Since my last post, it has been quite the roller coaster in this room. I felt very well when I first got back to my room, and I thought that this week was going to be a breeze! haha. Oh, so naive 😉

All of a sudden after eating dinner that first night, I had to do everything in my power not to throw up. I laid in bed from about 9 p.m. until around 3 p.m. the next day just forcing myself NOT to spew. Yes, it was as glamorous as it sounds. I was concerned that if I threw up, I would screw up this whole process, so I just kept it in. I made the conscious decision to force myself to sleep off the feeling of wanting to vomit. My friends, that doesn’t tend to work…

I finally called my radiologist and she told me I should’ve called the night before. OOPS.

I wasn’t really anticipating the nausea, because she had told me that she only had one patient ever have nausea, and that it’s a rare side-effect. Interestingly, myself and the other person they treated on the same day both had severe nausea. She prescribed me some medication, which is making all the difference in the world.

I created a cave.

This room has shades that I pull completely down, and before I started feeling sick the first night, I hung blankets in the little cracks between the shades and the windows, so absolutely no light can come in. I initially did this just because I’m a light sleeper, and I knew I would wake up with the sunrise the next day, and I didn’t want to.

However, because of how sick I felt the first four days, I didn’t really turn on the light in my room or lift the shades at all. I shifted positions in bed, slept when I could and just prayed that the nausea would pass soon. Days two and three, I think I managed to force myself to eat about an apple and a half with some peanut butter, and that’s it.

I also lost my voice for that amount of time, but that was pretty entertaining. I didn’t have a sore throat at all–I just woke up one morning and opened my mouth to say something to my uncle and nothing came out. Each day, I had no voice in the morning and then eventually gained an even lower voice than I already have throughout the day. I called my mom to sing her happy birthday and squeaked “Hap– birth–” and just said “sorry, that’s all I’ve got.”

My low voice became extra apparent when I FaceTime’d my dad, mom, brother, sister-in-law, aunt and uncle a couple nights a go. Thanks for pointing that out, dad. haha. In any event, that FaceTime was the first time that I laughed or really found the energy to talk for a long(er) period of time since I started this. It was wonderful seeing them all together.

I really should not have been caught off-guard with the toll this has taken on my body. I think I’ve truly convinced myself that I’m invincible (and most of the time I believe it), or maybe I’m still holding out for my super-hero status from this radiation. Seriously, though, they gave me over 3x the normal dose of radioactive iodine–even MY stubborn mind can’t conquer that and convince myself I’m doing OK. Really Lydia? Common. 🙂 Humbling, that’s for sure.

I have so much to be thankful for! 

I cannot begin to articulate how blessed I have been staying at my uncle’s during this process. He is one of the most self-less, hospitable, loving people I have ever known. He has prepared every meal for me. While on my strict low-iodine diet, he spent nights in the kitchen being creative and making me incredible food, all from scratch and all creative concoctions that he pulled together. While I couldn’t really eat for a couple days, he was always there asking what he could bring me to drink or eat or asking if I wanted anything from the store.

My parents have been amazing as well. My mom flew out from Cali to Indy last week to see our family in the area.  My dad also made a quick decision to fly out for the weekend, and go to Indy for a couple days to see everyone and then come up to Chicago for one evening “with” me, even though I’m still quarantined.

It was so special to have him here, cooking stir fry (that I was able to eat on my diet) with my uncle in the other room, then he ate dinner with me by sitting in the doorway of my room, and my uncle sat about 8 ft away from me on the opposite side of the room. I’ll never forget that.

Bright days ahead.

Today was a great day. I finally feel like I’m on the way up! I started my new thyroid medication that I will be on the rest of my life and can eat normal food again! In celebration, my uncle has made me some incredible food, using basically everything I’ve been restricted from over the last month–especially CHEESE (oh, how I’ve missed cheese).

My brain is still too tired to focus on anything intellectually, but I worked on a puzzle most of the day and that was nice. Sitting up was a great feeling and having the shades up and natural light coming in was refreshing–even watching the rain throughout the day made me smile.

I set up my bike on its trainer today, and I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll be able to pedal for a while. That’d be fantastic. I’d love to get my blood flowing and start feeling active again. I also hope I’ll be able to focus enough to read tomorrow, I brought so many good books!

I also can’t wait for this weekend. When I get out of quarantine, I have to get at a scan done to check the iodine levels in my body, but then I am driving to Indy to see family (including my mom!). I am also making a trip (or two) to Greenfield, so if anyone wants to possibly hang out, text me :). I’m excited that Sean’s going to be in town from Colorado! It’ll be a great weekend after being cooped up for eight days!