Patience Part II - Day 23

It's day 23 of being back on my thyroid hormones for hypothyroidism. I have had inconsistencies from day to day as far as how well I feel, but in general my energy is coming back. I was able to walk the dogs a total of 4 miles this past weekend when we had wonderful weather. They were so happy to be outside!

Symptom-wise I did have lots of foot pain and muscle cramping while walking and I did feel more winded than in the past.

On Monday night I did a mile on the treadmill. Since then my right foot has been cramping intermittently and today I'm having a back spasm.

The other issue is that I finished the T4 levothyroxine that I had filled locally and began taking the T4 from the mail order pharmacy...lo and behold the levothyroxine manufacturers are different which is concerning because while the formulas are supposed to be the same, it has been reported that sometimes different manaufacturers use different binders that can affect the uptake of the hormone.

Last night I played with the dogs a bit in the living room, wrestling around and tossing the toys. I got winded and really fatigued in the arms and legs. I don't know if this is because I changed the T4 (Levothyroxine) meds 4 days ago or if I have been pushing it because I am feeling better.

Bowling league is tonight and that will either help my back or send it over the edge. Again, I don't plan to push myself but breaking 90 would make me happy!

Ignoring me as usual...

Here are the dogs out on a walk and ignoring me...as usual.

Groundhog - DH's photo

Here is DH's photo of the groundhog...much clearer than my iPhone pic.

So here's the deal, we were driving home from dinner Friday night and as I drove through town I saw something move between a couple of parked cars across from the White Rose Cafe. I quickly pulled over and my headlights picked up this little guy. I ended up parking the car and stepping out to take a few iPhone pics...he came so close to me!

Then he wandered up a bit and I followed him on foot. He got scared and ran across the street and was right in front of the White Rose when a guy came out! The groundhog scurried under a parked truck that the guy got into and started driving away nearly hitting the groundhog.

I then headed back across the street and herded him back over to the other side, and back in the headlights so DH could get a photo. Thank goodness there were no cops driving through at that point! (Hey crazy lady, what are you doing in the street?!)

The groundhog was smaller than some I've seen in our back yard so I guess he was young. He seemed a bit confused (even before I started stalking him) but was just adorable. I wanted to snuggle him, but then I had this vision of going to the E.R., getting rabies shots, and then having to quarantine or worse, chop off this little guys head for rabies testing and I decided it would be best to just admire him from afar!

Groundhog in downtown Union

New Specs...

I ordered new glasses today from Lenscrafters. Unfortunately my astigmatism is so bad now that the lenses are special order...so much for "glasses in about an hour". Since my issues with my thyroid medication being halted and restarted for the RAIU test, I've had to resort to wearing glasses and give up the contacts.

The thyroid hormone apparently has some sort of interaction with the tissues of the eye and eyelid. During my hormone hiatus, my eyelids swelled quite a bit, especially on my left eye. Additionally, both my eyes watered constantly and became photosensitive. It was impossible to wear contacts during this time.

I do hope to get back to wearing contacts again but rather than fight it, I'm embracing the change and getting some cool glasses.

I ordered two pair, one for "work" and one for "fun":

Flowers from Mom

My Mom sent me a cheer up bouquet of flowers!

Javier Mendoza @ LaGra

Tonight we headed to LaGra to grab dinner and catch Javier's first show of the year! Javier has been in Spain for a month so we were ready for a show!

"AIN'T NO THING LIKE A CHICKEN WING"

On a weird note, I have been craving meat. So far this week I made a beef roast, Italian breaded chicken breast, BBQ chicken wings, and used ground turkey in my pasta sauce. Not sure the significance of this craving. Normally, I'm on the meat-light diet preferring tuna, egg whites, legumes, nut butters and the occasional steak to fill in the protein requirement. While I was off my medication I craved carbs....bread, pizza, potatoes, crackers, oatmeal, no grains were safe but as soon as I was back on my medication for a few days the meat obsession kicked in. I even told DH that at one point I could actually smell a pot roast dinner just by thinking about it. Right now if I think about BBQ wings I can almost taste them. The brain is a scary thing and can't be trusted!

I did make some fabu wings in the crock pot. I bought a package of wings, chucked them in the crock with a small bottle of sweet & tangy BBQ sauce (KC Masterpiece) and some water. Put it on high for 4 hours, drained the wings (the sauce was really thin), poured some more BBQ sauce on them and stuck them in the fridge. The next night I just microwaved them and swirled them around in the BBQ sauce and OH MY GOSH! They were fall off the bone deliciously good. DH and I had them with a side of asian veggies (that's how we roll). There "AIN'T NO THING LIKE A CHICKEN WING"

Patience...

