Cheers  TracieD  xxoxx

On Saturday a friend asked me for a baby sitting favour which I jumped at!  Emma has three gorgeous kids, 1 beautiful 11 year old girl and 2 boys.  I’ve always got a house full of kids but usually all boys.  My daughter is 6 so when she has friends come over they are usually happy to play barbies and dolls.  I was a bit worried about making sure that Emma’s kids had a great day. I figured the boys would be fine, I have three boys as well so I knew we had plenty of Nerf guns and Xbox games to keep them amused for a month of Sundays. I was worried that Lauren would be bored.  So i decided the night before that I should do what I loved to do at her age and that was to spend the day cooking and baking!

We had a great day (although my legs were screaming by 5pm from standing all day) and our food turned out beautifully!

We made some Chocolate Choc Chip Cookies and some truffles and a whole heap of Easter inspired chocolates.  All in all it was a very successful day!  You can click on the pictures below to make them bigger.

Make sure you watch our video below the photos on how we made our Easter inspired Chocolates, Lauren did such an amazing job and they all look and taste like heaven.

Lauren & Imogen Making Easter Chocolates Video

Have a great day!!

Cheers TracieD

Here are a couple of pictures of my scar today.  I have taken a close up as well because I think from a bit of a distance now you can’t see the scar as much.  The pictures aren’t very big but if you click on them it will bring up a bigger version.

I am about to ramble on about some of the things that I have experienced since being diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and before I do I just want to say that I am so grateful that I had my cancer detected and that I was able to save my life.  My days are up and down and I do look forward to being a year down the track and being on top of my thyroid replacement medication so that I am back to my 120% self.  I just wanted to write down some of my experiences and feelings so that anyone else going through this will have a view on what it might be like.  When I was first diagnosed I was desperate to read other peoples experiences and try to find out a little of what I might have to go through.

My thoughts and feelings……

I thought that after I had my cancerous thyroid removed and had my radiation therapy I would be back to the old me.

I thought that it would just take a little time to get over the anesthetic from the operation.

I thought that the radiation would be just 4 days in hospital and then once I got home I’d be as right as rain.

I am a positive person and I still really love my life but shit it’s been hard.

I’m not back to the old me and I miss the old me.

It was more than just the anesthetic from surgery that I’ve been working towards getting over.

I wish I’d never had the radiation therapy because it made me feel terrible.  I’m not saying don’t have it, I am saying do your research as to whether you really need to have it.  I wish I’d never had to have my Thyroid removed because you can’t think straight without one!

When you have thyroid cancer the side affects from the treatment last for the rest of your life.  I can’t go get plastic or cosmetic surgery to replace my thyroid.  The recurrence rates of thyroid cancer are the same as the recurrence rates for breast cancer.

It’s really hard to know what part of actually having cancer has had the impact on me and of how I’m feeling today and since my diagnosis.

I don’t have the energy I had before.  When I first got out of hospital from the Radiation Therapy I needed to have a nanna nap (afternoon nap) every day.  A week after my therapy we went on an overseas holiday so I spent a lot of time just sitting by the pool, swimming and relaxing and now I am about a month out of therapy and I don’t need to have a nap but my brain feels slooooooowwwwwwww.

I still can’t think as quickly as I always have in the past and I am soooo emotional.  Tears are springing to my eyes every time I see something or think of something remotely sad.  It’s crazy and YES I have tried to drink alcohol to cheer myself up but I can’t even stomach a glass of anything!

Ohhhhh and the biggey is the weight gain.  Not that I’ve put on a lot but 5kg is noticeable in my clothes.  I am back on my Isagenix supplements and shakes which is great.  Now I just need to get back into some exercise and I am starting a Nutritional Cleansing 30 Day Program on Monday morning.  There are a few of us girls who are going to do it together to keep each other inspired. I’m aiming to lose 7kg in that 30 days.

