the fridge speaks

1. What is the oldest thing in your refrigerator door?
"Raisin Delight- No Melt Suet Dough" (for year-round wild bird feeding) I'm sure it was purchased early last summer.

2. How long do you keep leftovers that end up going bad before you eat them?
We're usually pretty good about eating the leftovers. If they're not worth saving, rather if they weren't very good the first time, we usually don't eat it again later. We try to eat leftovers within a few days from when they were originally prepared -- although I do have some leftover BBQ Lentils from last weekend that we've not touched yet.

3. How strictly do you follow expiration dates: do you toss them as soon as they go past the date, or have you learned how far something can really go before going bad?
This is funny. I learn more towards the first option -- if it's expired, it should be retired to the vertical file. The Hater, on the other hand, was an assistant manager at a grocery store for several years -- and he claims to have the inside scoop that the expiration date is really the "sell by" date and not the "vertical file" date. I'm usually okay with this, so long as there's nothing overtly growing on the product and so long as he is the smeller/taster/decider.

4. Quiz results: What your refrigerator says about you...

What Your Fridge Says About You

You like to be surrounded by things you love. You aren't exactly greedy, but you can be materialistic at times. You tend to be a fairly thrifty person. You splurge occasionally, but you're mostly a saver. You are a very adventurous person. You love to try new things, and you get bored very easily. You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it. You are likely to be married - and very busy.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

5. What was the last ingredient in your fridge that you cooked something with?
Balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar -- used in a tasty gazpacho. Also, fat free mozzarella cheese/tomato base/pita/turkeyroni for a homemade pizza.

6. If you had to make a meal out of one single item in your fridge right now, which item would you choose?
This is hard because I'm really getting hungry looking inside the fridge. Let's see... Fresh bell peppers, onions, tortillas and chicken -- we'll have a fajita. Open up a can of beans in the pantry and it's a full meal.

(and now I'll make up my own fridge questions-- because that's how I roll)

7. How is the exterior of your fridge decorated?
The exterior of our fridge is faux stainless; its' much easier to clean than the real thing. We have 14 magnets not including: 3 timers, 4 pictures, 1 business card, 2 magnetic bag clips, and 1 list of healthy snack choices.

8. Name three items in the door of your fridge that you doubt many people also have in theirs.
Reduced Fat Mayo made with Olive Oil; 32oz of minced garlic (yum-my); a spray bottle half full with tap water (for the grill)

9. What is one *must have* for your freezer?
Ice cream. Fudgecicles, to be exact. I have one every night for strength and encouragement.

10. What condiment do you keep in your fridge that you use the least?
I just found some light pancake syrup that I have no memory of buying. In fact, I'm not sure we've even had pancakes or waffles in 2008. We must have eaten them once after we moved in last summer - because it's a store brand that purchased before the store was bought-out and all the prices skyrocketed. Just checked - there's no expiration date, so we should be fine.

c-bomb update: the Q&A

The short version:
It's the best news we could have gotten.
The longer version:
(an imaginary conversation between us)

What did the doctor say?

"It's time to move on with your lives."

How did the scan turn out?

Totally negative. No suspicious uptake was noted.

How about the tumor marker?

Low enough that we don't need to pursue more treatment right now.

So does that mean it's gone?

That's the million dollar question. There are still some stubborn cells present, but we think that they're low enough to continue to be suppressed by the medicine that I take every day.

But if it's still there, then why aren't you treating it?

It's just like cost-benefit analysis... The tumor marker is such a low number right now that the risk of zapping it is bigger than the benefit we'd get from another dose of radioactive Iodine (RAI).

How will you know that it's not getting bigger?

If you remember, this whole time I've talked about thyroid cancer being unlike every other kind of cancer, a horse of a different color. The type of cancer I had grows very slowly. We'll do another scan and draw the tumor marker in one year, May 2009. In the meantime, I'll see an endocrinologist every three months for her to feel my neck and make sure my daily medicine (that suppresses thyroid function) is at the right level.

Then after May 2009 you'll be done with this dog and pony show?

