Bugs and a biopsy

I know…shame on me for not posting sooner!

I can never seem to bring myself to finish a post these days. I have tried to sit down to bang something out, but I can’t seem to form a cohesive thought in my head…sign of a busy mind I guess.

So what has been keeping me busy these days? I regret to say that most of our household has been suffering from one germ or another over the past several months. First we all caught a bad cold and Andrew came down with croup. The poor little guy sounded like he was gasping for air and we had one very scary night where we contemplated heading to CHEO. Thankfully the scary cough eventually cleared and, after having a snotty miserable child clinging to us for two days, we also came down with a cold. Fast forward a few weeks later and we all came down with a tummy bug. Same trend as always – Drew went first first, followed by Mom and Dad. I am both proud and ashamed to admit that I won the vomit record for our household – eight times over a five hour period. As I am quickly discovering, babies have an amazing knack to recover from illness much faster than adults. It’s very hard to take care of a happy toddler that just wants to run, while we’re both hugging the toilet. And for “dessert” tack on another dreary chest cold for Mom – voila!

I have no idea what it is about 2011. I’m usually the picture of perfect health but I can’t seem to shake any little germ that comes into the house this year. I think some of this can be attributed to being overtired and the additional stress from multiple events going on at work. Oh course, I have also had that niggling worry in the back of my mind about my thyroid. Sometimes stress can be the biggest detriment to your immune system. At any rate, I very much hope that May will bring about some relief, physically, mentally and emotionally. When I feel well enough, I want to get out on the roads and start training for my race in earnest. The will is there but the body is not right now.

Today I went for my thyroid biopsy. I was nervous as hell this morning and couldn’t shake the image of a giant needle being plunged into my neck. Thankfully, the procedure was not nearly as horrific as I thought it would be. The freezing did sting and made me feel a bit faint (my typical vasovagal reaction to needles), but the actual extraction wasn’t all that bad. If anything, I was very thankful for the freezing. Much to my surprise, they actually put three needles into my neck and the doctor had to make vigorous up-and-down/ wrist flicking motions to obtain each sample. Without the freezing, I’m sure I would have definitely passed out. It was like being stabbed in the neck repeatedly… without the pain. Given the hellish labour that I had to endure with Drew, I was fairly confident that I could get through this test with most, if not all, of my dignity.

Now the waiting game continues, but in earnest this time. I’ll have to wait 14 working days before results are sent to the surgeon. I think the wait is probably the most agonizing part. I want to rule out the big “C” but the test results are still not 100% accurate. I like things black and white but sadly life does not always happen that way. I’ll just have to roll with it and see what comes to pass. Got to keep my chin up – even though my throat I a bit sore ; )