HERE IS SOME EXCITING NEWS

Yesterday I finally had an appointment with a very special doctor.  I knew when my GP disagreed with me that nutrition has a massive impact on our health that I needed to find a new doctor.  I also knew that my new doctor had to be very special.  I have been doing a lot of research on Thyroid Health and found a great site called “Stop the Thyroid Madness” which explains a lot about Thyroid health and where to go for help.

At the end of this post I will copy a list from the STTM website of all the list of Symptoms of hypothyroidism.  Just think, that in order to have my I131 Radiation treatment I had to be severely hypo before they would do the treatment.  That is why they waited 4 weeks after removing my thyroid before they would do the treatment.  If you suspect you may have a thyroid issue check out that website and don’t listen to your doctor when they tell you the blood test came back normal.

It was on the Stop the Thyroid Madness website that I read about compounding pharmacies and that, through a compounding pharmacy I might be able to find a doctor who looks outside the box.  That was the starting point of where to find a special doctor.   Anyway, after a few phone calls and a few more questions to Mr Google I found Dr Robert Hanner.  Dr Hanner has a special interest in Gastrointestinal Disorders, Metal Toxicity & Thyroid Disease.

I was beside myself when Dr Hanner started suggesting blood tests that “normal” GP’s wont even look at ordering.  My old GP told me that I didn’t need to look at all those blood tests because there was nothing wrong with my Thyroid.

Whhhoooohhhoooo!  A real doctor who asks questions about how I’m feeling.  A real doctor who wants to do blood tests to see how my body is converting and using the thyroxin replacement.  A real doctor who is ordering some blood tests to see how much mercury and lead is in my body.  A real doctor who wants to do a test to check on my adrenal gland.   I actually told him that his words were like an orgasm to my ears!!

We even spoke about water filters and which ones will take out ALL of the toxins and metals.  Talk about exciting.  After banging my head against a brick wall for the last 10 years I have finally found a doctor who is open and doesn’t have his head stuck up his own clacker!!!!  My apologies if you are a doctor reading this and you take offense.  My experience of the medical profession hasn’t been the greatest.  If you are a doctor who actually listens to your patients and doesn’t think that their suggestions on what might be going on in their bodies has nothing to do with your diagnosis then good for you!!

So, the first appointment with Dr Hanner yesterday was great and we will meet again in about 3 weeks after all my blood test results and saliva test results get back to him.  Then we will have a baseline to start with.  I am hopeful now that even though I don’t have a thyroid I will be able to get my energy levels back and that I will be able to lose my weight, feel great and get back to the TracieD who lives life at 120%

I will make sure I keep you posted!  Oh and I am probably going to blog about my weight loss and how I am going with that too.

Cheers TracieD

P.S.  As promised here are the list of symptoms taken from the “StopTheThyroidMadness” Website.

• Less stamina than others

• Less energy than others

• Long recovery period after any activity

• Inability to hold children for very long

• Arms feeling like dead weights after activity

• Chronic Low Grade Depression

• Suicidal Thoughts

• Often feeling cold

• Cold hands and feet

• High or rising cholesterol

• Heart disease

• Palpitations

• Fibrillations

• Plaque buildup

• Bizarre and Debilitating reaction to exercise

• Hard stools

• Constipation

• No eyebrows or thinning outer eyebrows

• Dry Hair

• Hair Loss

• White hairs growing in

• No hair growth, breaks faster than it grows

• Dry cracking skin

• Nodding off easily

• Requires naps in the afternoon

• Sleep Apnea (which can also be associated with low cortisol)

• Air Hunger (feeling like you can’t get enough air)

• Inability to concentrate or read long periods of time

• Forgetfulness

• Foggy thinking

• Inability to lose weight

• Always gaining weight

• Inability to function in a relationship with anyone

• NO sex drive

• Failure to ovulate and/or constant bleeding (see Rainbow’s story)