No. This is considered a chronic disease that will be monitored for the rest of my life.

Will it come back?

That's the second million dollar question. This type of thyroid cancer can come back, sometimes as many as 10-20 years later. That's why it's so important to have routine visits and scans.

What if it comes back?

Easy. We do another RAI. If you remember, I had a great uptake after my scan/treatment last November. That's promising that the cancer cells still don't like RAI-- which means we can try it again if we need to do so.

So this is good news? What's the catch?

Realistically, it's the absolute best news we could have gotten.

Are you and The Hater excited?

Of course we are, but we're still in shock with dumbfounded relief, too. We were prepared for the worst and the results have taken us off guard. We're super excited that we don't have another surgery this summer, which means now we'll be able to afford some more plants for the yard!

When is the party?

That's another great question. There will definately be a party, but we've not talked about any of the details yet. Everybody who wants to come is invited, but other than that, we've got nothing else planned. Let me know if you want more info about the shindig, and I'll get a list started for when we start planning.

What else do I need to do?

Remember to ask your doctor to "check your neck" once a year. It's easy, painless and quick. If you can swallow, you can be checked. If you can't swallow, that's really tragic because it'd be hard for you to eat cornbread.

Anything else?

Yes. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for your continued love, support and prayers. It's been an arduous 27 month ordeal, and we count ourselves most fortunate to have been surrounded the whole time by your good vibrations and the mercy of our Lord. Words cannot express how thankful we are for you, so know that when we say "thanks", it's really about three trillion times bigger than that. Thanks again. And again. And again. You've been the best cheerleaders that we never knew we'd need. You rock.

Again, we thank you for your endearing friendship and kindness-
The Hater, genderist and Zoloft

waiting waiting waiting

I'm not entirely sure which is worse:

A.  Not knowing any of the results.

B.  Knowing part of the results with no implications or plan.

C.  Finding out the results were the polar opposite of what you hoped they would be.

Lucky for me, I've got almost a week to deliberate on this before I know more.  

Good thing I'm still stuck in slow motion.

thick brain tangly fog

I know when my TSH is up. I guess I'm that attuned to it now. It's like I have several rolodexes in my head, and I can't remember which one has the word I want to find. And if I find the right one, I can't remember how I filed it.

Tangled neurons. Or slow neurotransmitters. Or maybe my myelin went on strike. I'd make other outrageous brain things, but I can't think of a fun way to include the ventricles.

And did I mention that I'm super tired?

Nana has a fantastic assortment of recipes. But only she knows how they are filed. Just because you're looking up "chicken on eggbread", don't bother looking under the "c" or the "e". It'll either be filed under "k" for Kleeman's or "n" since she cut it out of the newspaper.

That's how my brain feels right now. I'm sure this is clear as mud. (Even as I write this, I know it's choppy. But I can't remember how to fix it. So you'll just have to suck it up and muddle through. Just like me!)

Tomorrow is the lab draw. Go team. We're hoping to bat a big fat zero. I've never been so excited and so hopeful to fail. I'm not even going to study for the test.

I zonk now.

learn Latin: deadus kittyus

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I'm trying to take up wogging. I needed to up the walking, but wasn't good enough to start jogging yet, so I'm doing my own version of combining the two on most mornings during the week. It sucks, but it's working for me. It was time to ramp it up.

Anyway, I was on my wog this morning and happened upon a lady in her pajamas, looking into her flower bed. It's probably good to note that I'm the random person who waves back at the cars driving by, and I greet the other crazy people who are walking at that ungodly hour of the morning. Well, I certainly wasn't ready for the conversation that followed:

