@Heavenlee -- Usually thyca isn't that serious. People rarely die from papillary & follicular cancer (unless it's spread to the bones by the time they find it). medullary cancer is much more serious and anaplastic thyca is a death sentence. It is one of the fastest growing, aggressive cancer there is & it doesn't respond to R-131. Didn't that suck? The quarantine, and the dude coming in with the Geiger counter to see if I was OK to go home or if I was still so irradiated that I was a danger to the public LOL! Ugh! I had it 3x @ very high doses (you can only do so much in your lifetime though, or it puts you @ risk for developing other cancers).
My scars were pretty vicious. I have the U shaped scar. It runs all the way across the bottom of my throat and then up the side (where the jugular is) to the bottom of my ear lobes on both sides. The 2nd radical neck dissection runs horizontally on the left side of my neck from the middle of my throat to my spine (that's the one that left me with the nerve damage). I have had a ton of plastic surgery on them so they are better, but you can see them. Then I have the scars in my armpit from the auxiliary lymph dissection but no one can see those.
For me my issue hasn't been the cancer itself, but the inability to adjust/stabilize on the thyroid hormone replacement. I fall into he unfortunate category of the 10% that never do. It's been 15 years, there's no hope that I ever will. So I just cope, I have no other options. I am glad you have done so well with it though, it makes me happy to hear people are able to back to normal life afterward, and don't end up in the boat I'm in.
That's stinks that your shrink won't prescribe Xanax for you. It's a free for all with mine, but I have never taken more than I need too because I don't get a buzz off it @ all, so there is no recreational abuse potential for me (which is kinda a bummer! LOL!). But we both recognize @ this point, that I will be on it for life.
I really hope things get better with your son. My gay guy friends say they were nightmares to their mothers as teenagers. They say they were like teenage girls except on testosterone, especially once they came out. Hopefully things will improve as he matures.
I love Buddhism too. I consider myself an unaffiliated mystic though, because I am also into pagan beliefs and earth spiritualities similar to Native American practices, as well as pantheism. I hate organized religion, but that a whole other story. It's amazing how much we have in common really. Too bad we don't live closer. We could sit down for a cup of tea and a few bars of Xanax. LOL!
