Archive for Health
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
Consultation with the Surgeon
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Getting Ready for Surgery
I was hoping my surgeon would be a dead ringer for Dr. McDreamy or Dr. McSteamy or even the new guy… Dr. McWhacked, but no such luck! He did however look wise and said what we expected him to say… “I need to perform a parathyroidectomy on you as soon as we can get it scheduled!”
I did quite a bit of research online about this surgery and in most cases it was an inpatient procedure. Not so for me! *Maybe some of the docs in the hospital will be like Greys Hunks!!?? One can only hope! The doc says my calcium level of 12 is so high, (normal is a very narrow range 8-9) that I will need to be monitored for a full day in the hospital. After they remove the tumor they will test my blood to see if it is returning to normal levels at certain intervals.
I will immediately be given supplemental calcium so that once the “busted” parathyroid glad isn’t pumping it out, and my system kicks back in to regulate it. This is important because if my calcium gets too low I could get some weird muscle cramping. This would be serious if it would be my heart muscle or diaphram muscle.. No SHIT! NOT good… so now I wait!
If anyone is out there in medical school and wondering what specialty to go into? I’d recommend Endochronology! You’ll have a FULL appointments calendar!
The surgery schedule is so full that I have to wait ANOTHER month before I get this surgery that by all accounts could make me feel 10 Years Younger! Come ON already…
I’ll be praying until then.
If you’ve got a similar situation, I’d love to hear about your experience if you’d like to share.
Thanks!
Look for part 4 of this series to join with me in this my pursuit of health!
The Surgery next month
pt 7: Two Week Post Operative
pt 6: My Trip to the Emergency Room after Parathyroidectomy surgery
pt 5: 2 Days Post Op
pt 4: Tomorrow is Surgery Day
pt 3: Consultation-with-the-Surgeon (this post)
Apointment with the Endochronologist
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Waiting in the Doc's Office
TWO MORE WEEKS!
It took almost 2 weeks to get an appointment as it seems a VERY large population of women have thyroid issues of some sort, so these doctors are all very sought after. I researched the suggestions from my doc online and found one that was close that could get me in quickly and had a nurse that really seemed to love the doctor so I scheduled.
The appointment was very thorough going through each of my ailments, he said my calcium levels were one of the highest he’d ever seen and was surprised I wasn’t sicker. This doc is also certain that I have one of these tumors on my parathyroid gland, he tried to see if he could feel anything in my neck but no luck there… in any case I would need to get the area scanned by Ultra-sound so off to try to get another appointment.
Fast forward another week and the scanning appointment. This is the same place I’d been to have my Mammogram and ultrasound because they thought they saw something…. NEVER good news… but turned out to be teenie cysts non-malignant type. Anyway, this is a gorgeous, new, state of the art facility and I was treated very well by the staff and doctors. They poked and prodded with the scanner for about 30 minutes and said they’d found the culprit and would forward the records to my Endo.
Sigh of relieve, at least we are moving forward.
A few days later my Endo calls and says it was as he’d thought and I need to schedule with the surgeon ASAP! yeah right….. He suggested someone that I again researched and this guy definitely sounds like he knows what he’s doing…
- Valedictorian of his large high school
- Dartmouth College, Summa Cum Laude
- University of Colorado Medical School, M.D., Salutatorian
- Duke University Medical Center, General Surgery Residency
- Specialties – Transplant and Neck Surgeries.
- He takes my Insurance!
I like the looks of these stats. You can graduate from Medical school with a C as well as an A and this guy was obviously an over achiever. I like that quality in a man I’m going to let cut me open!
I managed to get a consultation with him in just 10 days. The quickest yet..
I would LOVE to hear from anyone else who has gone through this surgery!
Look for part 3 of this series to join with me in this my pursuit of health! Consultation with the Surgeon in a couple of weeks!
I thought it was just Menopause
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Menopause the Musical
Here I am getting closer to 50 and suddenly I start to gain weight for no reason, I have a “tummy” now where before I had a relatively flat stomach even though I’ve always battled with weight due in part to my chronic Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. “Info on Hashimoto’s Throiditis from Woman’s Health” (Just like Oprah. I would wish for something else to have in common with Oprah if I got a choice)
The rest of my symptoms weren’t much fun either!
- I couldn’t sleep more than a few hours in a row without waking.
- I was a bit depressed even though my relationship with my boyfriend turned fiance’ turned husband and two fabulous almost grown daughters was the joy of my life.
- Lack of energy and tired even through I couldn’t sleep for very long
- I started loosing strength when I was working out
- I started having aches and pains in strange places
- Digestion issues
- Higher blood pressure than ever in my life.
- Feeling that something just was NOT right in my body
All of these symptoms didn’t start at once but over the span of the last 2 years they have gotten more pronounced along with a “pending doom” type of feeling that unfortunately lots of women I know have with a greater frequency than our male counterparts.
I also have arthritis in my joints so whatever aches and pains I wasn’t associating with Menopause I figured were that. So… I decided to go and get a physical and get set up to see a Orthopedic doc to see if having a hip replacement was eminent and maybe that was the reason I was feeling sort of miserable more and more.
Blood tests revealed that I had a VERY high level of calcium in my blood, elevated to the point of hypertension blood pressure, my lady doc is looking at me with that concerned look… yikes! What is happening now. She explains that she needs to run parathyroid blood tests on me as she suspects something. What now? Being at the doctors office has the ability to make you panic before you even know what is going on.
Next blood test shows that my parathyroid numbers are all sky high which tells her she was right in her diagnosis I have hyperparathyroidism. YIKES! The longest word ever.
Hyperparathyroidism is a condition where 1 or all of your 4 glands develops a tumor on it which is excreting lots of calcium into your blood stream causing all of the symptoms above. You mean I might not have to be miserable until the end of time? WOW… I’m excited and scared at the same time.
She tells me I’ll have to have the tumor removed and quickly explains that 99% of the time the tumor is NON-Malignant (no cancer) and that I’ll need to see an Endocrinologist next.
Look for part 2 of this series to join with me in this my pursuit of health! Appointment with the Endo next week!
No it was NOT just Menopause!
Resources about Hyperparathyroidism:
- The National Endocrine & Metabolic Diseases Info Center
- Hyperparathyroid Wiki
- Mayo Clinic on Hyper Parathyroid Disease (My doc recommended this one)
- Endocrine Web
Definition:
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“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.
