Results.

G'day, mates!

Have you ever wanted to just get up and go somewhere? I think I got bit by the travel bug! It might be because I'm longing for a week, or even just a weekend, of pure, unadulterated relaxation. A few days of no pressure, no expectations, no worries, and no responsibilities would be just what the doctor ordered.

Lordy! There are four "i"s in that word! Responsibilities.

When I say that's what the doctor ordered, it might actually be what the doctor orders next week. I have my follow-up on my nuclear uptake from about a month ago on Wednesday next week. Which is why I'm blogging about it. Because I realized it was actually over a month ago and I didn't tell you guys what the result was of either that or the ultrasound. I am really sorry about that. I've been obsessing over moving into our new apartment and balancing work and a social life with all of this, so it's no surprise I would put sharing the mixed news on the back burner, right?

Let's start with the good news. :)

I went to the Breast Health Center at Regions and got my ultrasound. I was super nervous and surrounded by much older women who kept giving me these awful pitiful looks. And I was alone, and they were all surrounded by their loved ones. It was weird. I spent a lot of time looking at the fish tank. I was escorted by an elderly lady who identified herself as a volunteer to the changing room and I was instructed to remove all of my clothes from the waist up and put on one of their freshly laundered terry cloth robes. They were white, with a "Regions Breast Center" logo embroidered in black over a pink ribbon. Maybe it was just my robe, but I have found that terry cloth is very itchy on my skin! I had to put my stuff in a locker and put the locker key (which was on one of those coiled keychains like they make little kids wear sometimes) on my wrist and wait in a different waiting room. They called my name and walked me down a long hallway into a dark and relaxing ultrasound room. My tech was really nice and didn't make any remarks about my age until the end of the session (I'll explain that in a moment). She did the scan, then re-scanned, then said she needed to talk to someone and left. She was gone for a REALLY  long time, or at least it sure seemed that way. I found myself simultaneously falling asleep and picturing my life with cancer. She came back and said she couldn't find anything at all, not even a cyst. She made it clear that my OBGYN didn't seem to know what she was talking about and said I'm fine. I was so relieved! Then we had a serious conversation about how to actually do the monthly exam and if I feel anything at all, to come in again right away, and that in three years I need to schedule my first mammogram. Ladies: make sure you do your exam laying down, not standing up. It's much easier to detect lumps that way. Just FYI. :)

So no cancer! At least not yet. So that's good.

Onto the bad news: I have Grave's Disease.

I took a pill that contained radioactive iodine on Wednesday morning (about 5 or so weeks ago). It came in a lead container, so you can imagine my hesitation, but I was assured that it wasn't enough radiation to affect anything in my body except for my thyroid. I returned the next day at the same time and they took me to a small room with a little yellow-ish machine that they pointed at my thyroid for two minutes, then at my thigh for two minutes (testing the thyroid vs. testing a control spot) to see the difference in the uptake.

(It looked a lot like this.)

I thought I was done and said to the nurse, "Well that wasn't so bad!" and she didn't correct me right away, but let me think I was done until she told me that we needed to go to the nuclear lab next. Scary name, right? It had this logo on the door and it took up about a third of the door itself:

(Source)

I started feeling like a science experiement at this point, and then she had me lay down on what looked like the inside half of a large metal pipe and pointed a very big machine that looked very heavy right at my thyroid and directly over my head and told me I couldn't move for ten minutes and we'd be doing three pictures, so thirty minutes of absolute stillness in total with a two minute break inbetween. I was very grateful at this moment to not be claustrophobic and to have a very healthy imagination, so I pretended that I was back on the beach in Hawaii and my breathing pattern was the waves on the beach. I think I would have lost my marbles without that ability. Here's a picture that looks most like the machine set up:

(Source)

At the end of the thirty minutes, she said I was all done and free to go, and I'd probably hear from my doctor in a few days with the results. Remember, this was Thursday morning. Friday afternoon I get a call from my doctor, which I happened to be able to answer. I was told that I do, in fact, have Grave's Disease and my entire thyroid is swollen and overactive. She said I have three options: surgery to remove my thyroid (which puts my vocal cords at risk of damage), radioactive iodine therapy designed to kill my thyroid (which has the adverse affect of making me radioactive, so I'd have to go into complete isolation for a few days), or I can try hormone suppressant therapy, which may or may not work (it has the lowest success rate of the three options), and my Grave's might flare at any time. She then asked me when I'm planning on starting a family, because all three of these options can affect that. I told her hopefully within the next year or two, and she said she would recommend either the surgery or the radioiodine therapy because if Grave's flares up while I'm pregnant, we have a seriously complicated situation. So I ruled out the hormone therapy. She then asked me if I was opposed to the surgery, and I told her I value my vocal training and I still plan to use it as soon as next spring and I just can't risk messing with that ("pulling a Julie Andrews" was the phrase I used). I landed on the radioiodine therapy and I have so many questions and concerns still, so this week we're going to talk about the process and try to figure out the best time to do this.

Let me be honest, I'm scared. I can't try for a pregnancy for 6-12 months after the therapy because the eggs that are "ripening" for lack of a better word are going to be affected by the radiation. They will be giving me a much stronger dose than the one they gave me for the test, and I would have to sleep alone, rinse the shower and tub after each use, flush the toilet twice, rinse the sink after washing my hands, wash my own dishes and linens separately, and basically just stay away from people and pets for a certain amount of time. The radiation would come out through body fluids, so sweat, urine, salivia, etc. Eesh. So if you'd like to Skype with me during this time, I'd sure appreciate it!! I might be a little lonely!

But there's always a bright side. I will FINALLY stop feeling the awful effects of Grave's disease and I might even lose some stubborn weight! I might start having normal menstrual cycles again and I would definitely not sweat so damn much. My vertigo might even be cured! So it would be worth it. It's just scary stuff.

And hey, it's PSL season. So I'm getting one of those soon. Yup.

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And it looks like it might finally start cooling down around here. Fall is my favorite season, so I'm pretty pumped about that, too.

Oh! And now I live in downtown Minneapolis! More on that later. :)

Anyway, that's the update. The more you know, right?