Weekend

I took it easy this weekend. I didn't leave the house. But various friends stopped by. Mark's uncle and his SO even drove in from CT to see us. Elaine made brownies and brought some home made spagehtti sauce and spaghetti with her. One problem - she comes from a large family (she has 5 kids and 13 grandkids (not counting Alan).). So she made a HUGE pot. We'll be freezing some and eating it later. Other friends came by Saturday night and then on Sunday. Alan enjoyed the company (he was only a little shy when Mark's uncle and Aunt came. I think he wasn't as used to seeing them at our house. Or perhaps he'd just woken from a nap.) He happilly walked and played with toys. Our friend's son Jeff came. He's much shyier (although not as clingy as he used to be, he's 5 months older than Alan). His favorite things were the ceiling fan in our kitchen. And our cat Moxie (who was very mellow with Jeff. He seemed to like the attention.) The boys who are now both walking are starting to interact with each other more and its fun to watch.

I enjoyed the company. I even got a load of wash done with help lifting, but this AM I decided to go back to lifting as usual. (I lifted Alan a little on Sunday, but not too much). I'm looking forward to getting out of the house even if it is just to the doctor's today. I just wish this headache would go away. (Not sure if is a "hypothyroid headache or not.)

The past few night we'd taken precautions so I wouldn't lift Alan out of the crib next to the bed at night (he slept with DH or DH put him in with me). I did lift him out on Sunday morning but I was awake when I did it. This morning I was pleasantly surprised we'd both spent the night in our respective beds :)

Post Surgical Visit

I had my post surgical visit today and got a copy of my biopsy (actually I have 2, I'm going to be the one bringing it to my endocrinologist, the surgeon and endocrinologist haven't talked.) He is leaving my treatment entirely up to the endocrinologist at this point.

Surgically, everything is fine. I have just 3 restrictions for one more week: no hyper extending the neck backwards (like if someone were shampooing your hair in the sink), don't rub the scar and don't put anything on it (no creams, lotions, etc). He'd like me to keep the scar out of the sun for the next 12 months or so to avoid a burn. But I should never have to see him again. And as far as driving, since I can turn my head, I can drive. He was pleased I wore a vneck sweater with a scarf over my neck, he said so many people come in turtlenecks even in the summer. He thinks my tickle/cough when I drink should clear up in a month or so (I've just been using straws as it seems to bug my throat if I try to drink quickly).

There were three items biopsied (I'm paraphrasing a little): A delphian lymph node, the right thyroid lobe and the left lobe. The lymph node had a 2 MM mesatstic papillary cancer. The right node had a microfocal papillary cancer appx 0.5mm that was well contained, there were goiterous changes in that lobe, and an adherant lymph node with 2mm papillary cancer also. The left lobe had 1.8 x 1.4 x 1.3 cm papillary cancer. "The carcinoma has penetrated the thyroid capsule, broadly invades the adjacent soft tissue and is present on the inked external surface of the specimen". (That last quoted sentence sounds a little scary).

He did say that he took out a bit of esophagus tissue (I guess I'll see it on the surgical record when I get it, there was no mention of that on the biopsy) and he had to stick one of the parathyroids in the neck. But as I've had no calcium problems, it appears that it was unaffected.

I see the endocrinologist Wednesday at 1:30. That will be a great relief as I will know the time table for my further treatment.

Direct Marketing Drugs to Consumers

I got 2 marketing brochures in the snail mail today. One was for Mirena (a contraceptive). Ok, they got my name from some woman's or new mom's list, so they figured I might need it. I will be sticking to my preferred method (condoms) for a lot of reasons but it was a nice try. The other one was for omnicef, an antibiotic for ear infections. Sheesh! Alan's had *1* so far and did just fine with amoxicillin. I know of a lot of sick babies via the internet but to go around making every mom ASK for antibiotics for an ear infection that might not even happen I found a bit rude. Isn't it believed the overuse of antibiotics causes more problems? (I usually wind up on zythromax when I have a cold, but that's because they always seem to wind up in my chest due to asthma. If I didn't have asthma I wouldn't ask.)