Wings of Hope – Week 10

Wings of Hope – Week 10      1/31/10 – 2/6/10

*Written by our Wings of Hope Team Captain Chris Kidwell

There are only 69 days left until the Relay for Life at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland! We are still number one with a total of $2,296.00 raised, but Team SASH is quickly approaching us with a total of $2,229.43 raised. We need to ramp up our fundraising efforts quickly if we’re going to make our goal of $5,000.00
Our beautiful banner created by the very talented Angel.

Again, if you haven’t all ready, I encourage our team members to log in to their participant centers on the ACS website and start updating their personal pages for donations. There is also an application on facebook that will help you with meeting your $100 personal goals. Both of these tools will provide donators with official receipts from the American Cancer Society.
Angel McMellin is still working with Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center to secure a date for our bake sale. If you have an alternative location or want to help out, please email her at angelmcmellin@live.com.

We would like to welcome our newest team member: Samantha Kidwell.

We would like to congratulate Co-Captain Jennifer Bridge on her excellent test results. Jennifer is in remission from thyroid cancer and we couldn’t be prouder of her. She also bought her first home last week, so she has numerous reasons to celebrate her battle against cancer. We’d also like to applaud the very talented Angel McMellin for her beautiful banner that she created for the April1 16th relay.

So get out there, spread the word and help us with our fundraising goals. If you’ve all ready donated, please tell your friends and family about Wings of Hope and pass the word along. Don’t forget to visit our website at: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wings2010 .

 

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

 

Wings of Hope Week 9 Update

Wings of Hope Week 9 Update
1/25/10 – 1/31/10

*Written by our Wings of Hope team captain Chris Kidwell 

There are only 76 days left until the Relay for Life at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland! After nine weeks, we are still the number one team with $2,276.00 raised. However, Team SASH is quickly closing in on us with $2,029.43 raised.

I encourage our team members to log in to their participant centers on the ACS website and start updating their personal pages for donations. There is also an application on facebook that will help you with meeting your $100 personal goals. Both of these tools will provide donators with official receipts from the American Cancer Society.

We have some exciting news this week: Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center has agreed to give us the space required to host a bake sale for our team and the event! The date is still to be determined, but we are hoping for early March. Angel McMellin has been absolutely amazing in getting this event organized and we couldn’t be prouder of her efforts. She will need help with running the event and also with producing baked goods. So dust off your mixing bowls, break out your recipe books, and email her at angelmcmellin@live.com to volunteer.

Be on the lookout for a special update once we have finalized the date and time for our bake sale.

Please keep Jennifer Bridge in your prayers and thoughts this week. On Tuesday, February 2nd, she will be receiving her latest test results from her endocrinologist. We are confident that she is still in remission and has successfully kicked cancer’s @$$, but waiting for that appointment is still nerve wracking. Good luck, Jennifer!

We shouldn’t have to live like this. When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you live blood test to blood test, ultrasound to ultrasound. And even after the cancer is gone, and you’re told you’re in remission, you still live with the fear of reoccurrence every round of testing. Life is hard and stressful enough without living with constant fear of the cancer reoccurring or forming a secondary cancer.

So please, help us find a cure for cancer and put a stop to our fears.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

 

RIP my Thyroid 8/4/73 – 1/29/09

Once of my goals the past few months has been to write a “Dear Thyroid” letter and submit it to the Dear Thyroid site.  I finally wrote the letter!! Yay!! I’m so excited for you to read it.  I found it quite therapeutic to write.

I posted my Dear Thyroid letter called ”RIP my Thyroid 8/4/73 – 1/29/09″ on my blog this week, but I had to take it down. Why? Well after posting it on my blog,  I found out that Dear Thyroid will only publish original content.  (Ok, I get it. Rules are rules!)  I do admit, I did not read all the requirements set by Dear Thyroid before submitting my letter. So I have learned my lesson

I will post the link to my letter on the Dear Thyroid site as soon as they post it. Stay tuned for details…

 

Waiting for Results

Last week I went for my six month follow-up thyroid ultrasound.  I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a very nice person at the front desk who treated me like a person with feelings instead of a person ordering cheese at the deli. (Next in line!)  Even Marie, the Ultrasound Technician was compassionate and relaxed.  She really took her time with me during the ultrasound.

The last time I had the ultrasound, they found two lymph nodes that were swollen.  My Endo said that we would keep an eye on it during the next follow-up ultrasound.  So this time when I was laying on the table with the warm gel on my neck and the ultrasound wand sliding around, my nerves were shot. 

