Cramps!

Three out of four limbs cramped up this morning! That must be a hypocalcemic record for me.

I woke up with a terrible cramp in one of my calves and a normal cramp in the other.  I have to stretch my legs in a certain way to make the cramps go away.  Sometimes I leap right up out of bed to make the cramps go, although being launched from a deep sleep immediately onto one's feet on the bedroom floor can be jarring and can cause injury. Sometimes I stay in bed and try to make the cramps go away from some position I can achieve whilst already horizontal.  I chose the latter today. All of this to say, in the instant in which I was 1) waking up suddenly, 2) getting into a position in which I could effectively stretch my legs, and 3) yelping loudly at Jim, I leaned heavily on my left arm... which then cramped up also! OUCH.

Good thing I called Old Dr. Thyroid yesterday (aka, my endocrinologist) and left a message with regards to significantly upping my vitamin D intake.  It seems that no matter how many TUMS I pop, I'm always on the edge of leaping out of bed in pain. And that's just one of the symptoms of hypocalcemia that makes it clear I'm not absorbing this stuff.  However, I think my vitamin D is pretty low, and the calcium won't do anything if I don't up the D.

Speaking of Old Dr. Thyroid, he tells me that my parathyroids will never come back at this point. That's a bummer.

Old Dr. Thyroid also wants to do another round of radioactive iodine, which I think I'm going to just do, and schedule it for January.  On the plus side, it'll be nice to make sure in the scan that "Everything is Illuminated" (thanks, Mr. Foer). On the less-than-plus side, I may be running out of time if I want babies.

Well, I think that's everything. For once I actually beat Jim out of bed (the cramps).  So now I'm going to sit on the couch and gloat until he wakes up.

Happy Friday!

It's been a while!

Goodness gracious, where to begin?

It looks like the last time I updated this blog was way back in June.  Since then, I've done a few things.  I went to two amazing conferences, I broke my right shoulder in a way that quite removed me from my daily activities for several months, and I got married to Jim!

Of course, this is the very abbreviated version of the last nearly-half-year.  Still, I'm not sure how to do such a sweeping update.  Maybe a short, bulleted list?  Updates are as follows:

• My job is excellent.  I like my coworkers and the work I'm doing.  The company I work for treats its employees surprisingly well.  I have a lot of responsibility, I'm being challenged daily, and I routinely get to dress up like an adult.
• My friends are amazing. Old friends - wonderful. New friends - wonderful.  Thank you all for being so present for me over the last year.  And a special shout-out to a small group of women friends who I met a little more than a year ago. For the last year, they have been incredibly supportive. Thank you, ladies. 
• The wedding was absolutely everything I could have hoped it would be, and I am thrilled to be married to Jim. Thank you so much to all of our family and friends who attended!  The honeymoon, in one of our favorite places - Bar Harbor, Maine - was as relaxing as could be.
• On the thyroid front, my doctor is pressing to do another round of radioactive iodine, this one less potent than the last.  He checked me in August and didn't see anything on my ultrasound, nor in my blood work, to concern him.  However, he would like to treat me with iodine.  He says it is an important part of the treatment puzzle.  I will probably go through with it in January, once my vacation/sick days reset.

Those are some of the highlights for the moment. I will try to update again in a more timely manner.

Health-related update, with preamble.

PREAMBLE

Hey, friends. I decided I have way too many updates for one blog post.  If I were a more skilled, or more patient, blogger, I'd take the time to interweave the threads and leave you, at the end, feeling satisfied that you'd just read a coherent piece, created by one of the best writers you know.

However, it's Sunday, and I am spending the day with Jim and Sara, so I have to be careful not to blog the day away.  Also, I'm afraid my skill level - which is obscenely high, of course - might just drive you away if you were forced to perceive it.

So, I'm just going to do a few updates, I think, with different kinds of information in them.  As you can see from my descriptive title (right?  Mad skills, eh?) this is a health-related update.

HEALTH-RELATED UPDATES

My calcium levels are still trending toilet-ward.  I take many calcium supplements on a daily basis, and when I forget, the tingling in my limbs begins.  The last time I was tested, the level was still "critically low."  My parathyroid, however, *is* trying.  My PTH hormone levels are also low, but low-low-normal, so there's something going on in there.  Time will tell if I ever get my calcium-absorbing talents back, but at least they make sugar-free TUMS that taste like baby aspirin in the meantime.  My endocrinologist wants to see me in a couple of weeks about these results, and I assume at that point he'll check out my (lack of) thyroid and make sure there's no garbage growing there.

However, my thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level, apparently, is starting to regulate, and just in time, because I found out when I finally stepped on the scale for the first time since my surgery, that I'd gained MUCH weight.  While I understand that weight gain happens when one doesn't watch what one consumes, the amount of weight I've put on seems excessive, and not in line with what I've been eating, as far as I can tell.  I'm so pleased, though, that this weight gain is just in time for the summer, for my wedding in the fall, etc.  Yay for weight gain at great times.  Yay.

In other health-related news, I haven't been able to do Pilates because of some herniated disc stuff in my neck.  I've started physical therapy for the related nerve issues, however, and it seems to be helping.

Finally, I have to have a biopsy tomorrow for another finding (not thyroid-related).  It's endless. Wish me luck.  The doctor who did the ultrasound said she was 99 percent sure it wasn't cancerous and I said, well, I've heard that before, but I'll take your word for it.  I'm taking her word for it.

Stop with the excessive gifts. I promise I'll update my bog.

Okay, folks, please stop sending me candy-grams and flowers and cards in an effort to get me to update my blog. I can't handle the volume of gifts with my small apartment.  If you want to send me gifts in exchange for blog updates, please make them cash gifts.

