I've never been a fan of butterflies or secrets so I might as well come clean to my readers and say, "Hey look at that! My stupid butterfly (thyroid) is causing problems again and this time it's a bit scary."
So the past few weeks have been filled with waiting rooms, labs, and appointments. Having Hashimoto's and PCOS is interesting - I had been feeling unusually tired. Unusually cold. And really just very.... not me. I went to see my new family doctor after my OB said at my annual - "Something doesn't feel right here.... but I could be wrong, you did say you are coming off of having a cold...." After seeing the family doc and her running some preliminary tests she had said, "Mmmm yea.... something isn't right Leigh Anne. I'm not the lead expert on Hashimotos. Let's get Dr. P on board and hook you up at Hershey Med - there's a lady doctor there I know you will love."
So in the meantime.... I've had a lot of blood work ya'll.
And the thing with Hashimoto's is if the rest of your body is doing as it should, the thyroid throws a mood swing. I'm hoping this is just a lumpy throated mood swing and not "the big C." Seriously though, I'm scared.
I will say I am tremendously blessed with a hubby who "gets" that the last thing I want to do when I'm already incredibly anxious is fill out paperwork. Kudos to the hubs, well done. He even remembered my birthday and what I'm allergic to!
It's looking like my TSH is behaving for the most part right now but my T4 is all sorts of whacked out and even the T3 got jealous and thought, 'Hey - let's really get them wound up.' And I keep having this odd cough and sensations of choking which is especially awkward when you're talking/teaching/singing in Church/eating.
So more labs were done and there were some more thyroid red flags popping up followed by a few smart people in lab coats saying, "Hmmm that feels interesting" followed by a "Have you ever been screened for thyroid cancer? Do you have a family history of thyroid cancer? Tell me, how are you feeling lately?" And the best question, "Do you find it really difficult to lose weight?" Um, hello - what do you think? But hey.... for the record ya'll - I'm down 43 pounds since 2013. Yea. On my own. Working hard. Slow and steady wins the race. Gluten free for nine months.
The decision was made that I'm in need of some help with this stupid butterfly thing of ours and I am working with an excellent team. West Reading and Hershey Med. I am thankful for amazing health insurance. Monday I met Dr. Cox and I feel at ease with her. She gets me. She listened to me and THAT IS JUST SO IMPORTANT. Nothing is more infuriating to me than the "smile and nodder" type. She understood the frustrations I'm experiencing and she explained that this is the nature of an autoimmune disease. I did nothing to earn this or deserve this - it's just bad genetics and she immediately got me into the lab on Monday to take even more blood to see what levels are doing what.
Finally as this week went by and results came in she said its time to take a more detailed look at the areas that were already previously identified as suspicious. So today I had one of those super sonic ultrasounds (I don't know if that's the term but it's the highest resolution). I will now torture you with pictures of pictures via my phone. The lab tech said she wasn't allowed to print photos of my thyroid ultrasound so when she left the room I took photos of it. It's my thyroid and I haven't rebelled since I was about 12. I was due.
So now.... we wait. I see the doc again Monday evening and then hopefully by the end of the week we'll know what on earth this stupid thing is doing. I'm annoyed with this because I kinda thought I was done. History of infertility - lots of pain there - got through it - have an awesome miracle boy - I just don't want to be dealing with more --- just wanna do my thang as a mommy and teacher.
That's that but hey.... look at my cute kid learning to scoot! :-)
