Goodbye, Blithe Spirit

Tonight is the final performance of Blithe Spirit.  The Chief is watching the show tonight, after which we’ll collect my things and the wigs and head home.  Striking hair and makeup tonight means I can stay home tomorrow while everyone else strikes the set, costumes, etc.  While I’ll be glad of the break, I’ll be a little sad that I don’t have any further theater adventures on the calendar for the rest of the year.

This is the first time I’ve done different productions of the same show so close together.  I was able to apply what I learned last year, as far as a good gray foundation, while having fun designing slightly different hairstyles for the women.  Among other things, I got to use a couple of styles I didn’t use last year.  I really like how my version of this Bette Davis style turned out.  Better, I was able to find a good gray wig so I didn't need to dye one for Elvira.

As usual, I enjoyed the camaraderie in the dressing room.  This company does 4-week runs, so there was plenty of time for the ladies to cement their rapport.  This was obviously a cast who got along well and supported each other - no divas here.  One of the 2 gentlemen in the cast commented tonight that “this is obviously where the party is.”  Well, with only 2 in the men’s dressing room, it’s bound to be much quieter.

evanescent urticaria

My dermatologist got back to me with a plan for getting rid of these temporary rashes (evanescent urticaria - not nearly as pretty as any of these orchids) that have been plaguing me for weeks, consisting of 2 different OTC antihistamines.  He warned me this could take months (!) but it should work.  With any luck, things will be much better by the time I see him at the end of October.

My endocrinologist assured me this won't interfere with my thyroid med as long as I wait at least an hour after taking the thyroid med to take the antihistamine.

You’d think I’d have the hang of this by now.

So here I am, 5+ weeks post-op, and swallowing is still a problem at times.  It’s only with liquids and smoothies, but I still have to remember to take smaller sips than I used to, and to tuck my chin and turn my head before swallowing.  I don’t know why that tuck-and-turn trick works, but it does.

In other news, these temporary rashes, or “evanescent urticaria”, continue to plague me.  My dermatology appointment isn’t until the end of October but I’m on the waitlist in the event of a cancellation.  I plan to message my dermatologist, of course, but I’m really hoping and praying I can get in soon.

One med gone

Based on yesterday’s bloodwork, my endo tells me I can stop taking the medicine that filled in for my parathyroid while it was recovering from surgery.  Being able to retire one med is a good thing!  She wants me to go back for more bloodwork next week as we continue to monitor my progress.

5 weeks post-op

Because we’re still tweaking my synthroid, my day started with another visit to the lab for blood work.  I’m sure my endocrinologist will let me know if we’ll make any changes this week or “let it ride”.

The Chief and I followed that up with a trip to the toy store, aka Sur La Table, to look for a coffee maker to replace the one that died.  We’ve been making do with a little 4-cup pot, which has been sufficient (I haven’t been drinking coffee now that I have to wait 4 hours post-synthroid to have any calcium) but it doesn’t have an automatic shut-off.  He ended up treating himself to one that has a built-in bean grinder.  That’ll make the house smell wonderful every morning!

As luck would have it, there was a coffee shop across the street, where I had my first latte in ages, along with a very nice chocolate croissant (aka chocolatine, aka pain au chocolat).  And yes, we each got an extra pastry for tomorrow.  It was a beautiful day for it, too - cool enough that we actually needed jackets when we first left the house, and a near-cloudless sky.

I’m starting to regain some semblance of stamina at long last.  Yesterday I managed 15 minutes on the treadmill (variable incline) and today I opted for the stairs going back to the car after our retail adventures and wasn’t the least bit winded, though my thighs did notice the incline when we got into the parking garage.  Not that I haven’t been taking stairs, but this was the first time I didn’t notice them.

Weird post-op stuff

My system is definitely different since getting my thyroid yanked.  First of all, there’s all the weird breathing stuff because of that paralyzed vocal fold.  I have coughs that sound like sneezes, or occasionally like sobs, just for variety.  Then there are the little inhales that sometimes rumble in my chest and sound like snoring or growling.  And we can’t forget the gasping inhale, though those are becoming less common.  My speaking voice is still weird - high, in a cartoony way, or mid-range and glitchy.

