April bloodwork brings May flowers

After hemming and hawing for a while, I finally went to get bloodwork this week. I was stalling because in January my TSH and tumors markers were up. I suspected it was because my candida was flaring up, which always causes me to gain weight, which impacts my thyroid medication dosage. I also suspected one of my supplements might have been interfering with my meds, so I made some shifts. My doctor wanted me to up my levothyroxine dose in January, and check my bloodwork again in March. I didn’t really want to deal with the impact of upping my dosage (hormone shifts, side effects, all that rigamarole), so I thought I would just try to get my candida under control, and do things my way.

I ended up getting sick in March for two weeks, and then kind of dragged my feet on getting bloodwork. Although I’ve gotten my candida overgrowth under control with slightly variable success, I decided it was time to get bloodwork. It’s nearly May after all. My next bloodwork and ultrasound is in July.

On the plus side, I’ve already hit my deductible this year, so why not get bloodwork?! Weeee, cancer-girl-math.

Apparently Thursday mornings are the best time to get bloodwork. I arrived at 6:15am and there was only one person ahead of me. By comparison, I’ve gone on the weekend or later in a weekday and I’ve been #42 in line. Nope, no thanks. I was on top of the world being second in line. It was so quick that my plans to go to the dry cleaners and grocery store got thwarted because they weren’t open for another half hour.

I got home before 7am and already had my TSH levels back by 8:30. By lunchtime I had a message from my doctor on MyChart about my tumor markers (the tumor markers don’t get released automatically to me, so I have to wait for my doctor to message me/release them to me). Let me tell you, there’s a special kind of heart-flip that happens when you get a message on MyChart. It comes on in a rush and leaves in a rush. I’m not usually actively nervous when I’m getting my tumor markers checked until that minute between getting the notification and opening MyChart. Adrenalin spikes and all, y’all. It’s a good time.

Drumroll please, my TSH is back at 0.17 (January it was at like 2.4, which is normal but not a suppression dose) and my tumor markers are back down at 1.2, which is as low as they’ve ever been — like, as low as they were after my first surgery and where they stayed stable for a while. Woo! 🥳

Incidentally, I’ve been pulling back on a lot of healing modalities. While I think I needed everything and the kitchen sink for a while, as my body went into a complete overhaul, I was feeling overwhelmed with how busy I felt. I started pulling back on all the various modalities, lightening my schedule, easing up on what I was doing.

Fast forward to this Spring, my client work didn’t pan out exactly how I expected in the timing that I expected, so I had to pull back on all of the remaining things I’ve been doing to support myself. On one hand this was overwhelming — financial stress doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of wellness, but on the other hand, it’s kind of freeing in it’s own back-against-the-wall way. I have been saying for a while that I want to just tune into my own wisdom as it relates to healing, and what better way to do that than to rely on myself? Certainly I’ve learned enough through all of my research and studies — it’s time to lean into myself.

I let go of food logging, a whole bunch of supplements, and even some homeopathic remedies I was doing. I went to a Joe Dispenza retreat in March with my dear friend, who did so much of her own healing — more than his teachings I am inspired by her deep belief that self-healing is possible (and proof, she has made amazing strides in healing her own body through presence, meditation, and belief). I fully believed it, but having her support has meant a lot.

This Spring is about new energy, new body, new everything. My plan is to continue to explore supporting myself, to keep the decreasing tumor markers energy flowing, to keep up with oceanfront yoga, and to lean into the lovely Springtime energy — enjoying the birds chirping and soft sunlight in the mornings (ignore that it rained today).