Day 4-Life without trash

Got out of the hospital yesterday around 330pm. What a great feeling. My geiger read was 1, which suggested it was misread the day before. Big surprise. I couldn't have possibly been drinking more water to get the radiation out of me. The scan of my items to see if they were contaminated was comical. The hospital threatened to confiscate my laptop. It just took a couple of wipes with Windex to 'decontaminate' it. The techs and nurses are really misinformed there. Actually I think they are informed on what to do with patients who take higher doses of radiative iodine, but they have no protocol for lower doses.

Still so exhausted without the synthroid. I have to admit I don't have very much energy...just enough to lie around and watch movies. I'm barely reading. Today, however I did have a recommencement Synthroid ceremony almost as fantastic as Beijing's opening day. Actually, I just swallowed it. The ensuing elation from the idea that my life and body were on the road back to normalcy was just brilliant. I took a 20 minute walk. The reasonably cool air and the scent of monsoon was grand.

I started to daydream about my next vacation too. Hawaii?? I've never been. The only problem about traveling with Juliette is that it's not really a vacation. For the first time in my life, staying home is really good. Juliette sleeps 12 hrs. a night here. Our last trip to Newport Beach in August worked because our room had a good-sized closet, big enough for her pack n' play to fit, so she had her own space. Generally, however, all of us in a hotel room is not a vacation. It's horrible.

The not-so-great part was listening to Madeleine cry for me on the phone last night. The guilt sucks. Of course kids are so good at moving on and it sounded like she was having fun today. Tonight I get a car dropped off at the hotel. Look out Scottsdale! Ready to hit the old town clubs. I'm joking. I'm actually pretty safe to be around adults, just not the kiddies.

My poor girls must have been born with some predilection for thyroid cancer. Their grandfather and now me, possibly my grandmother. I just want to give their little baby thyroids a fighting chance. One of the first questions the drs ask is whether or not you've been exposed to radioactive iodine (like many near Chernobyl were). I'd hate for the girls to develop this later in life and say, 'well, my mom came home early from her treatment.'