Radiation treatment

I went in today for a routine bloodtest before the body scan which will be wednesday and thursday. The doctor pulled me aside to tell me to be prepared for the radio iodine treatment after all. "The margins were clean" meaning they'd gotten the tumor out, but the pathology report which only came back recently, indicated some stray cancer cells in the soft tissue in my throat nearby. "Any physician would feel the radio iodine treatment is needed", she said. So I guess I'm going to have it after all.

The kids will have to be away from me for about 4 days and we're still trying to work out the details of where they'll go and how. Anyone who comes in contact with me closer than 3 feet will be at risk for radiation exposure and could have their own thyroid compromised as a result. Getting the kids to stay that far back is nearly impossible, so the best thing to do is to move them out.

I must say I was really looking forward to going back to life as "normal" and am not happy that I'll have to be isolated and sick with radiation poisoning. I think to myself, "What kind of rational person would intentionally take something poisonous into their body?" I guess a person with no other good choice, is the answer.

I think back often to the scene in the "Princess Bride" where the giant is told he has to kill the man in black (really the hero in disguise). "How do I do it?", he asks the mastermind.

"Do it YOUR way?" is the answer.

"What's my way?"

"You know, hide behind a tree and when he walks by, hit him over the head with a rock."

"My way is not very sportsmanlike", says the giant. I guess "my way" is not very sportsmanlike either!

Darcy