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Have high blood pressure? high calcium levels?
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photo credit: pasotraspaso
This is my two week post op report card, and it’s a good one!
The first week was rough, I’m sure just due to the effects that any surgery has on your system along with hormone and blood chemicals all flying up and down, but now at two weeks post op from my parathyroidectomy I am feeling MUCH better.The symptoms that were IMMEDIATELY fixed are:
- my blood pressure is now totally normal, all the time
- normal bladder control (pre-op I ALWAYS had to pee and could barely make it in time)
- bone and muscle pain GONE!
- I have lost 7 pounds (yeah!)
- digestion MUCH improved
- Sex Drive back… (double yeah!)
Still to go:
I am currently REALLY emotional, I didn’t have the mood swings when I was pre-op like some people do, but I am having them now… I’m thinking it has to do with the parathyroid having to adjust itself.
I still get a little shakey when I don’t get my calcium. I had an appointment with my Endocrinologist on Tuesday and he has me on 1000 milligrams of calcium 4x a day along with a prescription for Vitamin D that I take once a week. I am also scheduled for a bone density scan in two weeks to see how much damage has been done to my bones during this calcium leaching period of God only knows how long. After he looks at that and determines the results he’ll redo my levels.
I am musing that perhaps my weight gain over the last two years and onset of menopause symptoms including rapid weight gain for now apparent reason may have to do with the fact I read on my synthyroid medication I picked up yesterday. (I also have Hashimoto’s Thyroid Disease) It says not to take it with calcium… so I’m wondering if that was/is part of the reason for the weight gain (Hashimoto’s is hypo thyroid) is that the synthyroid couldn’t really do it’s job to help regulate my metabolism with my calcium levels being constantly so high in my blood stream. Only time will tell.
All in all the results of the parathyroidectomy are a huge success. 
Read all my previous posts on this journey
Pt 5: 2 Days Post Operative
pt 4: Tomorrow is Surgery Day
pt 3: Consultation with the Surgeon
Definition :
“Parathyroidectomy“
Parathyroidectomy is surgery to remove parathyroid glands or parathyroid tumors. Parathyroidectomy is recommended when one or more parathyroid glands are producing excessive amounts of parathyroid hormone.
How NOT to go to the ER after parathyroid surgery
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I woke up on day 3 post op and started having muscle cramps in my shoulder, leg, arm, my lips and finger tips were tingling… these were things my surgeon had told me to watch for. We called the surgeons office and he told me to see my regular doctor… so called my General Practitioner, not really understanding why since I haven’t seen my GP for weeks, but got in two hours later. On the ride in the car there the cramping started getting worse and worse, I was tingling and having muscle cramps & spasms all down the left side of my body and it started cramping my diaphragm which made it feel difficult to breathe. After explaining that my surgeon had said to watch for this my regular doctor didn’t know what to do, and didn’t have the ability to run lab results quickly, so she called 911 and had me go to the emergency room in an ambulance… At this point the cramping and numbness or “buzzy” feeling is getting worse and worse.. partly due to the low level of calcium in my body and the other due to me getting more and more upset and freaked about the cramping.. I got there and had to repeat everything once again to the ER staff that I’d told to the Hunky firemen that drove me to the hospital… uugggghhh..
I was sure I was having a stroke or a heart attack at this point, my fingers started cramping up like I had severe arthritis… and it felt like a huge weight was on my chest. All my vitals were normal but I was still having all these symptoms.
How to not have all of this happen? If you start feeling muscle cramps or numbness, eat another tums! Calcium with Vitamin D, etc… The surgeon should have told me that rather than just warning me to watch for these symptoms and then sending me to the doctor that was clueless. (not her fault, this isn’t her specialty and it was impressive that she caught the condition in the first place) When the doctor in the ER finally came into the room he said.. oh yeah… that’s common with this type of surgery, (Removal of an adenoma on your parathyroid gland) just take more calcium. Duh!
What’s really maddening was that I had that “womens intuition” that you’d think at this age I’d be wise enough to listen to and I thought when I first started having the muscle cramps… “I wonder if I should just take some more calcium” but I was afraid to over do the calcium and figured if it was that easy it would have been on my post op instructions.
