Hi, I'm Jamie. I love animals, cooking, reading books and horror fanfics; especially the ones that are rated M, and horror movies.

Hmm, what else can I tell you about myself...well, along with the many other surgeries that I've had so far; including minor ones like tonsils and adenoids, and major ones like spleen and appendix, I've also had to go through 2 rounds of thyroid cancer a few years ago; yeah...Murphy's Law definitely runs the place.

Anyways, there's 4 types-Papillary, Follicular, Medullary, and Anaplastic, and it affects both men and women, but for some reason it much more common for women to get it than men. Medullary and Anaplastic cancers are the most aggressive, but Papillary; the one I had, is the most common type, so it's the easiest to treat...them finding it when it was just getting started helped too.

Some of the symptoms of a thyroid problem are tiredness and weight loss or weight gain; along with a lump or swelling in your neck, thinning hair, or staying either too hot or too cold, among many others; I had ZERO energy ever since I can remember, and being a big girl didn't help any; which the doctors happily shoved in my face ever since elementary school, so everybody thought I was just lazy. I wasn't lazy; I just didn't have any energy to do anything, and was totally exhausted after just 5 minutes of activity; pathetic I know, and looking back, it was so obvious that something was wrong; especially in old pictures taken just a few years before I had to have surgery; when I look at them now, how swelled my neck was back then sticks out like a sore thumb, but it wasn't until I got a sinus infection in September 2012 that I even had a clue that there was something serious going on. My regular doctor wasn't in that day, so I had to go to an ent specialist instead. The appointment started off normal; all the paperwork for new patient, height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, "What brings you in here today?", blah, blah, blah. But my exam was where everything changed...

Right in the middle of checking to see if I had any swollen glands in my neck, the doctor just stopped dead in his tracks, and asked me if I had any thyroid problems, and after I said no, that's when he told me that my thyroid was enlarged, (an enlarged thyroid is called a goiter- "goy-tur") and my jaw hit the floor; I had no idea I even had a thyroid problem, and nothing could've prepared me for just how serious it was a month later. After a battery of tests, they discovered a tumor (called a nodule-"nod-yule") in the left side that was malignant. I couldn't believe it...I had cancer...at only 29 years old. And I was scared to death; cancer runs rampant in both sides of my family, and I've had a lot of family members die from it, so I know what it can do. And then my fear turned to anger at the demon in my neck (the cancer), and the more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got: There was no way in hell that I was gonna die from cancer when I wasn't even 30 yet! I was gonna fight it or die trying!

A few months after my surgery, I went back and told him about the cancer, and thanked him because he saved my life; according to him, he didn't, but I am eternally grateful to this man regardless, because God only knows how long it would've took them to find it if it wasn't for him...

When you have thyroid cancer, surgery is your first treatment, so either half of it; lobectomy, or the entire gland is removed in what's called a total thyroidectomy; which requires you to be on medication for the rest of your life because your body can no longer make its own thyroid hormones, as well as some muscle if it spread to your neck by the time they caught it; mine did, and any lymph nodes called a radical neck dissection. I had a total thyroidectomy on October 29, 2012 for round 1, and then a radical left neck dissection of 32 lymph nodes 1 1/2 years later on May 23, 2014 for round 2. They found it in 3 of my lymph nodes, but they took out that whole section to make sure they got it all; left a big scar after they cut from my jugular right under my left ear all the way down into my thyroidectomy scar, but I don't care; this girl is a survivor, and I earned these battle scars.

Next, the treatment they put you on is called radioactive iodine; which is a form of radiation that you get in a little pill, but first they'll put you on a special diet called the Low Iodine Diet.

Ok, iodine is what your thyroid and any remaining cancer cells lives off of, so you'll have to completely starve your body of it while you're on this diet so the radioactive iodine can do its job of killing the cancer. And I'm gonna be straight up with you-while this particular diet is very short; only 2 weeks, it's a gigantic pain in the ass! Seriously, doing Low Iodine makes the most restrictive diet out there look like a "see-food" diet!

On a low iodine diet, you can have both fresh and canned fruits and vegetables...except spinach if I remember correctly; did this a few years ago so things might be different now, but the last time I did it back in 2014, you could have jelly, and almost any kind of juice was ok, but no dairy, some candy, but no chocolate, and all you're allowed to have is fresh meats-no cured meats like ham, bacon or sausage, or even any fish whatsoever-LOADED with iodine!

Bread is ok as long as you don't go overboard-has a lot of iodized salt, but if you only have 1 or 2 pieces a day, you're fine. No iodized salt, no egg yolks; egg yolks are full of iodine so you're only allowed to have egg whites, and no regular peanut butter-has to be natural and unsalted; not the best in the world, but at least I could still have peanut butter; it's really oily though, so you have to stir it up and keep it in the fridge. Every single thing you buy has to be "no-salt added" or "unsalted"; including ketchup, vegetables, nuts, and peanut butter, so you've gotta read labels unfortunately-including the ones on spices, juice, candy, and toothpaste...yes, you even have to check your toothpaste-iodine hides under many names like carrageenan, so it's in everything! Yeah, plan on being at the store for at least an hour or two...