In addition to the dizziness that just started today, I’ve been dealing with “evanescent urticaria” - the here-again-gone-again rashes I keep getting.  My energy level continues to be low, to the point that I told the director of my next show that I won’t be able to be part of the design team after all. 😢  I thought about that one long and hard, but in the end I just couldn’t justify staying on when I can’t guarantee whether I’ll be able to do good work.

On the other hand, my arthritis has been leaving me alone, even the arthritis in my neck, the MRI for which is what got me started on this adventure.

Dizzy

 Poor Chief.  I had a big dizzy hit so he had to drive me to the theater again today.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a one-off;  I’ve had a few touches of dizziness, some while I was trying to wig someone.  Not enough that I fell over, but certainly enough to confirm that having him drive was the right decision.

Entering the next phase

Today was my first prednisone-free day in over a month, since the onset of that awful rash.  Hurray!

Today I also started my new, adjusted levothyroxine dose.  Not sure if it's the new med dosage or what, but I'm feeling a bit lightheaded again today.  The Chief and I are both hoping that fades, so that he doesn't have to drive me to the theater.  (Blithe Spirit has 4 performances this weekend.)

And I scheduled my Nuclear Medicine consult.  Don't know whether we'll schedule my radioactive iodine then, but at least things are moving along.

4 weeks post-op

The pace is slowing now that the rash is finally gone.  I still have a bit of itching, but it's nothing like as bad as when the rash was at its worst.  The incision is healing slowly but surely, though my surgeon recommends I get some silicone scar strips in 2 or 3 weeks and apply them over it.  Not that I care about a scar, but healing?  Yes, please.

Talked to my endocrinologist this morning.  We discussed adjusting my levothyroxine and calcium supplements as my body adjusts to its new normal.  I thought we'd schedule my radioactive iodine, but she's referring me to Nuclear Medicine for that.  She also told me they like to wait 3-6 months for that step, not the 6-8 weeks I'd seen somewhere.  There's a bit of prep for the iodine - 2 weeks of a low-iodine diet, a couple of injections, and a thyroid and whole-body scan.  Depending on what the NucMed folks tell me, I may opt for a November date to get it over with (as long as it doesn't run up against Thanksgiving), or wait until January, well after the holidays.  We're flying for both my sister's wedding and Christmas this year.  I wouldn't want TSA to turn me away at the gate because I'm still radioactive!

3 weeks post-op

Three weeks ago today the surgeon slit my throat and did his best to remove as much cancer as possible.  The incision is healing up nicely now that we have the rash under control, and as of today I no longer have a lift restriction.  The Chief still helped me load stuff into the car to take to a different theater.  (They're doing a semi-staged concert production and asked me to style wigs for 2 of the principals.)

My body still seems to be adjusting to its new need for synthroid, and I've got another 10 days of prednisone to get through, which may be why I still run out of gas so quickly.  That, and the fact that talking is gonna continue to be work until that left vocal fold heals.

I really appreciate how responsive my surgeon has been.  He's answered all my questions within 24 hours and sent me a message this morning checking up on me after yesterday's adventure.

False alarm?

I’ve been a bit short of breath since yesterday morning and inhalers and neb treatments weren’t helping.  I’d also started having swallowing problems again, after having none for a week or so.  So back to Kaiser urgent care I went today.  But hey, it’s been a week and a half since my last UC visit, so that’s an improvement, right?😄

They gave me my money’s worth - labs, EKG, CT scan of my neck and chest, palpating of the surgical site, and of course a lot of questions about how long, and how often, and so on.  The UC doc spent a fair bit of time on the phone with the ENT on call and finally decided that, because I hadn’t experienced any distress during the 6+ hours I was there, that this was probably just post-op recovery woes.

Among other things, the CT found some lung nodules, which the doc told me are “tiny”, not that unusual, and no cause for concern.  After my experience with these thyroid nodules, I’m not so sanguine.  I wanted to let my pulmonologist know about the scan, but apparently he’s no longer with Kaiser. 😢. A shame - he was a lot of help when I had a very stubborn asthma flare after my first bout of COVID.  I guess I’ll reach out to my allergist, both to tell him about the scan and to ask him to recommend another pulmonologist.

