(I had to change the title of this blog cause I kept getting spam from it)

Hemp milk - It has a familiar taste, but I can’t quite place it.

I think it tastes like wood.  What wood would taste like if it were in liquid form.  It’s not a pleasant taste, but I can definitely handle it.  I’m thinking about watering it down, to see if that makes it less woody.

Well, I could definitely tell that it was NOT milk.  The color was off, first of all.  It was a very light brown.  Maybe not brown, but it wasn’t really white.  It was off white.  I had it in my regular HBoO, with my banana.  I had the first bite, and I went “whoa!”  It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely different.  I could taste the difference.  When I had the rice milk, I don’t think I could taste the difference.  It tasted like milk!  But this had a very strong taste.  I didn’t really like it.  How I began eating it, I would just get my spoon full, and then tilt the spoon  against the bowl to get off all the extra milk.  The cereal would be saturated in milk, but there wasn’t any extra on the spoon.  Doing it that way wasn’t that bad.  But with a spoon full of the hemp milk, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it.  Now I’m stuck with 27 more ounces of hemp milk that is kinda gross.  And at $16 a gallon ($4 for 32  ounces), I’m pretty upset about it.  But maybe I’ll just keep using it in my cereal, and suck it up until it’s done.  Then I won’t have to have it again until my LID in May.

Once a year for the next few years, I need to go on a crazy diet for a month for a scan to check to see if my cancer has come back. It’s a low iodine diet, and here it is.

Here’s the quick run down of what I CAN’T have:

• Iodized salt, sea salt, and any foods containing iodized salt and sea salt.
• Seafood and sea products
• Dairy products of any kind
• Egg yolks or whole eggs or foods containing whole eggs.
• Bakery products containing iodine/iodate dough conditioners or high-iodine ingredients.
• Red Dye #3.
• Most Chocolate (due to milk content).
• Some molasses (if sulfured, such as blackstrap molasses). Unsulfured molasses, which is more common, is okay. Sulfur is a term used on labels and does not relate to iodine.
• Soybeans and soybean products such as tofu, TVP, soy milk, soy sauce.
• On some diets, rhubarb and potato skins (inside of the potato is fine).
• Iodine-containing vitamins and food supplements.

Basically, I can’t have ANYTHING made by anyone else, if it could possibly have salt in it. And that BLOWS. Lately, I haven’t been eating anything much that would be disallowed on my diet, except for my morning cereal. I eat Honey Bunches of Oats EVERY single day, with skim milk and a banana. I looooove it. But I won’t be able to have HBoO on my diet, or my milk. In May, when I was on my LID, I had either egg whites, or toast with 100% fruit jam, or Fleishmann’s no-salt margarine. The bread was handmade by my brother (cause he rocks), so I knew it had no iodine in it. Then, one TERRIBLE morning, I woke up, and I had no bread. My father had finished it for breakfast. Seriously. I was having trouble sleeping, cause I was off of my medicine, so I was up and about earlier than usual, and he was still home before work (8am? 7?) And booooooooy, did I let him have it. Basically, I kept yelling “WHY WOULD YOU EAT MY BREAD WHEN YOU CAN EAT REGULAR BREAD???? I CAN’T EAT REGULAR BREAD, AND YOU ATE THE ONLY BREAD I CAN EAT. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??? THERE’S PLENTY OF REGULAR BREAD!!!!!!! NOW WHAT AM I GOING TO HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?????” And his response was, “I guess I wasn’t thinking.” It ruined my entire day. I’m the kind of person who goes to bed thinking of breakfast (because I love it so much), and I imagine what I’m going to have. So when I wake up, if I can’t have it, I get veeeeeery cranky. I think I’ve made my mom run out at 7am to buy me the right kind of cereal. And because she’s the best mom in the whole world, she’s done it for me. But seriously, if I’m jonesing for toast and butter, I can’t then switch to eggs. I’m not craving eggs!!!

Since I can’t have my HBoO, Megan gave me a great recipe for granola that I can make myself, but milk is still an issue. I can’t have soy (all soy is a no-no), I can’t have almond or rice milk cause they all have sea salt in them (why??? I don’t get it!) However, there is a hemp milk, made by Living Harvest, that does NOT have sea salt in it. Alas! A “milk” I can have!!!! So today, I went on a mission to find it.

I had to go to Woburn to see Stephanie, she had a fancy dress of mine that I’m going to wear to a wedding this weekend. There’s a Whole Foods in Woburn, so it worked out perfectly! The Whole Foods didn’t have the kind I wanted, they have the Original, sweetened kind, with 15 whopping grams of sugar. The UNSWEETENED kind has 0 grams. That’s a pretty big difference. So no luck, they didn’t have it. They had Hemp Bliss brand unsweetened, but it contained sea salt. Either way, I can’t have it on my diet, so I figured “why get it, if I can’t drink it when I need to.” So I passed it up, and moved on.