Marie told me that there were two lymph nodes sticking out on the left side.  They were in the same area as the ones that were swollen six months ago.  Oh No!  She moved around and hovered the wand over the other side of my neck and found two more that were sticking out.  I felt sick and a wave of fear rushed over me.  Marie said “off record” that the lymph nodes looked like regular ones to her.  Well that did not make me feel better.  What Marie didn’t know is that I found out after my thyroidectomy that the cancer had spread to five  of the seven lymph nodes they removed during the surgery.

When I left the appointment I decided not to let the potential upsetting news get me down.  I walked back out as a thyroid cancer survivor!  I have not heard any good news or bad news yet.  I’m waiting for the results.  My appointment to go over the ultrasound results and blood work is not until February 2.  I can’t remember if my doctor called me prior to our appointment last time or not. 

Waiting for the results is starting to take a toll on me.  I am so good at focusing on gratitude and holding on to the fact that everything is going to be alright.  I consider myself to be a positive person with a wonderful support network that are here for me through it all.  But this waiting for results thing is really difficult.

I’ve been really emotional the past couple of days.  I feel really sensitive to everything and on edge.  The fear of what might be lurking in those lymph nodes is in the back of my mind.  I’m scared.  I hope and pray that the cancer has not come back to more lymph nodes.  Regardless, I can’t do anything about it now except write this post and know that the other people reading this understand.  And in turn it helps me to not feel so alone.

 

Wings of Hope – Week 8 Update

Wings of Hope Week 8 Update   1/17/10 – 1/24/10

*Written by our team captain, Chris Kidwell

Can you believe it’s been two months since we started Wings of Hope? I certainly can’t. What’s even more unbelievable to me is how well we are doing. After eight weeks, we are still the number one team out of 72 with $2,226.00 raised for the American Cancer Society. We have reached 45% of our goal and are responsible for 5.5% of all the money raised for the April 16th event.

We would like to thank Joyce Cole, an employee at Johns Hopkins Hospital for her generous donation last week. Joyce and I have never actually met, but she was the person responsible for my out-of-state patient scheduling when we first found my tumor in August 2008. She took amazing care of me via the telephone and e-mail during my treatment program.

I’d like to recap our amazing team members for our relay event: Co-Captain Jennifer Bridge, Lynne & Larry Bridge, Christina Colley, Mary DiMaggio, Jennifer Engesser, Brian Ferrina, Darren Johnson, Rachel Markus, and Angel McMellin.

Angel is still looking for a location to host our bake sale, so if you have any suggestions, please contact her.

We will be having a team meeting on Saturday, March 6th at 11:30 a.m. with the restaurant to be determined. It’s not too late to join our team or to help us in reaching our goals. So if you are interested in finding out more about what you can do for Wings of Hope and the American Cancer Society, please contact myself or Jennifer Bridge.

And as always, thanks to our thylicious sisters at Dear Thyroid for their continued support promoting our team.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

 

Scan Looks Good!

I got a call back from my doctor’s assistant (FINALLY!) From what they could see, the scan looked good!  She didn’t have the details, but since I had called earlier, my doc wanted to at least let me know that much.  WELL THANK YOU!!!  (I’m dancing right now, but you can’t see that part!) I’m a cancer SURVIVOR!!! My status remains!!!

HOWEVER, the blood work is NOT back yet, which will give the official “in the clear.” But I am not going to focus on that details. Because right now, all is well!!!  I am so grateful for all the love and support.  Especially from the other thyroid cancer survivors that contribute to this blog.  It helps us all!!

So let’s all live it up to the fullest.  Life is made for living, not waiting!!  ♥

 

Still Waiting for Results

Here is my latest status update on Facebook:

 ”Update…NOT! I called the doctor again to see if the results were in. He’s still waiting on the scan. I don’t think he is gonna spend any time this weekend wondering if my cancer returned. So until I hear otherwise, I am a cancer survivor and my scan is clean!!!”

 

Thylicious Survivors

Our Wings of Hope team captain Chris has made the first sign for the upcoming American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in April.  We are going to raise lots of money for it while having an awesome time with other cancer survivors and supporters.  Yay!

 

Wings of Hope – Week 7 Update

Week 7 Update         1/10/10 – 1/17/10

*Written by Chris Kidwell Prestano

Seven weeks into our fundraising and we have reached 43% of our goal.Seven weeks into this and we are still the number one team with ten members and $2,166 raised for cancer research. Way to go, team!

