Hopeful Cancer Survivor trip in April 2016

Hi there, (I have posted this to the DLR forum as well but wanted to post here as well as id love advice from any and all liners :slight_smile: )
I have a trip to DLR coming up in April and I am very hopeful that it will be one celebrating a cancer-free body. Anyone know of any sites for Disney lovers/goers who have struggled or are struggling with cancer? The treatment for my cancer diagnosis is standard and typically successful but nonetheless this is a scary time for me and my little family (DH, DD4, DS 6 months :frowning: ). The next couple of months will be pretty grueling to prepare my body for treatment and the actual treatment will require me being in partial isolation for at least a week. I will be needing any forms of happy thoughts and distractions I can get and would love to hear from others what types of things to focus and plan your trip around when you have undergone a grueling time in your life and are headed to the happiest place on earth. It’s a very long story but, I had 2 surgeries this past week first to remove one half of my thyroid, then the other once it was deemed cancerous. They are also saying the cancer cells may have spread, thus why I will be undergoing treatment. After the last surgery I simply put on a Disneyland walk through YouTube video and let the Main Street music wash over me, it was music to my soul and I shed a few tears simply because of how much joy it brought in the midst of awfulness. I know so many of you know what I mean and have experienced the feeling :slight_smile: Anyway, just thought I’d share a bit of my struggle with fellow Disney lovers and planners, as most people around me don’t quite fully understand why I brought my Vera Bradley Mickey backpack (aka my “happy bag”) to the hospital or why I am diligently searching for Disney themed pill organizers for the pills I must now take… I have to slip in the Disney Magic however I can so that some sunshine can beam through this sad time.

I had my thyroid removed in 2003. Thankfully the biopsy came back negative for cancer. I’m sure you’ve gone over the statistics and know that thyroid cancer is very treatable even if it’s spread. Once you’re done with chemo it will just be one pill yes? While not as pleasant as planning a Disney trip, I found researching living without a thyroid to be helpful. I wish I had done it earlier. Honestly the hardest part of being without a thyroid is finding an endocrinologist that treats more than your TSH numbers.

Hopefully It will just be a radioactive iodine treatment, I do have to go off thyroid meds and eat a strict low iodine 2-4 weeks beforehand to prepare. Thyroid cancer runs in my family so thankfully I have many I can talk to about it. My particular diagnosis is a rare form though so I will be looking more in to it, we just recently found out so are at the beginning stages of research. Thanks for you input, I am finding out already how much I took my thyroid for granted when I had it, lol.