*Whew.* Glad I finally said that.

Updates!

Hi!

I haven't updated in a while, but I'm doing fine. Sure, it's 3:53 in the morning, but that just means my absolutely adorable dog woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. It's cool. It happens. Here's what's going on:

- I have a new, great job and I'm very happy about it! I wake up in a state of non-dread on a daily basis. It's so weird!

- We set a wedding date, this Autumn. The venue is tiny, so the guest list will also be tiny. We're excited! We also booked a kick-ass honeymoon.

- Jim's great. The doggie's great (except for the gnawed-at portion of her tail). My family is great. Jim's family is great. Everyone's great.

- My next check-up for the thyroid cancer is not until August, but I've been active in other ways, vis-a-vis my physical health. As of about a month and a half ago, I've been doing Pilates once or twice a week with a super instructor, I have been walking as much as possible, and I just went to acupuncture for the first time last night. Wooo-wooo! As soon as I get around to filing the paperwork with my doctor's office, I'll be joining the gym in my new super-cool workplace.

- I'm going to be doing some more improv soon (way to announce that intention, Lisa)!

That's the news for now!

Sometimes it's nice to know you're right.

I have to say, it's very, VERY comforting to know that I am right about my health now and again.  Even when the results are concerning, it's nice to know I am not crazy.

I have been struggling for months - more than I have in the past, I suppose - with exhaustion, depression, chronic crankiness, my weight, headaches, klutziness, memory issues, etc.  Well, I finally got my blood work back and - surprise, surprise - these symptoms are actually caused by real things!!  

Yes, folks, that's right.  While you may think I'm crazy - and I am, so you're right - you're also wrong, because my symptoms are based in medically proven reality.  I am still hypothyroid and I am still hypocalcemic.  I have been placed on a higher dosage of Levothyroxine (synthetic thyroid hormone) and 2,000 mg/day of calcium + vitamin D.  

Symptoms of both of these deficiencies include those listed above, as well as others I won't burden you with right now.

Can I get a HA!?!

For now, health-wise, that's all the news there is to report.  On the cancer side, the blood work looked fine, and I don't have to get tested again until August/September.

And, while I have a bit more news for you, which is not directly related to healthcare, but is also related to my being right about stuff... well, that news has to wait a while longer!

another day, another bullshit

I think I am hypocalcemic again.  When my calcium gets low, I get... well, the word one might use, if one were being a bitch-ass, would be crazy.

Or it's just very bad PMS.

I did get my blood levels tested, though, so I guess we'll find out soon enough.

"pristine" and random free association

Pristine.

That's what my doctor called the ultrasound.  Yay.

I don't have to get my thyroid rechecked until the late summer or so... and then I'll have a body scan with radioactivity... I think.  Because I haven't had enough radiation applied to my body.

In addition to the ultrasound, I have to have my blood work (I've been remiss) - and then I will update more/again/etc.

Well. I'd better get to bed.

Oh, before I go, the promised free association:

LOST is stupid this season.

I like yogurt.

Roger Ebert looks so sick and I feel awful for him and all the more worried about me in light of his condition.

Oh. And? I fell (for the third time in a few months) today. I fell trying to get on the subway.  The subway driver was kind enough to open the door so I could get my legs out before closing it again and leaving the station.  My elbow hurts.

And stuff.

Tonight

Tonight I looked in the mirror and I was movie-star thin, with eyes and ears that were too big for my elfin, waify face, and I turned sideways and I disappeared.

No.

I am getting no sleep.  I have my three-month follow-up since the radiation in the morning.  I'm trying not to be stressed about it, but I'm also not sleeping.  Soon it'll be time to take the drugs... although I have to get up early...

Eek.

Status update.

Hi Folks,

I'm blogging on my lunch break (such as it is), so this will be necessarily brief.  I just wanted to let you know the latest:

- Thyroid-wise:  I continue to await my first post-radiation follow-up. By "await," I mean "need to schedule."  I will let you know when that is, and what the result is.  (Don't worry, mom, it's not even supposed to be until the end of this month/beginning of next.)

- Other-physical-stuff-wise:  I've been going through some diagnostic testing to ensure that some other concerns identified over the summer aren't awful and/or immediate.  One of them, an ongoing health issue I've dealt with, seems okay at the moment (yay), with the proverbial "keep an eye on it" stamped upon it (I suppose the status has to be proverbial, as one can't really stamp anything on my internal organs without a laser or branding iron). The other issue, a precancerous finding in (and summarily removed from) my small intestine, also seems to be maintaining its status quo at for the time being, in that the doctors, so far, don't see anything else precancerous there.  I had an x-ray with some yummy barium drink, and assuming the radiology doctor's findings don't differ from my GI doctor's findings, I'm golden at least until the next follow-up test, whatever it may be.

- Mental-stuff-wise:  I went through a very trying couple of months around the time of the radiation.  I was depressed and anxious, moreso than ever before.  Whether it was caused by physical challenges, stress, or a combination of the above, a variety of remediations were applied and seem to be having the desired effect.  I'm very much better now and I commented to Jim yesterday that on the way home from work, I experienced this sustained feeling that I couldn't pinpoint at first... and then realized it was happiness.

Well, that's all the news from the front, and it only took me 10 minutes to type... surely a respectable lunch break.  Thanks for the positive thoughts.  Please point some positivity at my doggie if you'd be so kind, as she goes in for dental work (i.e., goes under anesthesia and possibly has surgery) this Friday.  She is the love of my life, as everyone in my life knows, and I am praying that she comes through with the flyingest of flying colors.