I had to reschedule my Endocrinologist appointment due to icy weather, so now it will be a couple of weeks before I can get any answers to the thyroid nodule situation. I am back on my medications and feeling somewhat better although yesterday was a bad day. In my morning rush I missed a dose of T4 and had some swelling again by mid day...not sure why that happened so quickly. It is my first day off steroids, but those were tapered down and should not have cause a rebound effect. There was some stress which could have driven up demand for T4/T3 I suppose. Additionally, shoveling all that snow the prior day may have also driven up demand. I do know that my arms and legs feel extremely weak and my arm muscles are definitely painful from the minimal exertion. Even today I am feeling like my face and tongue are swelling again. My fingertips are tingly and painful and I have been having muscle cramps in my legs and back. On the plus side my eyelid swelling is down and my eyes are no longer tearing up every 30 seconds. The photosensitivity is down as well and my brain fog seems to have lifted.



I called the Endo's office to see if I could get my appointment moved up, but they do not have any openings at this time. They did say to keep checking back for possible cancellations, so I guess I will try to do that in hopes of getting in sooner.

Saving Versus Buy Now!

The Simple Dollar Blog has a great article about saving for a large non-essential purchase versus buying it now. Check it out! I like the way he has calculated the savings. It really makes you think twice before making these types of purchases.

Power Shovel!

Well, we finally got enough snow that I was able to try out our new Toro Power Shovel. The Toro Power Shovel is an electric snow throwing device. I ordered it a few months back in prep for winter weather but as luck would have it the weather has been holding out...until now.

The thing is pretty amazing and throws snow about 20 feet. It took me a bit to get the hang of using it and I doused DH and myself with a good portion of snow before working out a technique.

It was a bit hard to use in the grassy areas, but worked quite well on the sidewalks and driveway. Also, having an electric cord attached to the device was kind of awkward, but for the small area we have it worked fine.

I would definitely recommend using goggles and dressing in snow gear. The wind was blowing a lot of the snow back onto me so that made it a bit of a challenge.

MORNING UPDATE: I got out this morning at about 6:30am to clear the walkway again. We had about 4" - 5" of new snow and the Toro Power Shovel worked great, also there was no wind so that made it easier to get the snow going AWAY from me. I made quick work of the walkway and the driveway, although when I got to the street and the deeper snow it failed to perform very well. The instruction manual indicates that 6" deep snow is about the max it will do and I have to agree. It also stated that deeper snow can be handled by removing it in "layers". My arms were too weak to handle too much of that business, so I let it go for now and hoped that the street plows would come by and clear it off.

Thyroid Awareness Month

Ironically...January is Thyroid Awareness Month so here's a PSA about it featuring model Kim Alexis, who was diagnosed hypothyroid several years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uRK2yrFSyM

Mary Shomon (patient advocate) has a Thyroid Awareness Month Kickoff page on About.com. Check out the link for information on her Check Your Neck, Change Your Life Campaign.

http://thyroid.about.com/b/2009/01/15/thyroid-awareness-month-2009htm.htm

It's estimated that there are 60 million Americans suffering from thyroid disease, a majority of which are undiagnosed. Getting your thyroid checked is simple so ask your doctor about it. It could change your life!

UPDATE:
I just finished reading a copy of the Thyroid Awareness Edition of Power Of Prevention, The Magazine. You can find it here. I have to say it is an excellent source of concise information on thyroid disease and a must read for anyone dealing with the issue or anyone who just wants to better understand the impact that the thyroid gland has on the body.

Feeling Better...

This is my 4th day back on my thyroid hormones and I have to say I am starting to feel better. I still got weak and winded from vacuuming last night, but after a nap I was better. This morning I actually got through blow drying my hair without a break! And I cleaned up the kitchen before heading out to work. So my energy level must be improving.

I also got a flu shot on Tuesday and have had swelling and tenderness in that arm so I put on an ice pack....trouble is I had pain in the opposite shoulder from bowling (what was I thinking?) so I put a heating pad on that side. I felt like one of those McDonald's Mc D.L.T burgers, the "keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold" ones from the 80's. Does anyone else remember those? The burger came in a two compartment styrofoam container with a bun, lettuce, and tomato on one side and the burger and bun on the other. That just seems funny now!

Anyhow, a lot of my face swelling has gone down. I've had these strange tingly feelings in different parts of my face the last two days. I guess that is the fluid leaving the tissues, but it feels weird and makes me want to wrinkle up my fore head or do those face stretches. My doctor had offered me some low dose prednisone (Steroid) for the swelling I had as it was causing me some pain in my ears. I declined but then decided that I would take him up on it and called to ask him to phone it in to the pharmacy. I'm hoping that will hasten the recovery a bit and not turn me into Arnie "Vwe vwant to pump...You up!" Swarzeneggar. He swore it wouldn't.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, got a couple of "to-do lists" and it appears I may have the energy to get them done!