Before the ER staff could get it together I closed my eyes and prayed… “God, help me“…. I started feeling large hands on my head, cradling it and the numbness and muscle cramping started lessening, starting at my diaphram the cramping diminished, the pressure lessened, and the tingling felt like it was being drawn out of my body to my head and out….. within 5 minutes I was almost none of the previous symptoms and just a touch of numbness in my lips and fingertips. Was it God? Did my body just re-regulate its hormone and calcium levels on it’s own? Next time… I plan on praying FIRST!
Pt 5: 2 Days Post Operative
pt 4: Tomorrow is Surgery Day
pt 3: Consultation with the Surgeon
pt 2: Appointment with the Endochronologist
pt 1: I thought it was just Menopause
Definition :
“Parathyroidectomy“
Parathyroidectomy is surgery to remove parathyroid glands or parathyroid tumors. Parathyroidectomy is recommended when one or more parathyroid glands are producing excessive amounts of parathyroid hormone.
2 days Post Op Parathyroidectomy
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I am cautiously optimistic! I want to shout from the rooftops about how much better I feel in my body than I have for a couple of years, but I realize it might be the pain medications I’m still on. However, even when I wait before taking the meds I can feel that my blood pressure has returned to the low normal I’ve always had before this health issue. Also, happily all of the doom and gloom things I read about recovery which included things like…. your doctor will tell you not to smile, laugh or talk excessively, you’ll be on soft foods and liquids for a week… are totally NOT true. My surgeon laughed when I told him about what I’d read. I’ve often heard from doctors to NEVER look up medical things on the internet as there is as much mis-information as there is good…. So here is my experience in a hope to be encourage other women out there who are preparing for this surgery. I started in pre-op where I changed into my hospital gown, got the IV hooked up and then they let my hubby back with me. We then met my surgeon again, the surgical nurse and anesthesiologist, they were all very kind and answered all questions we had and kept the mood light and easy. The anesthesiologist gave me a shot of happy juice to relax me before the general anesthesia. I remember telling the nurse that wheeling through the hall to surgery looked just like I Greys Anatomy… I really don’t remember anything after that until I woke up in Post Op. AWESOME! I didn’t want to remember a thing and I didn’t. They monitored the PTH (Para Thyroid Hormone) during the surgery to make sure the tumor they removed had fixed the problem. They found the tumor as expected from the scan and removed it, the PTH immediately went back to normal… Good news! I woke up to a bit of a sore throat from the breathing tube and very thirsty, the post op nurse was great, she stayed within view once I started coming to, gave me a few ice chips, told me the surgery went well. I was so relieved when I could talk. I was horse, but talking just fine. She asked my pain level.. it was about 4 out of 10, they tell you to keep the pain moderated on the low end because it’s harder to fix if you let the pain get out of hand. I got a shot of happy juice and something for queasiness. I was also given a mega does of Calcium since my system wasn’t dumping it in. Very Tricky XS Tums.. no kidding. I take 1000 milligrams 4 times a day until I get my blood taken. I got to my room and the nurse was just great, she got me some water right away, ordered up a soft food dinner which consisted of jello, beef broth and ice cream. I couldn’t eat much but since I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours I knew I should eat something. I was pretty much in and out of it the rest of that evening I tried to stay awake to watch 24 with my hubby, but I don’t think I got much of it. Nighttime at a hospital is always rough. There are so many sounds and beeps and just as you go to sleep, they come to get a blood sample to check my calcium levels. I have a BIG appetite come morning and the Adventist hospitals feed you well. I head home after lunch and hope everything continues to improve. I have to take the opportunity to first thank all of my friends and family and especially my wonderful husband for all the prayers and support I was offered throughout this process. More information on Hyper Parathyroid Disorder
pt 4: Tomorrow is Surgery Day
pt 3: Consultation-with-the-Surgeon
pt 2: Appointment with the Endochronologist
pt 1: I thought it was just Menopause
Definition
-
“Parathyroidectomy“
Parathyroidectomy is surgery to remove parathyroid glands or parathyroid tumors. Parathyroidectomy is recommended when one or more parathyroid glands are producing excessive amounts of parathyroid hormone.
Why do Women have to shave?
