I know how to celebrate

The last couple of weeks, I have been a total wreck.

Every 6 months I get routine bloodwork done to check my thyroglobulin levels.  Thyroglobulin is secreted by thyroid cells and since I should have no thryoid cells, it is a way to check if thryoid cells (in my case, thyroid cancer cells) are trying to hide somewhere in my body.

For obvious reasons, it's a little scary.  I mean, dealing with having cancer is scary enough.  But it doesn't end after that.  The check-ups and the follow-up tests are also kind of scary.

I did absolutely everything possible to ensure that my cancer is gone and stays that way for good.  I even had some extra tests done after a suspicious ultrasound that gave me even more reason to believe that my cancer was gone.  So really, I should be good to go.

But that didn't stop me from totally freaking out about it.  I'll admit it, I was scared.  I have this amazing life and I don't want anything to ruin it.  I don't want to miss out on years with Henry or Phil.  And while Thyroid cancer has a great prognosis, it's still cancer and it is still scary.

In truth, I did WAY more freaking out that is really warranted.  I was a total mess.  For some reason, I handled this blood test worse than I have the last couple of blood tests.  I don't know why.  I partially blame the movie The Fault in Our Stars.

Monday morning I found out that my bloodwork came back totally fine.  "No evidence of cancer" were the exact words my doctor's assistant told me over the phone.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief and felt a big weight lift off my shoulders.  You never really feel more alive than right after you get good health news.  If you could bottle that feeling and sell it, I don't think anyone would ever use drugs.  Just saying...

I woke up Tuesday morning and just didn't quite feel right.  I kind of had a tickle in my throat and cough.  As the day went on, I just felt worse and worse.  That night, I had a meeting to go to, and as I sat through the meeting, the tickle got more persistent.

Wednesday, I woke up feeling worse.  The cough was coming pretty regularly this time and the coughing spells were longer as well.  I had another night meeting that night, which I had to leave on several occasions because my coughing was out of control.  That night, I woke up several times coughing.  My body hurt.

Anyway, long story short... I have a sinus infection.  I walked away from the doctor's office with 4 prescriptions.  Coupled with my 3 thyroid medications, that 7 prescriptions I am on right now.  My 90 year old grandmother takes less medicine than I currently do.

The icing on the stuffing-nosed cake... the doctor's office sent the prescriptions to the wrong pharmacy.  So that was fun to work out.  I almost started crying in Walgreen's.  Dramatic?  Perhaps.

There's not a doubt in my mind that the sinus infection is linked to the amount of stress I put myself under waiting for my test results.  It is crazy how much stress can seriously affect our bodies.  And ultimately, stressing out over results has zero impact on what the results will be.  It served no purpose and made me sick.

Thankfully I have 6 months before my next blood test.  That's 6 months to learn some better ways to just chill the heck out.

I'm officially taking any and all advice on how to relax.  What works for you?  How do you de-stress?  Anything short of binge drinking or pill popping and I think I am game.