Blog Revamp...

After 4 YEARS!!! I thought it time to revamp the look of the blog. Plus I have a few more readers than I thought I did so they're probably ready for a new look as well. Additionally, I've added google adsense. If you read a post and like it, please click on an ad that interests you. It's only a few cents but it may incentive-vise me to post more often and write more often and that may (or may not) be a good thing.

Also, if you have any suggestions for content, subject matter, or layout changes, please post a comment and let me know.

Thank for reading!

Grandma's Obituaries

Here are the links to my Grandma's obituaries in the Washington Missourian and the Connecticut Post:

http://www.emissourian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20244206&BRD=1409&PAG=461&dept_id=33075&rfi=6

http://www.legacy.com/ctpost/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=123090440

RAIU Results

The results of my thyroid scan were several nodules found to be hot and one found to be cold. "Hot" means it behaved like active thyroid tissue but took up more iodine than the surrounding tissues and is thus "overactive". Cold means it took up little or no iodine and is not behaving like thyroid tissue. The cold one has a 10% - 15% chance of being "a problem" which mean 85% to 90% chance it is nothing to worry about and just something to watch. I'm being referred to an endocrinologist and will see him on Tuesday. I'll know more after that visit.

Based on my research it is likely that they will opt to do a FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration) biopsy of at least the cold nodule if not the hot ones as well. For now I just feel better knowing a little more and also being back on my medications. The brain fog has lifted slightly, but the swelling and fatigue are still around. It's only been two days but I'm sure it will continue to improve.

I recently found out that there are at least two other people in my family on my Mom's side with thyroid issues and one of them had actual surgery to remove part of the gland due to a nodule. It eases my mind knowing that there is a source (genetic) for this problem and that I am not alone in dealing with it.

My Coworkers Rock!

Some of my co-workers and co-bowlers had flowers sent to me today. It
really cheered me up and they are just an awesome group!

Grandma Elizabeth M. Ploskunyak

Grandma_B&W
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Born: May 27, 1926
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Departed: January 17, 2009
New Haven, Missouri

The wake for Grandma was held this evening at Antioch Christian Church. It was nice that the family all gathered together to have time to pay our respects and grieve. Several picture panels from Grandma's 80th birthday and also a new panel that my cousin created were brought to the church. It was great to look over the photos and point out our favorites and talk about the memories, not just the ones with Grandma but these led to other stories and discussions about family and times. Very therapeutic.

There were quite a few people who came by to pay their respects, mostly church friends, or coworkers. One special person was Grandma's friend from the nursing home, Betty. She and Grandma spent time together and performed together in skits, went on trips that the home would arrange and play bingo or fold towels together. It was great that her son was able to bring her out to the church.

On Monday, I head to the hospital at 7:30 for my Thyroid scan then on to the funeral at 10:30am. We're passing on a meal at church and just the family will head over to the Szakals for sandwiches, drinks, and our usual family get together game of dominos.

I'll have to break away at 1 and head back to the hospital for another scan. Not sure what the plan will be after that. Possibly back to the Szakals....we'll see how it plays out.

Visitor

I've been working from home the last two days because this hypothyroid thing is playing havoc with my energy level and my emotional state. You can't cry or nap at work and still be respected so I've opted to work from home. I have radioactive iodine uptake tests on Monday and Tuesday which will hopefully show that the nodule is nothing to worry about and then its back on the meds and back to normal, well normal for me. Not too soon either, I am offically back to my pre-high blood pressure weight. I know that a lot of it is just fluid retention from the hormone deficiency but I still feel really depressed that I was unable to keep the weight off. The holiday and being off my meds did not help and I knew it was going to be a challenge but I really didn't expect to see that number on the scale again.

My Grandma is on hospice at the nursing home now. We really have no idea how long she will be able to hang on. She's on morphine and isn't responsive. She was able to get out for Thanksgiving and Christmas and was able to socialize a bit although she would get confused and mix up her time periods even then. She ended up in the hospital last week for a few days and it's been downhill since.

My cousin, Lena, is flying out here this weekend and staying with us. It will be nice to visit with extended family but sad due to the reason. I'm trying to get things prepared in our spare room in between some work stuff. We're going out on Saturday night for my Uncle's birthday which is actually Sunday. Happy B-Day Uncle Ed, I'm buying the Pina Coladas!

Other than that, be sure to check out DH's blog: http://thephotogeek.blogspot.com as he's been posting some awesome stuff again after a summer hiatus.

DH at Vallarta

After two margaritas...isn't he cute?