Poor Chief - he sat there with me, reading and listening to music on his phone until the battery ran down to 10%.  After that he started to get a bit punchy - “Hi, I’m Dr. Smartypants!” 😂. Well, it kept us entertained while we waited.  And waited…

The rash saga continues but seems to be winding down.

(This should have posted 3 days ago.)

This is the first day since this whole rash business started that I haven’t had some temporary (1-3 hours) rash sprout on the underside of my forearm, the back of my hand, or elsewhere.  My primary doc relayed my info, with pics, to dermatology.  The doc covering for my dermatologist recommended a different antihistamine, but this was late in the day, so that might not happen until Monday. 😥. However, given that I haven’t gotten any new rashes today (finally!), and the original rash areas are only mildly itchy now, I’m not too upset. 

I still find myself dragging during the day but can’t tell how much of that is post-op recovery and how much is the meds I’m taking for this stubborn rash.  I cut back on the Rx antihistamine, which has drowsiness as a side effect, but that doesn’t seem to have made any difference.  Twice this week I’ve slept late, had breakfast, then gone back to bed for a hour or so, which I almost never do.  I was feeling a bit out of it this morning.  The Chief and I went grocery shopping today and I was hanging on to that cart to steady myself.  Weird feeling!

Another tech week on steroids

 In June, the steroids were for the recurring sinus infections I'd been getting since the beginning of March, which made Patience tech week more stressful than tech week usually is.  This time, the steroids are for the rash that has been plaguing me.  I think the meds finally have it on the run, but the prednisone has my sleep cycle all shot to pieces.  Last night the Chief had to drive me to the theater because I felt enough out of it that I didn't feel safe to drive.  I ended up sleeping, soundly, in the car most of the way to the theater, so that was the right call.

Today I got up late, had breakfast, then went back to bed and slept another hour or two.  We both celebrated when I learned tonight's rehearsal has been cancelled so the lighting crew can replace many of the instruments.

The itch factor has finally dropped to only a 1 or a 2, though I still get occasional, random breakouts.  It's very weird - I'll get a new patch on a forearm or upper arm, which then fades after an hour or few.  However, I don't need to apply as much cream to get relief.  I also haven't applied it but once a day the past coupla days, thanks to tech week throwing me off.  I should probably go back to 3 times a day, or at least twice, just to make sure we have this thing under control.

Talking to "my" people as I'm wigging them can still be tricky.  Who knows how long it will be before that vocal fold is back in working order.  For now, I have a voice that cuts in and out, coughs that sound like sneezes, and an inhale for those coughs that still sounds wheezy.  The surgeon explained that my breathing is gonna sound weird because of that inactive vocal fold.  Oh, and the tremor from the prednisone is fun, too.  Good thing I don't have to help anyone with their eyeliner!  

 

Freezer update

The new freezer arrived this morning.  It's a bit narrower than its predecessor but taller, so we get one more shelf.  That will make it a little easier to sort and arrange whatever we end up putting in there, making it easier to find.  We don't plan to start restocking before tomorrow; we want to be sure it's fully cold first.

First thing into the new freezer will probably most of the frozen fruit we'd bought for post-op smoothies.  Probably also some of the turkey I cut up this afternoon (6 turkey thighs have a lot of meat on 'em!) and maybe even some of the tetrazzini I made with it.  That was a recipe that had gotten sorta pushed aside by other things, but I think we could have it more often.  Excellent comfort food, though maybe I'll use more mushrooms next time.

 

 

Maybe the meds are *finally* starting to kick in?

The itching woke me up again today.  However, after the first round of meds and creams, the itch started to back off.  My face didn't look quite as inflamed by dinnertime as it does in these pics, and the itch is down to a more manageable level.  Given that I started the prednisone taper this morning that starts at 60mg, not the 40mg I'd been taking, that's not terribly surprising.  (I haven't figured out yet how to get these photos on the same line. 😖  Last night I wouldn't have been surprised to wake up with my eyes swollen shut but things seem to be calming down.

