Preparation

I have been off my thyroid meds since the day we came back from Mayo, and have replaced them with a short-acting substitute for the time being.  Next week, we'll go cold-turkey and start the plunge into hypothyroidism.  Not necessarily looking forward to that, but hopefully it will be short-lived and not too uncomfortable this time.  I'm a whole lot healthier this time around as compared to last, so it should be better.  I hope it will be better.  I've timed hypothyroidism with a visit to Wyoming to be with my family this time, which doesn't make that trip as pleasant as it could be, but does minimize my time off work.  Currently rushing around, trying to get ready for the low-iodine diet that starts next week, which I will need to follow while on the road, while in Wyoming, while driving from Wyoming to Mayo for treatment, and after I get home and am in isolation for the first several days. This entails eating only food I have prepared from scratch myself, while in hotel rooms with only a microwave at my disposal.  That's a lot of food prep ahead of time, and a lot of logistics to think through. It's stressing me out a bit, but I feel like I'm getting a handle on it.  Friends have been very helpful suggesting recipes, helping me make some food, and offering really helpful tips (like "map out the Whole Foods locations from Chassell to Jackson Hole, and stop there for a salad bar lunch every day".  BRILLIANT.)    So far, I have made from absolute scratch the following items:  4 loaves of bread, homemade tortilla chips, homemade taquitos (including homemade tortilla wraps), a wild rice casserole, homemade salsa, homemade marinara, homemade applesauce, no-bake oatmeal cookies, and corn muffins.  I have pre-cooked organic chicken.   I have purchased vegan, soy-free, salt-free margarine, bought wheat-only pasta, riced cauliflower, lara bars, old fashioned oatmeal, and popcorn kernels.  I will buy all fruits and vegetables (minus strawberries, celery, and cranberries, which are verboeten) right before I go.  That, along with my abundant, already-present fat stores, should keep me alive for two and a half weeks, right??    I know a lot of people eat organic, whole-food diets all the time.  A lot of people cook from absolute scratch every single day, even when travelling on vacation.   My gosh... people cooked from scratch for all of human history up until the last few decades!  This really shouldn't stress me out as much as it is.    It's something different for me, though, and is taking a whole lot of planning, and thinking, and label reading, and shopping in different places, and cooking extra food in between our normal busy activities, so...  an adjustment.  I am adjusting.   But I will not starve.

The other worry on my mind is that I have had a sore throat for the past few months, and my voice is going hoarse, and I am having more trouble swallowing pills.   I just don't know if this stuff I've been experiencing, even before my trip to Mayo, is the laryngopharyngeal reflux I've had in the past rearing it's head again, or cancer invading my laryngeal nerve.  I highly suspect the first case.  But how do I KNOW?  Regardless, treatment is coming soon, and it's a good thing, and I hope it works.  Worst case is a life silent, and there are worse things in the world then silence.

Writing things down helps me immensely.  It puts concrete borders around what's in my head, and helps me to process and prepare and not be overwhelmed.

Game face goes on pretty soon here.  I want to do a good job preparing myself, because I want to be DONE!  Yesterday, the Marshfield doctor called to scheduled follow up appointments in November and December.  So, by December, I will know if this all worked, and if I am done or not.  December = cancer free goal date.

We got this.  Lord willing, we got this.