvement within 24-48 hours I hope.

Ok going to rest. Will post more soon. Thank you all for your calls, emails and letters. I hope to catch up and write to everyone this week.