Busy, busy, busy... oi

A lot has been going on and I'm almost at the point of going insane... I'm trying hard to keep myself together.  On the 14th of May I went to my second endocrinologist, who didn't seem to be able to read my pathology report or knows anything about variants.  I had to tell her that they narrow my cancer down to four aggressive types, which she was like "well it says you have papillary cancer"... to which I said "Yes, the main is papillary cancer, but there are variants," which that was pretty much ignored.  She also didn't understand the blood work orders and my medication adjustments.  We had to explain the labs were done first and then the medication was adjusted based on those orders.  She claimed based on my lab reports that it seems like the 125 mcg of Levothyroxine was close to the dosage I needed.  I told her I didn't understand was my labs showed my TSH was high and I felt like crap just like I did on 175 mcg and 150 mcg.

I tried to get her to order adrenal saliva test and my full iron panel, but she refused just like the other one.  She claimed that my issues might not be thyroid related, but still refuses to see if I have an adrenal problem (also in the endocrine system).  These results could explain why my medication isn't working along with other symptoms I have been experiencing.  I also explain to her that my family seems to have a lot of endocrine problems: kidneys, stomach, and thyroid, so it's reasonable to think I am having another endocrine problem that could be messing things up.  Still got no for the tests.  The thing with ordering tests is... I can order them online (really expensive though), but I have insurance and doctors that can order them for me and I am still paying for them... so what's the big deal?

She then tried to get me back on synthetic medication, which I got angry as she wouldn't do anything I wanted and she expects me to throw my body back into that crap?!  She claims that the natural thyroid medication is bad for the heart and bones (actually natural thyroid medication is good for the bones, it has improved people's bone density).  I felt like saying to her that sometimes heart medication can be bad for the heart as well, but are people going to stop taking needed heart medication because others had issues?  No, they aren't since what works for others, doesn't always work for other people.  This is why they are a lot of companies making their own version of the medications as there are many ways to make them with different fillers and such as not everyone can absorb the same medication the same way.

She also claimed that my natural thyroid medication is too high (basing this on the results from my last Levothyroxine test that was done in MARCH), but I agree, thinking it was too big of a jump as I was basing it on the UPS numbers.  I was willing to lower my dosage, but not willing to change my medication.  She was not happy with this and ordered the normal tests.  Well I got some of my lab results today (TSH, Free T4, and Free T3)... My TSH increased (which is good since it was .020 before), but my FT4 and FT3 decreased, so I might need to increase my medication and not decrease it.  Now I am wondering if it will be easy now to order my Reverse T3, adrenal saliva test, and full iron panel... probably not.

Then on Tuesday I have to go to Ohio's Department of Human Services for a two hour interview thing about work stuff.  I'm just hoping my last work place sent them the paper that said I quit due to medical issues... I hope so, if not I might be screwed big time.  Tuesday is also the funeral of my fiance's grandmother and I couldn't reschedule the interview since there was no information on the paper about it.  On top of that, we are leaving this Friday for 2.5 weeks, so yeah... had to reschedule it.

Then starting today I am in Summer classes... yay, lol.  Luckily the full semester I only have two classes, but the second half there is a third added to it.  I should do fine this semester as it doesn't seem hard, just a lot of work in the one class.  Oh!  Spring semester I got a 4.0, which makes me be on the Dean's List a second time and making my overall GPA to be a 3.7, yay!

When I come back from my trip, I'm going to talk to one of the advisers from the school I went to transfer to talk about my Bachelor degree stuff.  I am thinking of skipping my Associates and go straight into my Bachelor's to save some time and some money.  Just have to see what I find out from the school before I make that decision.

Rant

So it's been a month since I last posted in my blog and sorry about that.  On January 7th, I started up my spring semester and this time I think I over did it with my classes as I have four classes with each having three credit hours.  My classes for this semester are Cultural Anthropology, Foundation of Business, English 2, and Computer Concepts and Applications.  Lately I haven't had much me time, especially since last week and this week I'm visiting family while I have a lot of homework.  I should be reading right now, but figured I let people know that read this that I am still here and alive. 

So... what's been going on with my health lately?  Last month I went to see my Endocrinologist for the first time and also went to my ENT to see my results from my blood work.  My TSH was at .026, so my ENT lowered my synthroid to 150 mcg and the chest pains have lessen, but I'm still having breathing issues and I can't take deep breaths without it hurting.  My Thyroglobulin went from .4 in November to .5 in December, which isn't a huge worry since sometimes they will miss thyroid tissues that try to rebuild and also I swear I have a thyroglossal duct cyst under my chin, which might be making the numbers go up.  I got a copy of my pathology report from my surgery and turns out they don't know exactly what kind of cancer I had, but narrowed it down to four rare and uncommon types with one of them being Tall-cell thyroid cancer.  Tall-cell doesn't always react to Radioactive Iodine (RAI) treatment, which isn't good, of course, but because there's a chance of it my Endo wants me to have RAI (though she kept saying my numbers are good).  I was told I didn't need to worry about my thyroglobulin numbers until they hit 1 or 2, so I'm not doing RAI until that happens.

