on my way-ish

Tuesday I stopped taking my synthroid (the long-acting thyroid medication) and started taking cytomel (the short-acting thyroid medicaiton). I'll stay on cytomel for the rest of this month-ish. When I stop taking the cytomel I will begin the stick and twig diet. In the next couple of days I should know more about the details of my next radioactive Iodine treatment and scans that will take place mid September-ish.

The details are all -ishy right now, so we're just playing it by ear.

My shoulder, for example. During the surgery I was turned into a human pretzel. That's made this last week relentlessly achy and annoying. I had lost a lot of my range-of-motion to my right shoulder, but I'm slowly gaining it back. I'm doing stretches, taking muscle relaxers, and The Hater is my massuse extrordinaire. It's a slow process, but I can tell it's making a difference.

I'm also trying to keep heat on it intermittently. Today at work I figured out a way to wrap it over my shoulder/upper back and wear a light nurse jacket over it, to keep it in place. I kept the cord in my pocket. Then if I was sitting behind the desk, bingo-bongo, I'd plug it in. Likewise if I was sitting next to a patient, pushing drugs, starting IVs, or doing whatever. Smart plan, I thought, even if it took me three days back to work to figure it out.

At lunch someone asked me if I'd hurt it playing softball. I couldn't resist. I told him we went into a couple of extra innings, and I'd asked for my Southpaw relief, and even did the gesture by tapping my left forearm. He asked if the coach made the switch, to which I shook my head and told him the team couldn't risk the cold arm. He nodded. None of my coworkers said a word, although one of them gave me a questioning glance.

Lunch continued. On my way out he asked if we won the game. I told him that really I had cancer and had another surgery to remove some positive lymph nodes, which ended up freezing my shoulder, and that was why I was really wearing the heating pad.

Blank stare. That answer sounded almost as random as my first. Maybe I should have told him that we almost won... but I was up to bat, bottom of the second extra inning with runners on first and second, 2 outs and 2 strikes. Somehow I busted the fast ball, but as I was sliding into first I caught my neck on the baseman's cleat, which opened up my neck, and I didn't know we lost until I was in the recovery room. I can't believe the ump called my pristine slide an out.

That would have been a better-ish answer.