• Moody periods

• PMS

• Inability to get pregnant; miscarriages

• Excruciating pain during period

• Nausea

• Swelling/edema/puffiness

• Aching bones/muscles

• Osteoporosis

• Bumps on legs

• Acne on face and in hair

• Breakout on chest and arms

• Hives

• Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional

• Inability to work full-time

• Inability to stand on feet for long periods

• Complete lack of motivation

• Slowing to a snail’s pace when walking up slight grade

• Extremely crabby, irritable, intolerant of others

• Handwriting nearly illegible

• Internal itching of ears

• Broken/peeling fingernails

• Dry skin or snake skin

• Major anxiety/worry

• Ringing in ears

• Lactose Intolerance

• Inability to eat in the mornings

• Joint pain

• Carpal tunnel symptoms

• No Appetite

• Fluid retention to the point of Congestive Heart Failure

• Swollen legs that prevented walking

• Blood Pressure problems

• Varicose Veins

• Dizziness from fluid on the inner ear

• Low body temperature

• Raised temperature

• Tightness in throat; sore throat

• Swollen lymph glands

• Allergies (which can also be a result of low cortisol–common with hypothyroid patients)

• Headaches and Migraines

• Sore feet (plantar fascitis); painful soles of feet

• now how do I put this one politely….a cold bum, butt, derriere, fanny, gluteus maximus, haunches, hindquarters, posterior, rear, and/or cheeks. Yup, really exists.

• colitis

• irritable bowel syndrome

• painful bladder

• Extreme hunger, especially at nighttime

• Dysphagia, which is nerve damage and causes the inability to swallow fluid, food or your own saliva and leads to “aspiration pneumonia”.

I really like to use a good chocolate because It makes the end product taste so much yummier!

If you try it out I’d love to know how yours turned out and if your kids ate it as quickly as mine did!! The video instructions are just below the picture.  I hope you enjoy.

Cute & Delicious!

Cheers    TracieD xox

We were lucky enough to catch up with lots of friends while we were up there.  Friends from Melbourne, Geelong & the Gold Coast so we all got together and had a great BBQ.

Here are a few pics of our time away.  It took all day but I did get game and go on a few rides with the kids.

A great time was had by all of us!!

Cheers

TracieD

Here is a quick pick of me playing with a Dolphin and I promise when I get back from this next weekend away I will fill you in on everything.

By the way if you ever get sick of working for a living and would love to make some money while you are holidaying like I do just give me a yell out and I’d love to help you out and show you what I do.  You never know it could just be the thing that sets you free.

Cheers TracieD xox

I wanted to share with you the rainbow cake which was a huge success!!  My darling friend Tania came over yesterday and helped me put the cake together and made bucket loads of icing to go on the cake.

Here is the finished cake…..

The Rainbow Cake

I’m so happy with how the cake turned out.  It did take a day of baking the individual layers, each a different colour and then the next day was the icing and decorating.  It was heaps of fun to make and it is a real WOW cake!

I took a couple of pics of each layer before I baked it and I have to say that the colours really kept well.  I was expecting to lose some of the colour in the baking but as you can see they are as vibrant as they were before baking.

I was also really happy with how the decorations for the day turned out.  We decided on a pink and purple theme and just kept it quite simple.  What do you think??

The Pink & Purple Party Table

That’s Imogen’s birthday over for another year!  Even though it was a flat out day, I loved every minute of it!!!

Happy 6th Birthday to my baby girl.  I love you Immy xoxo

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Love  Trace xox

Love

TracieD

So, I’m nearly through it now and am hoping that on Monday I’ll be right to go.  Skinny and Rich are my goals for the next six months!!!!  The Rich part could take a little longer but I will have a serious dent in that goal.

I took some new before photo’s a couple of days ago because as someone I know says “oh, you’ve packed on the beef” which I have.  I feel like I’ve put on about 20kg but in actual fact I’ve probably put on 3 or 5kg!!  So I will be starting that Journey on Monday.  More to follow.

Have an awesome weekend everyone, love ya!

TracieD xxx