DEAR THYROID^TM

Life Redefined: Keep Your Spirit Fingers to Yourself, another flawless installation from Miss Joanna Isbill. Simply put, today’s column chronicled what to say to cancer patients, and what not to say to cancer patients. Exquisitely, comprehensively, and with a dash of humor, Joanna took us on an educational journey about what thyroid cancer and cancer patients endure on an ongoing basis from friends, strangers and family.

What not to say to cancer patients, and what to say to cancer patients, a comprehensive and exquisite post.

Comments were mind-blowing. The things that have been said to cancer patients and thyroid cancer patients will make your head spin. We strongly urge you to please read the comments after reading Joanna’s installation.

To everyone – thank you for your bravery, humor and indefatigable spirits.

Today’s comment;

EJ Fechenda says: April 20, 2010 at 6:36 am

Well said! My doctor told me the very same thing, “If you were to get cancer, this is the good cancer to have… I was like, “Give me a moment you just told me I have cancer”. I’ve been in remission for five years but am still haunted by my diagnosis. Every lump, strange looking mole or unexplained pain sends me into a small panic. Now that I know my body is capable of producing cancer my guard is up. Considering the other options this is one of the more easily treated cancers, but cancer is cancer and our survivorship shouldn’t be discounted by any means.

In todays, Thyme For Some Literary Healing, And A Few Qs, Part V, we asked one simple question:

As you imagine your thyroid’s life, with or without you, write, in detail about the life you think your thyroid is having. Is your thyroid living it up? Do you reside in the same city? Same body? Your thyroid has a life separate from you. Tell us about that life.

One of the Dear Thyroid brand endeavors is to encourage our community members to write to their thyroids on DearThyroid.org, and connect with other thyroid patients. Regardless of thyroid condition, we are bonded as members of “The Jacked Thyroid Club. And, how our thyroids redefined our lives — For better or worse, we’re stuck with our respective thyroid disorders and adjunct issues.

Today’s thyroid back-stories were miraculous, hysterical, tragic, beautiful and poetic. Thank you to everyone for participating.

Today’s comment of the day;

Monika says: April 20, 2010 at 1:51 pm

Sometimes, when there’s an inanimate object in my life that causes me trouble, I name it and try to treat it as I would a human so that it might act more politely. For example, we were house-sitting for our neighbor’s house plants while they were remodeling, and when the winter came and the houses started to lose leaves, making a mess of the house, I named them and greeted them kindly when I walked into a room.

I cannot do this for my thyroid, though, for a number of reasons.

1) It’s very much animate, very much alive.

2) If I personify it, I get the image of a small person living inside my neck. A very small, very overweight, very temperamental person.

I think it’s the temperament that scares me.

My thyroid lives with me, shares a bed, shares a house. We go everywhere together. It’s a dysfunctional relationship to some degree, I give it what I’m told that it needs so that it will shut up, but it never does stop bitching. I think we both know that we treat each other the same way, though. Every word I’m writing here, my thyroid is thinking, ‘my god, she never stops bitching’ but rarely is my bitching about it.

We are two beings attached for good. There’s no escape, so we live our lives the way that we think we’re meant to. Everywhere I go, my thyroid goes, too, all the while producing, doing its thing, and complaining that there’s not enough room in my neck.

We agree on so many things except our way of life together, as it were.

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Aside: Please continue supporting,  Dr. Sarah Myhill, to end the witch hunt for this fine doctor in the UK.

*Image courtesy of Hongkiat.com

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