The Chief has been taking very good care of me:  fixing me eggs for breakfast every morning, trying to keep up as I figure out how to adjust to life on synthroid, helping me with theater stuff (climbing ladders in a storage bay, carrying things for me while I'm under my lift restriction, etc.), going to the grocery store for things we never used to buy (cottage cheese and canned fruit), and generally trying to help me recover so I can return to life as usual. I'll probably still ask for a little help with meals, maybe twice a week, but having such a supportive husband is making this whole business a whole lot easier!

   

"You're back *again*?!"

 This rash continues to spread and I continue to wake up scratching.  The Chief ferried me back to Kaiser (trip #4 in 6 days, for those of you is keeping score), where they gave me another 3 weeks' worth of prednisone and had me double up the Rx antihistamine I was given earlier this week.  They also recommended a stronger ointment to use on the rash except for my face.

The triage nurse recognized me; "Weren't you here earlier this week...?"  Yeah, I should just book myself a cot and a locker. 😵 

This is wearing me out.  I feel like this rash has me living at the urgent care unit, when I should be sitting around resting up.  (I actuallly did nod off while I was waiting for the doc.)  Having this persistent rash on top of the cancer is just adding insult to injury.  Or maybe injury to injury?  Anyway, this whole business of aging, with its concomitant system failures, is a system in drastic need of an overhaul!

This is getting old

I think the rash may finally have stopped spreading.  However, the itch has ratcheted back up to a 6 or maybe even a 7.  I wonder if I may need more prednisone? The side effects are a mess - for one thing,  y sleep cycle is shot to pieces - but if it gets rid of this miserable itch, I’ll deal with it.

My face looks worse than it did yesterday - red and blotchy.  Just lovely. 😢. This is wearing me out, or maybe it’s just the prednisone messing up my sleep.

Adjusting to life on synthroid

Now that I have to take synthroid, I'm finding I need to make some adjustments.  First of all, I have to take it first thing in the morning, at least half an hour before I eat anything.  Not too hard, now that I'm retired; I can take my time getting around to breakfast.

But breakfast is gonna be an adjustment.  Because I can't have anything with calcium or iron in it for at least 4 hours after I take the synthroid, that means my usual bowl of cereal and coffee with milk are a thing of the past.  Scrambled eggs have worked nicely, but that's gonna get old in a hurry.  I thought I'd have some peanut butter on toast this morning, but the bread wrapper says it's "an excellent source of calcium".  So much for that idea.  I've been snacking on cottage cheese with canned peaches but of course the cottage cheese is out as a breakfast option.

If you're living on synthroid, what do you do about breakfast?

Homeowner woes

 I’m barely a week post-op, should be lolling around with my feet up.  Instead, the Chief and I were online last night shopping for a freezer to replace the one that died on us the other day.  That sorted, today has been spent trying to rescue the thawed and thawing food.  Some went to our yard/handyman, more will go to friends with fridge space.

The turkey thighs are cooking and will become tetrazzini.  A LOT of tetrazzini, which of course we can’t freeze.  That may also go to our friends with fridge space.

Most of the frozen vegetables went into 2 enormous batches of orange soup (named for its color) and veggie-beef soup, filling my 8-quart and 12-quart pots respectively.  You get 2 pics of the orange soup because first I cook all the vegetables (no oranges), then I puree everything for a nice texture.

 

The Chief cooked up 2 bags of no-longer-frozen peas, blenderized them, and added them to the home-made pea soup friends gave him last night.  More food that won’t fit into the fridge and which we can’t freeze.  😜

 

Update:  We got lucky - our friends had plenty of space in their fridge.  We saved them a grocery trip, they saved us from having to throw out perfectly good food.  Win win! 

Better?

The rash continues to spread (my face looks kinda scary now) but the steroids have finally kicked in, taking the itch from a 7 down to maybe a 3 or a 4.  It still woke me up this morning, but it’s been worse.  Talking is gonna be an effort for a while, but swallowing and yawning are back, and laughing no longer hurts.  For the first time since my surgery, I don’t feel the need to go to urgent care or even call the advice nurse.  Hallelujah!