How My Song-Writing Career Started

In March, 1999, I was "going hypo" (off my thyroid hormone for several weeks), preparing for a scan. My body was exhibiting all the usual symptoms of hypothyroidism: my metbolism was slowing down, my reflexes were lagging, my temperature was falling, and I was feeling more exhausted every day.

I was spending a lot of time on-line chatting with other thyroid cancer survivors. In discussing our surgeries, one friend wrote that she had had numerous surgeries in her lifetime. I teased, "I feel a song coming on!" and I wrote,

"On the first day of '95
my surgeon gave to me
a partial hysterectomy.

On the second day '96
my surgeon gave to me
two lobe-ectomies
and a partial hysterectomy.

On the third day of '97
my surgeon gave to me
three gall bladder stones,
two lobe-ectomies,
and a partial hysterectomy!"

The lyrics just flowed. I couldn't believe that as bad as I felt physically, I was able to be creative. It was as though my brain had changed -- it felt sharper, quicker, and everything seemed funny, even though my body was exhausted.

Suddenly, I decided that we needed a thyca theme song! So I started to rewrite the entire "Twelve Days Of Christmas" song. I changed the title to "The Twelve Weeks Of HypoHell" and incorporated all the symptoms I could think of that go along with being hypothyroid. (Most of the symptoms in the song are ones I usually get. But the majority of people don't experience so many side effects. I'm just one of the unlucky ones!)

When the song was done, I sent it to my thyca friends on-line, and our theme song was born.

Once I started writing songs, I couldn't stop. Some of my best lyrics came to me during horrible migraine headaches (an awful hypo symptom I sometimes get). I would lay in the dark in pain and write with my eyes closed. I kept a notebook by the bed and would wake up in the night to jot down phrases. I wrote 5 songs plus a take-off on those TV ads for greatest hits albums.

In October of 1999, I sang them at the 2nd Annual Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Conference, accompanied by dozens of other survivors. Imagine a whole chorus of us singing and playing kazoos to "Thyca Patients Sing This Song, Doo Dah, Doo Dah!" We had a blast.

They said, "Megan, if you are this way while you're hypo, what are you like when you're on your thyroid medication and feeling good?!"

Well, I'm happy to report that the song-writing gift I thought was only a temporary hypo side effect has stuck with me. To date, I have rewritten the words to over a dozen songs. A few of them are on the ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc. web site under "Humor". I sang the new songs at the 3rd Annual Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Conference in September, 2000. One family even brought their kazoos from last year!

My Goals for the Songs

I hope these songs make thyca survivors feel like they aren't alone.
Even though we're in an exclusive "club" with our rare disease, there are still plenty of us out here who know exactly what you are going through.

I want patients and their families to be able to laugh at this disease.
Sometimes, when you have to face something horrible (like cancer), it really helps to laugh at it. It gives you courage. It gives you strength. It's powerful medicine.

I hope that patients will share these songs with their healthcare professionals so they can have a better understanding of what we are going through.

Take me to the songs!

The Future of the Songs

Ever since I sang my first thyca songs at the 1999 ThyCa conference, people have been asking me when I'm going to come out with a CD. Well, now that I have written enough songs to fill a CD, I am actually going to do it!

The songs have touched so many people from all over the world. One woman wrote that her sister was diagnosed a year ago and recently found the songs on the ThyCa web site. "I heard her laugh that day," she wrote. "A real, hearty laugh. Like someone finally understands what she has been going through. I couldn't tell you how happy that made me feel."

I am thrilled and honored that the songs bring such happiness to people. My dream is to share the songs with even more patients, families and medical people. There is a lot of power in music. It can bring us closer together, and it can heal us.

My other dream is to be able to donate part of the proceeds from the CD to ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc. This all-volunteer nonprofit organization is doing remarkable things to help survivors and their families. Donations to ThyCa have a wonderful ripple effect, touching hundreds, perhaps thousands of people around the world. I want the songs to make a difference too.

I know I have a lot of work to do to make this CD a reality. I don't really know exactly what needs to be done, never having worked on a music CD before, but I am excited and ready to jump into it. I've already met a couple of people who have given me advice. There is so much good that can come from this project. I know it's going to happen.

But wait! There's more fun stuff! Click here for the Humor Page. Have fun!