I met my radiation oncologist this past Tuesday. He was very encouraged from my surgery. Even though the nodule on the right side showed signs of cancer, the left side did not! My oncologist likes to wait until thyroid levels are at 35 to administer the radioactive iodine (RAI) and sometimes it can take up to 6 weeks post surgery. This is called a thyroid ablation and it is to destroy any remaining thyroid tissue. We did blood work last Tuesday to check my levels and we had scheduled to do blood work every two weeks until I reached the desired level. I was hoping to be where I needed to be before the middle of August (we have plans to get away for a couple of days before school starts back up). They do a scan of my thyroid a week after the RAI is administered to make sure everything is going as planned. About a month after that, I will do another scan to ensure all of the thyroid tissue is gone. My oncologist gave me a 99.9% chance of the cancer never returning. He smiled as he told me, “You are a cancer survivor!” Sweet words to my ears.

I am very blessed in that I have not been too tired so far on this thyroid-less journey. There have been two Saturdays that I had to rest quite a bit, but really, it hasn’t been all that bad. I’ve tried really hard to keep my husband from staying home from work, but this last week he decided he wanted to spend a little more time around the house to help me out. He called a friend of his to fill the pulpit this coming Sunday so he could concentrate on being home and not have to study in the office every day. This would allow him to help out with the girls and he could still study from home during naps. (The girls naps and mine.)

Caution: radioactive materials

Monday morning the oncologist called. He had scheduled my appointment to take the RAI and he had scheduled it for this Wednesday! I will meet him at the hospital Wednesday morning and I get to swallow that little pill that is encased in a glass vial encased in a lead pipe. (This dosage is about 60 times higher than the dosage I took when they found the nodule to begin with.) I have to be away from my hubby and girlies for 48 hours, so I am blessed to be able to stay in the church missions house for two days. I have already gotten things ready for my stay (I feel like a doomsday prepper) by stocking it with: easy foods so I don’t have to use the cook ware, disposable plates and plastic ware so I don’t have to use the regular dishes, old towels that I can just toss when I’m done, and lots of projects to keep me busy. Did I mention the chick flicks? The missions house doesn’t get regular TV, so I’m taking the wii to hook up for the use of dvds and Netflix. I will really be suffering. (Don’t get me wrong. If I was a betting woman, I’d bet by Wednesday night I’ll be calling my hubby lamenting the fact of how bored I am.)

My husband on the other hand will have sole responsibility of three girlies. By himself. Alone. With no safety net. I don’t know that he’s ever had all 3 together by himself for more than a few hours. So I’m sure by Friday night he will be ready for his wonderful wife to come home so he can stop watching Doc McStuffins and Little Einsteins. (Andy Griffith is thrown in there, too, but he doesn’t seem to mind those. I blame Bro. Ted.) And I expect him to gravel at my feet and realize I really do wear a Wonder Woman cape to get through the days. Ha! Seriously, he acknowledges being a mommy is a hard job. He says often he is glad God made him a man. I have no doubt he will be just fine. He is a fabulous daddy and his girlies adore him. He will have everything under control. And if things get too rough, he can always call Memaw. She’s always up to the challenge.

After I got off the phone with the oncologist I had to laugh. Isn’t that just like God? Here my husband really felt like he needed to arrange his schedule to accommodate me and asked someone to fill the pulpit to help make that happen (knowing he may have to do that again once I had my treatment). Yet God knew the whole time that I would have my treatment the same week every single thing had been arranged! That may not seem like a big deal to some, but to me that is huge. Not only that, but by the time we go out of town for a couple of days, I will have been on my thyroid replacement meds for almost 3 weeks. Plus, all of this is done before school and Classical Conversations start back up. And before Choral Society resumes its regular season. I love how God is in the details. No problem is too big and no detail is too small.

So if you think about it, would you pray that this RAI will do everything it is supposed to and that the subsequent yearly visits are just routine? And pray for the hubster. His schedule will be much more hectic than mine the rest of this week.