I am soooo relieved that the Miralax is working for Casey (and I'm sure she is, too)! I feel the same way every time I see one of Billy's nice long tootsies. Constipation can make them feel so miserable and sick. You have vastly improved Casey's quality of life with Miralax. I definitely think you should take your neighbor up on her offer to administer subQs for you at home. I know you're having a hard time believing that Casey will be more cooperative with less restraint, but hopefully your neighbor will be able to demonstrate the validity of that for you. I do understand your misgivings, though. Billy is extremely short-tempered and does NOT like to be messed with, so when he was diagnosed with both CRF and hyperT, I was dreading having to medicate him, much less having to eventually administer subQs to my potentially violent old man. To make matters worse, my housemate moved out right before Billy started needing subQs, so I was faced with having to administer them without any assistance. I had nightmares of lying on the floor bleeding to death with Billy firmly attached to my jugular vein. But what choice did I have? Billy needed subQs, and I was the only one here to administer them. I knew my only chance of surviving the procedure was to keep it all as low key as possible. Billy had chosen a diningroom chair as his favorite sleeping spot, so I rigged a way to hang the fluid bag from the curtain rod next to the chair. While he was napping, I quietly hung the bag, sat down next to him (which instantly woke him and caused him to stand up), and slipped in the needle as quickly as possible. To my utter amazement, Billy didn't object at all. He stood there while I silently stroked his face until the administration was finished. I was stunned at how easily it all went. Things have changed a bit since then. It didn't take Billy long to figure out that the diningroom chair was where he got his fluids, so he abandoned the chair and started napping elsewhere. Now I have to find him and carry him to the chair for fluids, but as long as I do so quietly and carry him carefully, he usually doesn't do more than grumble softly. Sometimes if I don't get the needle exactly where he wants it, he'll start growling in mid-administration. I have to be VERY careful at that point NOT to touch him (other than to hold the needle in place), or he'll attack me. So I just hold my hand an inch or two in front of his chest so that he knows I won't allow him to leave, and he stays put and growls until I'm finished. If I get the needle in a comfortable spot, however, he'll generally sit or stand without objection until we're done. I can absolutely guarantee you, though, that if I did anything other than use my body position to restrict his movement, he'd fight like a demon during subQs. There is absolutely NO WAY that a restraint bag would do anything other than increase Billy's fight instinct, and I suspect the same will be true for Casey. You need to reduce the stress response, not increase it, in order to be successful with subQs. A restraint bag is likely to feel a lot like a carrier to Casey, so she may very well have the same stress response to the bag that she has to her carrier. Casey's also likely to be in a considerably happier (and hopefully more cooperative) mood now that she's not dealing with chronic constipation anymore. Don't worry. All of this will work out, one day and one procedure at a time. Laurie

Caroline, of course we can be "sisters". I had a successful kidney transplant in January 2012. But I kept having these several-times- a- day "hot flashes", worse than anything I had with menopause seven years ago. My urologist felt my throat and said he felt a one-centimeter nodule. I had no pain or other problems. I then went to a specialist, an endocrinologist. She also felt a nodule and sent me for a sonogram of my neck. It showed seven nodules, five big and two small, the small ones under 2 centimeters. A few days later (last Tuesday) she did the biopsy. I was quite fearful, took a Zanax before, which relaxed me. The assistant had me lie back in a chair and tipped me back, like at the dentist. She cleaned my neck. Then the doctor came in with her needle and a jar for the tissue samples. She nick-named the nodules "The Twins" and "The Triplets" as there were three on the left side and two on the right. The thyroid is in the center front of your neck, just below your adam's apple. She had the assistant spray my neck with something to numb the skin, but I felt every jab. She would stick the needle in , then stir it around and push deeper to get enough tissue. I stopped counting at ten jabs. They told me not to talk or swallow when the needle was in. That was hard.It hurt a lot and I felt a tear roll out of one eye. Finally it was over. She put a couple bandaids on my neck and I was allowed to go home. I took Aleve tablets and kept a bag of frozen peas on my neck for most of Tuesday evening. The next morning I had no pain whatsoever. The tissue samples were sent to a lab that does extensive testing, including Genetic and "Genomic" testing, whatever that is. But the downside is it takes two and a half weeks for the results, so I'm still worrying and waiting. Best case scenario, everything will be benign. Worst case, I will have to have my thyroid removed, but at least I'll be under anesthesia for that. I've been assured one can live a long life without a thyroid, and thyroid cancer is the most curable kind to get. So it could be worse... Good luck, Caroline. Let us know when you get the results. I'll be posting when I know more. This post was edited by jannie on Mon, Sep 2, 13 at 17:38

Nodules are common - I think it's 1% of the population. I had a nodule in 1992. After a year on synthroid to suppress the gland, a radioactive iodine tracking test that showed it was "cold" (not producing hormone), and a needle biopsy (benign), they decided to take it out "just in case." I had half the thyroid glad removed, and I've taken replacement hormone ever since. For decades, I was on enough hormone to suppress the gland - "so I wouldn't get another nodule," they told me. But my current doctor isn't doing that, I just take enough to keep the TSH in regular range. I'm telling you all this because it seems that the protocol has changed. It's entirely possible that my surgery wouldn't even be considered necessary today. If you ever did need thyroid surgery (unlikely, from the sound of things now), it's not a big deal - way easier recovery than abdominal surgery - and they put the scar in a natural fold in your neck, so it hardly shows. I know several people my age and older who had surgery for a thyroid nodule earlier in their lives, and none had cancer, and you would never notice their scars unless you were specifically looking for them.

It’s a little of both Chisue. Our Oncologist(s) have all told us that there have been many many new medications to help control MM. And while the number of younger people getting the disease has increased, the remissions are lasting longer and longer as well. DH was 48 when he was diagnosed and has been in remission for 6.5 years. At that time the average remission was 3-5. They are even starting to think of it as a long term chronic illness as opposed to “cancer”. But here’s the thing, if you haven’t already, now would be a good time to evaluate your diet and shift your dietary thinking from just “healthy” to “healthy and immune building”. It’s crucial because even though the maintenance drug you will be taking is low dose, it’s still going to quash your immune system which can and will make you more vulnerable to other illness. Having a diet that focuses on immune support really does help. Another thing you can do to help your body is to switch to a vegitarian diet. Animal protein can be hard on the kidneys. Switching to a plant based protein instead will keep them healthy too. Foods like Garlic, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and seeds or more commonly known as G-Bombs are all immune builders. Avoid Dairy products that are animal based as well as foods with sugar, yeast, or fructose syrup in them. If you do a search for G-Bomb foods you will find more information on it. It works.