The Swiss Miss: The "C" Word

At least I don't regret eating all that Easter candy- because I didn't eat any...because I can’t- not this year. I’m on a diet- a special diet. I can’t have sodium or dairy- meaning basically all processed foods and then some- sounds fun right?! Only two more weeks to go. I can do it- I need to do it, I don’t have a choice. I will not complain though, because I’m alive. I may not be 100% but I’m getting there- hopefully.

It’s not the first time I’ve been on this diet and it won’t be the last- I’ve actually had to do it 4 times since that day. That day three years ago when I got diagnosed with the “C” word. The word you hear about and automatically think it's only a matter of time, you know- until you die. It was different for me though, I was never scared. I never worried about dying and to this day I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried about it. I'm convinced that without a past like mine I would have never been prepared for something like this- but everything happens for a reason.

Looking back it’s been a long road. First, I was diagnosed with a severe case of Graves Disease which meant my thyroid needed to be removed, but I also had a lump on the left side of my neck. It was a swollen lymph node, that after a biopsy the inevitable was confirmed. I was a victim. I had cancer.

My parents searched for the very best care and I ended up in the hands of a surgeon- Dr. Gaz, from Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He was the very best. He treated me like his own. He worked on me for 10 whole hours (twice as long as he expected to). Then, he sat with me when I woke up- both of us exhausted from the invasive procedure. He removed my thyroid as well as all of the lymph nodes in the left side of my neck. He said that he saw more but I had already been under for too long- he had to close me up. I went home after a few days but that was not the end- and it still isn’t. Since then I have been under the close eye and tight chain(-_-) of Dr. Stathatos an Endocrinologist who also works out of MGH. I have had treatment after treatment and until this nonsense is completely gone- we will not stop.

Soooo... I’ll just keep busy doing all the things that I love and even the things that I don’t. School is probably at the top of my DON’T list this week-ahhemm...

Before