Next, I went to Framingham where there’s a Trader Joe’s that sells alcohol. Including $3 Charles Shaw wine. Yes, Please! There was also a Whole Foods RIGHT next door, so I parked at Whole Foods, and walked from one to the other (cause that’s the Green thing to do). Whole Foods didn’t have it either. But they DID have another kind, made by Hemp Dream. It had crazy tie dye stuff on the front. Cause it’s hemp, and hemp is like weed, and people who smoke weed like tie dye. Or something like that. This one is NOT unsweetened, but it was salt free, and it only had 6g of sugar. Which was a lot less than 15g. My regular skim milk has 12g of sugar, but my mom said it was “natural milk sugar” . . .whatever that means.

Emiliano said he was also going to look for hemp milk (cause he’s lactose-intolerant, and he usually drinks rice milk). He said he’d give hemp milk a try with me, and we are going to review it. I will post his review along with mine.

I’m going to have it for breakfast tomorrow, with my cereal and banana. But I guess the real test would be to try out the granola and have it that way. Cause that’s how I’ll have to have it on my LID. And I’m thinking it might taste different with different things. I tried Emiliano’s rice milk with my HBoO, and it was great!!! But maybe it wouldn’t have been as good with Cheerios, or something. My HBoO is already sweet, so it might have masked the taste of the rice milk. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes! I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Update: Emiliano can’t find hemp milk, so his review will have to wait.

What is on my mind:
I went on my birthday to get my blood drawn for my 6 week TSH test!  I haven’t gotten the results, but I’m guessing my Synthroid will be increased.

How my body feels:
Pretty normal . . . I still have the neck pain when I yawn, but it’s a lot less, and isn’t as bothersome.  I’ve been a little down emotionally lately, but I don’t know if it’s because of my moods.

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:
I’ve been really good at exercising lately!  There are some dats when I can’t fit it in, but since my LID, I’ve been doing it almost every day!  My weight is up, though, so that sucks!  haha.

Today I felt: Very good.  Weight:  125lb.

What is on my mind:
I got to start back on Synthroid and eat a normal dinner.  What a day!  My appetite has been a little off - but I got a burrito from Tory’s to celebrate.

How my body feels:
My neck is still sore - and my ankle hurts, so exercising isn’t pleasant.  I was also slightly irritable today, too.  But not as bad as before.  Just a little snappy with my parents.

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:
Started meds, and off the LID!  Back to “normal” since normal now means taking a pill every day.  I got used to not taking anything!  But now I have to go back to always setting my alarm.  Sigh.

Today I felt: Great.  Weight:  122lb

For the next entry, go here.

What is on my mind:
That I can’t wait to start living normally.  I get to eat a normal dinner tomorrow.  I am psyched!  I think I want a Tory’s burrito!  I’m afraid I’ll gain weight being off the diet though.

How my body feels:
My neck is getting sore.  The front near where the RAI is being taken up.  It hurts when I yawn, which is weird.  Its my glands that are sore.  Otherwise, I feel great!

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:
Nothing much - just taking it a day at a time.  Its all I can do.  Went to Coolidge, took a long walk to get out of the house.  Stay active.  It felt good.

Today I felt:   Great.  Weight:  122 lb.

What is on my mind:
That I have a long 2+ days left to be alone.  Luckily after 3 days, I can pretty much go back to normal.  But I’ll try to do good things alone too - be outside or something.

How my body feels:
Fine!  Had a bit of a headache around 10pm, took Tylenol and feel better.  We’ll see how tomorrow is.  But I don’t feel any different, which is weird.

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:
Had my RAI!  That’s a big treatment goal . . . haha!  The biggest.  But it went perfectly, and I got great pictures of the experience.  Good for memories.

Today I felt:  Great.  Weight:  122 lb.

What is on my mind:
Finally really nervous about tomorrow but I’m sure I’ll sleep fine.  It’s just appointments, and stuff I have to do!  It’ll be a breeze, I’m sure.

How my body feels:
Pretty damn good!  No real complaints not even that tired.  I was kinda irritable earlier - I’ve been like that a bit lately.  Saturday was really bad.

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:
Got my room ready for isolation!  Nice TV and DVD player.  Should be a fun time.  Haha.

Today I felt:  Great.  Weight:  122lb

What is on my mind:
Today’s doctor appointment were a breeze.  Nothing to worry about.  I’m hanging out with Lance tonight which is good for me.  I’m excited.
How my body feels:
Tired, but a lot better.  I have a bad headache, and neck ache that won’t go away, even with medicine.  That’s my only complaint today.

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:
Just relaxing and enjoying my time.  I was very cautious because of my scan dose, but still was able to have fun.

Today I felt:  Very good.  Weight:  122 lb

What is on my mind:
I can’t believe I go for my scan tomorrow.  Unbelievable.  It’s finally here after six months of waiting.

How my body feels:
Like I’ve been hit by a bus.  I was at work late - and stayed in bed until 12:30ish but still felt horrible.  No energy, and exercising did NOT help.

What I did today to reach my treatment goals:

Today I felt:  Not good.  Weight:  121 lb