falling into november…
there are times when i sit down to write a blog-post, and everything comes together so easily. the photos, the words, the theme – thoughts are quickly captured and slide into words for you to easily understand. then, at other times, i spend days thinking and thinking and thinking about how to share what i’m thinking about…
i am stunted by a brain that’s working faster than speech allows, so i just stop. and stutter, and i don’t make any sense.
there’s so much I want to write, and i’m stuttering a bit.
our post-hurricane weather has been calm, sunny skies. yet, our town is a bit of a mess. fallen trees, sagging electrical lines, leaves everywhere… the sun hasn’t shined quite enough to dry-out the deep sogginess left behind…
my brain and body are feeling the same way.
so, dear readers, what i want to talk with you about today — is your thyroid. my thyroid. how many of you KNOW where your thyroid is and what it does? if you know where it is, and what it does, i’m guessing you’ve had challenges with it — because most people i talk to — if they don’t know anything about their thyroid, it’s because they haven’t had any challenges with it. which makes sense, right?
well, right now — let me tell you in case you don’t know. the thyroid gland is more or less shaped like a flat butterfly, just below the adam’s apple, on the neck. you normally can’t feel it {unless there’s a problem}. the main job of the thyroid is to put out thyroid hormones, which are a pair of chemicals that float through the bloodstream and, control metabolism.
{this reference is for the lady readers} just like a self-breast-exam – right now – feel your neck for any “thyroid nodules” you may be unaware of. this is just a precaution for you, because i had never checked…
right before we left utah and moved to boston i had a final physical with my doctor there — on this particular day my doctor thought my neck looked faintly swollen and checked it – sure enough he found a nodule, a fairly large nodule — mine measures almost an inch-and-a-half in diameter. my doctor told me nodules were very common and to go forward with my move and find a doctor in Boston asap, and get it checked…
fast forward: 15 months later — i have a new doctor who checked it, she sent me to get an ultra sound – the ultra sound didn’t look good so I went in for biopsy #1, the results were non-determinate. because: the cells were “clustering” which is a sign of cancer cells, but the other tests were not getting enough information to determine if the nodule is cancerous or not. i go to a different doctor/hospital for biopsy #2, same results. i decide to continue eating whole foods + lots and lots of hot yoga + juices cleanses… and after a lot of research, waiting, and deciding to go in for biopsy #3… my endocrinologist tells me straight-up i am too young to have a nodule this size, it does not look good, regardless of what i do, we can’t find out anything else until we take it out.
so, after i have spent months trying to avoid the surgery, my nodule and the right side of my thyroid are being removed in about two weeks. a couple of weeks after that i will find out what happens next.
so, you see, like the storm that hit the east coast – i’m living in this stuttering-messy-zone of “what-if and i-don’t-know.” until the surgery is over…
i have friends who have already had this done, and everything went smoothly. however, i’d love advice – from both sides. it should be known that my surgeon has warned me that everyone and their dog is going to tell me what to put on my scar – and i can’t take any of your recommendations. apologies. my surgeon says i will strictly use what he gives me. so, please give advice on anything else! what should i expect afterwards, what do i eat? any natural methods for healing quicker that don’t apply to the scar – i’d love to hear your thoughts.
by the way, massachusetts is beautiful in november. xoxo.
{photos by me, jane rhodes, taken in my driveway.}