Pepper and any other salt-free seasonings and spices is fine; yeah, I can't stand bland food either, but make sure you check the label first; remember, iodine hides, and you can also use salt that has doesn't have any in it; like popcorn salt and kosher salt, but salty snacks like regular chips, nuts, and pretzels is totally off-limits; all of your snacks have to be low iodine, and salt-free, so get no-salt Planter's nuts; which really aren't too bad, and you can get no-salt chips, but those are just gross; you're better off just buying a bag of plain fries or tater-tots and just eating those with your popcorn salt and salt-free ketchup instead, and then there's Matzos crackers...ugh, dear God, that was the worst shit I've ever ate in my life; tried them once...never again!

My advice? Stock up on the basics like bread, all-purpose flour, sugar, natural and unsalted peanut butter, jelly, white sugar and brown sugar, no-salt ketchup, a carton of egg whites, all of your allowed fresh meats, vegetables, and any allowed seasonings, and your cereals like oatmeal and Cream of Wheat first, then get your snacks and drinks last. You're also allowed to have cocoa powder-add a teaspoon or two to a bowl of Cream of Wheat with a TINY amount of margarine and some white or brown sugar or pancake syrup for homemade, and low iodine Coco Wheats.

And If you have a sweet tooth like me, you'll definitely be craving something sweet during this; I know I did; this diet about killed me when pms rolled around and I couldn't have any chocolate lol. But even though your dessert ideas will be EXTREMELY limited-I know, the "no" list is huge, everything on the"yes" list still lets you have desserts like Apple Crisp; but with no ice cream on it-has to be eaten as-is until you're allowed to have dairy again; 14 days from the day you start the diet; they give you a suggestion of when you should start, but they let you pick your own day as long as you do it for at least a couple of weeks, so try to have all your "bad food" gone by then, or you'll have to do this all over again; trust me, you only want to go through this diet one time when you do it, so make sure you do really good for the first 2 weeks, and then you can have whatever you want! :D

Oh, and another thing; forget about eating out anywhere till you get off the diet. I'm serious-don't do it, because you'll only end up torturing yourself; the only thing you can get at restaurants is something to drink, so it's better that you don't even set foot in one right now. You can have coffee or hot tea-no cream or milk, and you can have anything else you want to drink like iced tea, pop, or whatever as long as it's low iodine, but you can't order any food. At all. So, if you order out all the time because you don't like to cook...yeah, you're just gonna have to get used to cooking at home for awhile, sorry. :(

Yup...told ya it's a gigantic pain in the ass; especially since your recovery depends on it, but all of your hard work is about to pay off big time, because it's FINALLY time for your treatment!

By the time you're ready to take your radiation pill, the cancer cells are so starved that they just suck up that big dose of radioactive iodine like a sponge; completely destroying them in the process, but you'll be very radioactive at first, so you'll have to be at least 6 feet away from everybody else in the house; including any pets you have, and you have to use plastic silverware and throw-away cups and plates until you're no longer a threat; about 4 days, and it lasts for the next 3 months; no, you won't be glowing in the dark; it's not that kind of radiation. ;)

But after your 2 whole body scans; the first one right after your pill and the last one a week later to see where the radiation is going just like they do if you have that contrast dye for a MRI or cat-scan, you're all done with the diet! Woo-hoo! Time to celebrate! :D

Anyway, I hope some of this helps you to not be just totally blindsided like I was when I was first diagnosed-I didn't know you could even get cancer in your thyroid! But listen to the doctors, and make sure you take care of yourself and keep your family by your side. And most importantly, just have faith in God, Allah, a higher power, or whatever you believe in, and you can get through anything...even a cancer diagnosis. For more information, go to www.thyca.org. And don't forget, you're more than welcome to dm me for any questions or comments you have, or to just to have somebody to talk to. Thanks for reading! :)

Works in progress: Nothing yet, but I have some ideas; let me know if you like one.

Pamela: Her Untold Story

The premise: Will be about her rise from a teenager growing up in the 1940s, to ultimately becoming a heartbroken, homicidal mother. Eventual Pam/Elias/Jason

Bringing Up Jason (title might change later)

A personal favorite of mine that is one hell of a "what if?" scenario inspired by my love of Friday The 13th, insomnia, and a late night reading age-regression fanfics.

The premise: "For years, Jason Voorhees has been the ultimate alpha male; fiercely protecting his land and everything in it from legions of trespassers with a steel blade, and an iron fist. So when a new group of invaders arrives, it's business as usual as he preys on his next victims...until Crystal Lake's formidable protector is suddenly and mysteriously de-aged all the way back to the very early days of childhood; thus becoming a frail infant once again. Now for the first time in his life, he needs their mercy in order to survive."