isolation.

Well, the sister requested an update so here it is. I guess I was so bored over the last week that I was too bored to write about my boredom.  My isolation period is finally over.  It was... not the greatest thing in the world, but not the best either. I felt a little off on Thursday, the day that I took the magic medicine, but not too bad.  Friday was a bad day. I was tired, I didn't feel well, and I was cranky and crabby. (I know some of you probably have a hard time believing that I could ever act cranky or crabby, but it does happen once in awhile.)  Mostly I was sick of eating low-iodine foods. It was my last day on the diet, and the thought of another bite of pasta, the smell of oatmeal, or another unsalted tortilla chip made me want to vomit. Fortunately I did not vomit.  I just slept for most of the day. 

I still wasn't glowing.

Once I made it over the hump on Friday I was feeling good. I made bacon and eggs for breakfast on Saturday and the weekend was off to a good start. I could see rain falling outside, then I saw big snowflakes, then more rain - so it wasn't a terrible day to be stuck inside after all!

I also had visitors on Saturday. Emily and Will came over to bring me some high-iodine foods and some surprises. Will stayed in the corner of the room the whole time. I think he was very disappointed that I looked normal and wasn't green and hadn't been bitten by a radioactive spider yet. He was also very cautious to keep his distance from me.  The Ballards also brought me a bag full of activities, one from each member of the family.  Jack picked out some DVDs for me, Emily sent along a puzzle of Africa and the Middle East, Michael sent R. A. Dickey's book, Jude sent his copy of "Guess How Much I Love You", and Will lent me some Legos to play with (as long as I didn't lose any).  

Here are my Lego creations:

 Lego Segway

 CrossFit Lego (box jump and tire flip)

After Saturday, I was a little productive on Sunday (I finally put my summer clothes away and hung up my winter clothes in my closet... yes, I know it's November) and even went out to do some errands on Monday.  I was in much better spirits once I could eat normal food and I knew the end was closer!

Other highlights of my isolation period were lots of phone calls, several FaceTime calls every day from my parents (even one from my dad in full camouflage calling from his hunting tent), flowers, cards, and gifts from friends and family, meal deliveries from friends, and lots of people checking in on me.  Thank you all!  I'm sorry that I didn't get to talk to all of you or return calls, I guess I got... busy?  Maybe you called in the middle of a nap or a movie, what can I say...

So now it's been 7 days and I am allowed to be normal again - I can use real plates and utensils, I only have to flush the toilet once, and I don't have to separate my radioactive trash anymore.  I am in the process of doing my radioactive laundry.  I am supposed to wash everything twice before drying it... what a waste.

Radioactive Waste

I have a friend who is a scientist.  She's a real, live, scientific researcher.  Since she has access to all sorts of special equipment in her lab, she offered awhile ago to come over with her Geiger Counter to measure my radioactivity.  How fun is that??  I met her today and she snuck the thing out of her lab in a Whole Foods shopping bag and it is officially on loan to me.  I cannot tell you where she works because she might get in trouble... but she assured me that no one ever uses it so it should be fine. 

The fancy equipment

Today my highest register was about 15 counts/second.  I have no idea what this means.  I will just continue to take readings and hope that they go down. 

-g