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SERIOUSLY! It has to be the single thing I most hate about being a woman. We will torture ourselves endlessly in pursuit of the “silky smooth legs” “she wears short shorts” commercial that told us over and over again the only way to attract a man was to have all the surfaces of our body hair free!!
You have so many options and yet all of them have their downfalls. (aka SUCK!)
First off.. shaving.. Ok, doesn’t seem to hard does it? But I don’t know about you ladies out there, but there are areas of my body that I’m supposed to get hairless that I can’t see.. I’ve never seen.. not sure I want to see, but I’m expected to take a sharp blade to it? I don’t think so. Wet or dry, shaving cream or gel, my daughter says use hair conditioner because you always have more of that left than you do shampoo… So ok, I’ve managed to somehow miraculously de-hair myself to the satisfaction of the TV commercial folks and guess what.. By the end of the day I’ve got stubble… UGG….
Then there is waxing! You’ve all seen the scene in the “40 year old Virgin” where he’s waxing his chest hairs… That really IS how painful that is, and how many men out there are willing to do that for us to have a hair free chest to cuddle on.. NOT THAT MANY! It’s Painful, Expensive, did I say painful?? Brazilian Wax… I call that INSANE!!! Even the “Sex in the City” ladies wouldn’t do that!
Cream Depilatories. Ok, these came out with the “who wears short shorts” commercials in the ’60′s.. (yes I’m old enough to remember those) Back in those days you were lucky to start putting that potion on one leg before you were passing out from the fumes. That much has improved, but this option just never worked well for me. I’d wait the allotted time, and parts of me would be burned by the chemicals and other parts of my legs would still have the same amount of hair on them as when I started.
I was recently sent a new product to review on my blog by www.fuelmyblog.com .. Smooth Away -Well here goes with that. It’s not too pricey, is the only good thing I can say about this product. It retails in Target, Walmart, etc. for $9.99. Not bad if it worked AT ALL???
The packaging looked attractive, the instructions fairly simple, the brochure assured me I would be silky smooth and hair free head to toe.
I assembled the “crystal…..” to the pink applicator and began to work in small circles with not to much pressure, alternating clockwise and counter clockwise as the instructions had said….. UM…. NOTHING happened.. not one hair was harmed during the five minutes of working this product up and down my shins. I couldn’t believe it.. It seemed like it should work, I thought well maybe it’s just my hair… so my daughter tried it, my friends… same result… It just doesn’t work at all. So now what…
I did discover a fairly new razor the Intuition Razor for ladies which was introduced to me by Andrea and Andrea of two 
chicks talk tech podcast. In it Andrea talked about these razors and told all the guys listening to go and get one for their wives and all the ladies to get one for their friends. I decided what the heck, nothing else is really much good so I went to Target to pick one up… WOW.. these were different. You could ONLY use them wet, in the shower, but they really did glide gently around your shavable zones and zapped the hair gone.. even those spots I can’t SEE!!! Is it a miracle? Well I wouldn’t call it that but they really do work great. The only downside is they are pricey and as soon as the soapy, lotiony part is worn down they are less and less effective. I suspect these were created by women!
If any of the women out there in internet land have anything to share that works better than all these options I beg of you to share it with me and all womankind!
Tomorrow is Surgery Day
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At Last! No more waiting. I feel at peace about having this hyperparathyroidectomy done. (The nurse asked me to say in my own words what I was having done… it’s quite a mouthful) I think the peace comes knowing that this is really what’s wrong with me… and the prognosis for change for the better is very good. There was a news special on about not taking herbs or aspirin of any type before surgery without clearing it with your surgeon as these can lead to complications. I take 2 baby aspirin a day for maintenance like Dr. OZ tells you to do, but even this small amount could compromise you during surgery. I searched online for people talking about their recovery from this operation, and this will be the hardest part for me. I’m not supposed to talk, smile or laugh excessively until I’m healed.. WHAT? not talk? I didn’t know that was going to be part of the deal. I guess I’ll be Text Messaging peeps a bunch! I want to thank all my friends and family online and off for their prayers and offers of help. Know it is very appreciated. I hope to come back and relate some news sometime soon for those of you with similar symptoms out there.
pt 3: Consultation-with-the-Surgeon
