ugh

Tomorrow is Election Day, finally. I can't believe I actually felt grateful today that I had something else to think about, to take my mind off the ever-present worry about what's going to happen tomorrow, and the hope that, whatever does happen, it won't be litigated into next year.

I spent a lot of time diving into thyroid cancer websites, mainly the Thyroid Cancer Forum on Mary Shomon's Thyroid About.com site, and a bit of time investigating the Low Iodine Diet (pdf) on the Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association site.

This low iodine diet will be hard on me, because dairy is strictly forbidden. I tend to eat a lot of dairy, because it's easy. But I've been researching what I can and can't eat and trying to figure things out -- I think I've found a couple of things I can bake for breakfast and snacks, and then I'll just stick to plain roast chicken or steak with fresh veggies and fruit for the rest. I know by the end of this I will be dying for a cup of coffee... I'm going to get some almond milk and try that out, because having coffee with something like cream would be really, really nice.

DS1 melted down multiple times this afternoon and evening. I'm not sure what's up with that. It is getting to be a struggle to get him to do anything, which is unlike him. I'm not sure if it has to do with my health situation but I think it may... or maybe his grandmother is getting on his last nerve, the way she does mine, sometimes... at any rate, I was so exhausted when they finally went to bed that I passed out upstairs for a half an hour, before dragging myself back down here to take my evening antibiotic and do all the end-of-day chores (like blogging -- hee!).

The cat seems to be doing pretty well. She has 2 more days of prednisone, and then we'll see how she does. She is very skinny now, though. Poor baby.

Mom finished DD's poncho and hat today and she wore them to RE. She looked completely adorable. I may have to post a photo when I get them uploaded. I have a lot of goofy pictures on the card now. At one point today both DD and DS2 were casting around, bored, so I showed them how to take pictures with the digital. The batteries are rechargeable so there's absolutely no reason to be stingy with the camera; I just have to make sure they don't drop it. They took some interesting pics. I particularly like the odd framing in DS2's shots, because he kept letting his arms fall as he was taking the picture. The pressure from pushing the shutter button was enough to push down the entire camera, because he's not coordinated enough yet to push up with a balancing force. He's only 3, after all.

DD is manic about her upcoming birthday. I hope she likes it. In today's chapter of Little House in the Big Woods, Laura had her birthday, and she got a little wooden man her Pa had carved for her, 5 little cakes from Ma, and a new dress for her doll, Charlotte, that Mary had sewn for her. I pointed this out to DD, "That's all she had for her birthday." Her eyes got big as she realized what I was saying. Although her eyes were even bigger when she realized they only bathed once a week!

I did something today I haven't done in months: I played piano. Badly. Really, really badly -- but I dug out my favorite music and since it is out, maybe now I will have incentive to practice more. DS2 does not like Bach Inventions. Too bad! I would like to be able to play #13 as fluidly as I once could. I also need to get that piano tuned, because even when I hit the right notes, it sounds pretty dreadful!

What an odd day. I hate having to think about what I'm allowed to eat. It is really not complicated, just different, and I am not all that interested in changing my diet. It has worked well for me for several years now. It was great to take out my nice pants from last winter and slip into them and have them still fit, perfectly. I don't like the idea of my clothes not fitting. Eh. I'll survive, regardless, but my attitude right now towards all the cancer-treatment protocols (diet, RAI) can be fairly summed up in the juvenile phrase: but I don't wanna!