The two-year anniversary of my thyroidectomy was back on November 19th. Although the process started months earlier, with exams, ultrasounds and biopsies, this procedure was the singular watershed moment. Sure, once my thyroid was removed, I knew I was in for medication for the rest of my life. Plenty of other people have done it; so can I. But what I didn't see with the others was the internal struggles, if they had any at all. That will be a topic for another blog, at a later time.
As for the anniversary, taking a moment that morning to look at who I've become, I decided to sit down and write a short postcard to myself. The picture I found to post with it came from a webcam set up in Yosemite Valley. It is one of my favorite places to visit. I don't ascribe anything significant or spiritual with the photo and what I wrote. Except that some mornings, the weight of my thoughts are as heavy as granite. And the light is as easy on me as a puff of wind.
Postcard #4:
Post-Op Reflections, 2 years
Today marks 2 years, practically to the hour, when I went into surgery for a thyroidectomy. The cancer diagnosis would come a couple weeks later. After one year, I think I said it was a life-changing event. After two years, to call it life changing would be a misinterpretation of the effects of the surgery and cancer treatment.
Both are linked. The cancer treatment has affected my long term management of thyroid hormone replacement. The physical, mental and emotional side effects have become the boogey man hiding in the closet, waiting for me when I go to bed at night. When I do sleep, I have strange dreams; when I don't sleep, I hear the voice from the closet whispering, filling my ears with anxious thoughts.
Changes? Only in the way I approach my day. I am older, grayer. I still have my life and my goals. I get up in the morning and decide who I will listen to, the boogey man or my heart.
As for the anniversary, taking a moment that morning to look at who I've become, I decided to sit down and write a short postcard to myself. The picture I found to post with it came from a webcam set up in Yosemite Valley. It is one of my favorite places to visit. I don't ascribe anything significant or spiritual with the photo and what I wrote. Except that some mornings, the weight of my thoughts are as heavy as granite. And the light is as easy on me as a puff of wind.
Postcard #4:
Post-Op Reflections, 2 years
Both are linked. The cancer treatment has affected my long term management of thyroid hormone replacement. The physical, mental and emotional side effects have become the boogey man hiding in the closet, waiting for me when I go to bed at night. When I do sleep, I have strange dreams; when I don't sleep, I hear the voice from the closet whispering, filling my ears with anxious thoughts.
Changes? Only in the way I approach my day. I am older, grayer. I still have my life and my goals. I get up in the morning and decide who I will listen to, the boogey man or my heart.
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