We would like to thank the following people for their generous donations to Wings of Hope: Mary Aufiero, Samuel & Bonnie Sislen, Sista Jen, Joey Berry, Barbara Cohen, Brandon Riggs, Avi Cohen, and Andy Vineberg. Thank you. We would not be this successful without your support. As always, we want to give a special shout out to our girls at Dear Thyroid. Thank you for your continued support of our team. You rock ladies.

We’re still in the process of rounding up camping equipment and still working on finding a location to hold our bake sale. If you know of a place, please contact Angel McMellin.

Please keep the following people in your thoughts and prayers this week: Co-Captain Jennifer Bridge who is anxiously waiting for February 2nd to get her test results. But we are all confident that her scan will come back clean and she’ll be cancer free. Jennifer Rudd Monath and her family. Her grandmother is in the hospital and they have found cancer cells in her lung fluid. My aunt, Carol Dotson, who has spent the last month in the hospital battling lymphoma.

This is why we relay. So please help us because the more money we raise, the closer we get to a world without cancer.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

 

Thyroid Hormone Therapy – Patient Guidelines

From the start, I’ve had a great group of doctors treating me during the pre-cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment and post-cancer visits.  Looking back, I realize that living in Baltimore and being referred to the Endocrine team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine was a BIG blessing.  After all, I had so many questions and wanted as much information as I could get from the experts at JHU. 

Since I had a thyroidectomy, I needed to take a thyroid hormone medication to replace my thyroid gland function.  So one of the questions I had was ”What are the patient guidelines for thyroid hormone therapy?”  I have heard and read about all kinds of “rules” when it comes to guidelines patients are supposed to follow.  I came across the guidelines that were sent to me from JHU the other day.  Warning:  Before making any changes to your thyroid hormone therapy, always check with your doctor.  I am not a medical professional (I’m just a thyroid cancer survivor trying to help others by sharing my experience.)  The guidelines below will hopefully bring you some awareness and serve as a “conversation piece” for you to have with your doctor.

•  Take your medication consistently at the same time, ideally in the morning OR at bedtime on an empty stomach. If a dose is missed you can make it up at a later time or the next day.
•  Separate your thyroid hormone by 4 hours from iron containing multi-vitamins, iron tablets, calcium supplements, antacids, and soy products.
•     Thyroid medication doses vary from 0.025 mg to 0.3 mg tablets. Your medication dose is embossed on the color-coded tablet. Your doctor will select a dose appropriate for your situation.
•  Take the same brand of thyroid hormone regularly, since all preparations are not the same. Generic forms of thyroid hormone are not recommended.  If you switch to another preparation, a blood test should be done in 4-6 weeks to confirm the adequacy of your new medication.
• Sometimes it is necessary to “fine tune” a dosing schedule by adding or subtracting a weekly tablet.
• There are other medications that may affect your requirements for thyroid hormone. Notify your doctor if you start or stop the following medications: estrogen replacement (HRT), oral contraceptives, cholestyramine (Questran^®) , cholestipol (Colestid^®) , aluminum hydroxide gel (Amphogel^®), sucralfate (Carafate^®), phenytoin (Dilantin^®), carbemazapine (Tegretol^®), phenobarbital, valproic acid (Depakene^®), rifampin (Rifadin^®), raloxafene (Evista^®), sertraline (Zoloft^®), amiodarone (Cordarone^®) .
• Thyroid hormone is safe to take during pregnancy. If you become pregnant while taking thyroid hormone, notify your doctor immediately. It is important to monitor your blood work frequently during pregnancy since the dose may need to be increased.  A TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) blood test will confirm if you are on the correct dose of medication. It is usually done 4-6 weeks after thyroxine is begun or after your dose of medication is changed.  You do not have to be fasting for this test and it maybe done anytime of the day. You should take your medication the day of this testing.

Side effects of thyroid hormone are usually related to an incorrect dose. Your doctor has selected this strength based on your weight, diagnosis, and goal of treatment. Frequent dose adjustments are not regularly required. 

Possible symptoms of thyroid hormone excess (too high a dose of medication) include:

• Palpitations (rapid heart beat)
• Heat intolerance
• Hand tremors
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Fatigue
• Difficulty concentrating
• Frequent stools, diarrhea
• Unexplained weight loss 

Possible symptoms of thyroid hormone deficiency (too low a dose of medication) include:

• Fatigue
• Cold intolerance
• Constipation
• Dry skin
• Weight gain
• Coarse skin
• Impaired memory
• Depression