genderist: Mornin'
lady: Oh, hi...
genderist: (continuing to wog away)
lady: Excuse me, do you know anything about cats?
genderist: (stopped wogging) A little.
lady: I hate to interrupt your jog. (Man, did I have her fooled!)
genderist: It's okay. What's the problem? (walking up to the porch)
lady: What do you think about that cat? (pointing to the flower bed)
genderist: (looks at back cat laying in the flower bed) (snaps fingers) (notices kitty isn't breathing) I think he's dead.
lady: (gasp) Oh, no! Do you know whose cat this is?
genderist: No. And there's no collar for a hint, either.
lady: (pacing, gasping) This is so sad. (tears up)
genderist: Oh, wait! His eyes are open!
lady: Oh?
genderist: Nope. Still dead, just with open eyes.
lady: That's what I was afraid of. (tells story about the sick stray kitty finding her family last night, kids falling in love with it, yadda yadda yadda) I don't know what to do. Who do you call when this happens? What do I do? (nearing panic)
genderist: (pause) Well, do you have a shovel and a garbage bag?
lady: Why? (gasp) What are you going to do??
genderist: Throw it away.
lady: (gasp gasp) Oh!
genderist: Unless you want to bury it somewhere in your yard.
lady: No. I don't want that. (gasp, pacing again) (pause) It needs a proper burial.
genderist: We can say a prayer if you want, after we get it bagged.
lady: (pause) I can't ask you to do this.
genderist: It's okay. I can do this.
lady: But I've interrupted your run.
genderist: Do you want to do it?
lady: No!
genderist: Then go get the shovel and the garbage bag. I can do it. I've got time.
lady: Are you sure? I can't ask you to do that.
genderist: M'am, I'm from the country. I can do this.
lady: (returns from getting shovel and bags) I don't know if I can help with this.
genderist: It's okay. Let me see if I can get it without you having to help.
lady: Maybe I can close my eyes and do it?
genderist: Just let me try first. (tries and succeeds without having to have the panic-y stray-cat-lover helping)
lady: Why do you think it died here?
genderist: (brags on her flower bed, how nice her kids must have been to the kitty, etc -- suggested that kitty probably died in her sleep. I didn't believe any of that, but I thought it might ease her panic. It did.)
genderist: (hands the garbage bag of dead kitty to the lady)
lady: Do I just throw it away?
genderist: I can take it and throw it away at my house, if you want.
lady: No, I can do it. (bravely takes the bag of dead kitty to the garage)
genderist: (wogs away)

Scene.

* I was going to post this story this morning, but time was too crunched to blog of the wog.
* I've never actually thrown away a dead cat. But our cat used to bring up lots of dead things that we had to get rid of. And I've thrown away dead birds since I've lived in OKC. And I dissected a cat once in A&P (cat: the other other white meat). I thought it was enough experience to muddle through, which it was.
* Please don't call me to come to your house and dispose of your dead pets. I mean, of course I'd come help, but it's not something I plan on taking up as a passtime.

holding my breath

Next week is a big week. It's time for my 6-month follow up drama. If you'll remember, my last treatment was last November.

Here's the game plan:
Monday= Thyrogen shot #1
Tuesday= Thyrogen shot #2
Wednesday= Lab draw, I-131 Tracer
Friday= Scan
the following Wednesday= follow-up appointment, game plan, etc

So until then, like every other day these last few years, it's one moment at a time.

Mostly I'm trying not to obsess about it. Mostly.

nostalgia

The Hater has DVR'd a boat-load of Tales from the Darkside episodes. He told me how he used to stay up late and watch these super scary shows when he was younger.

Well, we've watched a few of them... and I'm not impressed.

The Hater concedes that they're not as great as he remembers, but he still likes to watch it.

It's very much a La Siesta experience.

I thought that I'd posted something about our trip back to M'boro specifically for La Siesta, our favorite Mexican restaurant on Greenland across from MTSU... but I can't seem to find that post. Here's the re-cap: La Siesta was our favorite place to go eat. We could split an order of fajitas for cheap, and the service was fantastic. It was tasty yummy goodness.

It was great... until we went back to eat there about three years later. Sadly, the experience wasn't as great as we remembered. The salsa didn't sing. The fajitas were not heavenly goodness. Only the service and decor were what we were expecting; we even had the same waitress. Everything else was a supreme let-down. We were about halfway back to LBG when we admitted that it wasn't as great as we remembered. It was a sad drive home.

It was our first of many La Siesta experiences. And now TFTDS has been added to the list.