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.