MaeLyn's Musings

 This morning I kneel before the porcelain throne, my humble offerings pouring from my mouth. I'm grateful seminary was canceled on account of the weather so I can dedicate myself wholeheartedly to this force which will not be denied.  On Saturday I had a job interview at JoAnn Fabrics, and after an hour long chat with the manager, she offered me a job! This week is background checks and paperwork (is it still called paperwork if it's all digital?), but I should start next week! It will be strange working again, even if it will only be part-time, but it is one of my favorite shops to hang around in, the people there have always been super nice, and I'm looking forward to it!

 On Tuesday I went to the endocrinologist for a follow up visit. I had blood drawn for labs last week, so Tuesday I was hoping for some good news, but also looking for an explanation for why I've been feeling so tired lately. I'm not sure exactly what I wanted to hear: "Yay, the cancer is gone and you can forget it ever happened!" would have been extremely wishful thinking.  "Yay, the cancer is gone, but you still need to take your meds for the rest of your life and come in every six months or year for a check up to make sure it stays gone." would have been more realistically optimistic. What did I really hear? I came away from that appointment in kind of a numb fog. Yes, part of that is because I was tired (I took a nap in the waiting room while waiting for the doctor to be ready for me) and frequently have brain fog. (What's Steven's boss's name again - the one he talks about all the time and I made that crochet bee for?) In spite of the fog, I...

 I've written a lot about myself already this year. I wrote about my thyroid cancer recurrence and surgery. (See here ,  here , here , here , and here ) In October I got to do another radiation treatment. (See the f irst time here . This post also has an explanation on how the radiation treatment works.) This time, things were a little different. To begin with, they made me go on a low iodine diet for the full 10 days before the radiation. I couldn't eat anything with iodized salt, sea salt, dairy, or egg yolk, and because it is hard to tell in prepared foods what uses iodized salt and what used non-iodized salt, I had to be wary of any food with salt as an ingredient. Thank goodness for the resources available on the LID Life Community because they have done the research to find out which packaged foods are safe to eat, and even what foods at certain restaurants are okay.  Last time I did the radiation, I didn't start on my thyroid medicine until after I had done it. Th...

When I was young, my siblings and I used to walk to the local high school to use the swimming pool there. The pool had a high dive as well as a low dive, and on occasion I would climb the ladder to the high dive and stand at the top and look down into the depths of the pool below. Sometimes I gathered the courage to jump, and sometimes I couldn't take that last step, but rather turned around and went back down the ladder to safer ground.  John was given the opportunity to speak in church today. He has spoken in other sacrament meetings in other wards over the last few months. He had his scriptures open. He opened his mouth to speak... and no sound came out. He tried again, but it seemed like his throat had closed up. He couldn't get the words out. He swallowed, licked his lips, opened his mouth again, but still, he couldn't convince the words to come. After a few minutes, the bishop stood up and put his arm around John and spoke to him quietly for a moment. John returned to...