** EDITED BY ELLIE TO ADD:  Many of you have inquired about how to donate to the Go Fund Me Account referenced below and this page is a little confusing on how to do that so I thought I'd clarify. In order to access her Go Fund Me page you click on "Ways to Help" above, and then click on the "Visit Go Fund Me" button.  Please IGNORE the donation information found on any page of this site; those links are to donate to Caring Bridge, not for Danielle. I apologize for the confusion, and any help you can give (or sharing of this page) is greatly appreciated, thank you!**

HIIII Everyone. I know some people who I don't always connect with have been following on here so I wanted to update.  Monday and Tuesday I had my Thyrogen shots. My friend Laura brought me Monday and Jason on Tuesday. It meant a lot to have company.  This is actually a benefit of modern medicine because people who don't have the option of the shot have to withdraw from their Synthroid (now my daily lifeline without a thyroid).  If you Google side effects of hypothyroidism you can see a bit of what it's been like without a thyroid and will be like as my body continues to regulate.  I think the weirdest thing for me has been losing a lot of my hair but that must be why God gave me like ten people's worth as no one else would notice!! 😂 Sleep, energy, moods, and metabolism are pretty confused but I still believe I will feel better than ever in a few months!! I was able to continue with my meds so these side effects of were only severe this week.  Wednesday I drove myself to Mass General, pulled up to valet and told them I was a radioactive iodine patient so they could keep my car close to the door for a swift exit.  Up in the office I was in a room where they brought the little metal container with the drink in it.  I feel SUPER lucky because a lot of people have this brought to them by people in hazmat suits which as you can imagine adds to the drama and stress! The thing about thyroid cancers is traditional chemo and radiation don't so doctors have come up with an radiation and iodine solution that attaches to any left over thyroid and hopefully kills it! There are probably three things that were most difficult this week:
1. Before the drink the doctor goes over with me all the disclaimers around higher likelihood of additional cancer FROM the RAI. I know they have to say this and I know they are just stats but I cannot WAIT to live my life and not be told worst case scenario over and over again by doctors who absolutely mean well but cannot predict the future.
2. Piggy backing on number one, the next tough thing this week was getting myself to a place where I could really believe this was a magical potion from God that was going to allow me to heal completely. As someone in recovery I feel as though I have done lifetimes of work on my mental health as well as my physical health.  The idea of drinking "poison" to kill "poison" was challenging at times.  Even after I convinced myself it was helping me, you still have the radiation officers voice in your head like "don't put your hands near your mouth, don't throw trash with your saliva, etc. away for 80 days, etc. etc.  Again, at some points in the last 48 hours I have had to honor but then quiet the scared voices worried about getting it all out of my system as fast as possible.
3. DIET! So, with RAI you have to do a very specific diet for at least two weeks before.  The diet itself was not difficult for me (no sea salt, soy, dairy, to name the primaries) but there was definitely fear around accidentally eating something. When you start looking at ingredients, a heck of a lot of foods have one of these three so I just needed to be super vigilant.  Also, as I have previously explained it was important for me to fast during this week.  I honestly think if I didn't fast it would have been far more bearable but I own that! The idea is that if you have the radiation (or chemo) in a fasted state you will protect the healthy cells. My diet consisted of about 500 calories or less of vegetables every 24 hours until last lastnight. I always get the sickest on the 5th and last day of my fast which happened to be yesterday, the day the RAI was working a lot in my body.
The prognosis for my cancer is good, 95% of people with this cancer do not die from it.  By the way it is the fastest growing cancer among women. Because of the severity of the spread they tell me for average people it's a 50% chance of recurrence. I do not believe I fit in that category! I am going to fast at least 5x a year and continue to fine tune all of my healthy practices. Throughout this journey it has become most apparent to me that body and mind are so important to focus on BUT, the spirit/energetic piece is also SO important! Around my work in the next few months I have planned for a lot of healing work and decompressing emotionally and energetically from this experience.
SO here is the great news, THE WORST OF IT IS OVER!! (I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY HEART and if not I will adjust accordingly!) I had tests today and then will have the whole body scan on Monday to confirm no spread and that the radiation is doing its job. On Tuesday I will be able to go back home and be with Jason and Nico.  RAI for my dose says 6 days away from women and children and pets fall under that category.  I obviously do not feel great, but I do not feel horrible!!! I will spend the next two days writing and reading and watching Netflix. I truly envision myself like a Butterfly in her cocoon and the time to break out is near! I plan to gently get back into my yoga and fitness routine as well as keep my 80/20 rule with healthy eating.  I also plan to be working normally again and teaching yoga and meditation classes.  As many of you know, I was getting ready to buy a business before this happened and I need a few weeks to really do some soul searching as to the best direction going forward.  The wonderful thing is that through all of the work and meditation I know how to tune into my intuition and I am confident the answers will come soon enough. Up until now my sole focus for the last 4 months has been HEALING and kicking cancers you know what. Next week I will be participating in White Tantric yoga which is essentially 6 hours of meditation to release from the subconscious. I can't imagine a better close to the week! Another gift of the universe to look forward to, last year at this time I was supposed to transport a woman from an intervention to the treatment center in Arizona.  For some crazy/not crazy reason, I did not get a refundable ticket for the first time in this work.  The woman refused help and I was left with a $650 plane ticket that I need to use by April.  It just so happens there is a yoga festival in Malibu and I am piggybacking the trip with a client in LA, SO, I am going on this trip completely covered (staying with dear friends) and actually getting paid to work.  I feel as though it will be a solid bookend on this part of my journey!!!! I will post after my whole body scan results and then I will most likely stop using this site. If next week looks good I will continue to be tested for recurrence but my plan is to never visit this chapter of my life again!
MY GRATITUDE....as I have expressed before, if you are reading this, you care about me in some way shape or form and have been a part of my support and healing. I can't thank everyone enough, from cards, to prayers, to blankets, to lotions, to coloring books and crystals, to care packages for Jason, to yoga retreats, to donations for medical, to rides, to listening me cry or rant on the phone, to dropping stuff off for me in isolation, to being given a space for isolation, all of it, every single thing has carried me through.  I honestly felt so HELD and loved going into this week.  I would weep at times completely of gratitude. My life was not this full before I started on my path of recovery. I would never have been able to receive the love the same way and frankly people didn't care as much about me and I don't blame them! OK time to go lay down. THANK YOU THANK YOU. I hope you can feel my gratitude and love for you.