Oh... and one thing that pissed me off about my Endo... She was talking about doing TSH and Free T4 tests on me and I asked her about Free T3 and Reverse T3 testing.  Her answer to T3 was that cancer patients don't need T3.  WTF!?  I had to explain to her that 125, 175, and 150 of the synthroid were doing nothing for me and they all felt the same.  She was surprised and gave me a small dosage, 5 mcg, of Cytomel, which I'm supposed to take once a day, and still wouldn't do a blood test.  The problem with T3 medication is that it only lasts you for four hours a day and then after that, you are just relying on your body.  I can feel the difference when my body has the T3 medication in it, especially at the two hour mark, but once it's gone I feel horrible.  I know the 5 mcg is too low for me since there isn't as big of a difference between how I'm now normally am and when I have the medication.  Also when I brought up T3 right away she said she wouldn't put me on Armour... so red flag there, so I'm going to be looking for a new Endo and when I talk to the front desk my first question is 'are they known for giving out Armour or do they refuse to give people that?'

I see my ENT in March, so I'll be asking him to do a Free T3 and Reverse T3 blood test and if he won't I will go to my PCP since I know she'll do it for me.  Oh speaking of blood tests... I've been trying to get my mom and sister to check out their thyroids since they have a lot of signs and issues that can be related to the thyroid.  Well my sister goes to see her doctor, but I guess, she saw the nurse practitioner instead... my sister asked about checking her thyroid and the NP just gave her a request for the lab to do TSH.  I got angry.  I think I was yelling about it outside of the building over it.  TSH alone does crap to see if there is a thyroid issue and that's basic common sense for doctors even my PCP and her nurse know that.  The results from TSH, Free T3, and Free T4 are compared to find out for sure what's wrong with a patient or if they need more testing done for like auto-immune diseases.  Justin understood why I was so angry, but my mom and sister were like 'If something shows up on the TSH test they will probably do more testing'... I kept trying to explain to them that's not how it works since TSH is NOT checking the thyroid, but the pituitary gland and its reactions to the how much of your hormones the thyroid is producing and even this test alone can show things are okay when they aren't.

Okay.. I think that's enough for today as I really, really need to do school work.

Supposedly Normal

So... with the chest pains and breathing issues, I think I finally figured out what's wrong: pneumonia.  There's a likely chance that I got fluid in my lungs during my surgery and now months waiting to see if these pains and breathings will go away, it has now became an infection... so in other words, pneumonia.  I have the nausea, bowel issues, the fever, the weakness, the shaking (at times), breathing and swallowing issues, fast heart rate, and chest pains, especially when I breath in.  I was suppose to go to the hospital yesterday, but since Justin's final for school was yesterday, we had to wait until he was done... then his mom took the car to go to work herself.  I had to wait until today to go, so now I'm waiting for him to wake up... take a shower and then we can leave.

Well.. since I never got to finish this post when I originally started it... I'm just going to continue on from here.  I'm now back from the hospital (I went there around 1pm and left at 3:30pm on Thursday) and they found nothing wrong.  We did blood work and a CT scan and with those it showed I had no blood clot and no pneumonia, which I figured I had.  The only thing that did show up was that I had a very small area in the upper part of my left lung, but they said it shouldn't be what's causing my issues.  So what is?  I have to follow up with my family care doctor in four days (actually in five since in four days would be Christmas) and I have no clue what else we are going to do.  I'm at a lost.  I love how the paper they gave me when I was leaving said to get immediate care if I'm having shortness of breath and I'm already dealing with it.  I also wasn't too happy when they gave me the paper and let me go... I wasn't able to read it before I got released and the doctor didn't let me know this information either, for the next few days I'm suppose to avoid doing any physical activities that causes my chest pain to get worse.  I work at Sam's Club as a cashier!  Everything I do will cause it to be worse... I needed a real doctor's note to give to work to excuse me from being absent.

I already called off four days this month.... to note, I only can work two days a week right now, so I have been scheduled five days so far not counting this Saturday.  I can't miss anymore days, but if I go to work I'm afraid I will collapse at work from the chest pain and not being able to breath.  So I don't what to do and I feel like crying.  I went to bed around 9:30-ish and woke up at 4am with feeling hungry and having horrible chest pains, but since I was hungry I had to eat something so decided on some chips.  With opening up the bag, it brought tears to my eyes from the pain and then eating somehow made it worse and also made my stomach sick.  I haven't been able to eat much this week because I keep getting sick to my stomach and then my chest starts hurting too.

I want my life back!

Continuing with Life

So I just finished my semester of college and quite proud of myself since I didn't allow my cancer to take my schooling away from me.  It may have delayed me in turning in my school work on time, but my teachers were understanding thankfully.  I got an A in English (a miracle for me), an A in Environmental Ethics, and a C in College Algebra (which I plan to retake in the future to get my GPA up).  I already signed up for Spring semester classes even though I don't know if I still have cancer and need radioactive iodine treatment... I'm not going to allow this cancer to prevent me from doing everything that I want and need to do.  Though right now it's preventing me to work more hours to due the current issues I'm still having.

I did get my blood work results in the mail, but it seems my iron and B12 are fine though my B12 is a little low in the normal range, so my doctor said it wouldn't hurt to take some B12 vitamins.  Though my MCH, and Carbon Dioxide (total) are both low and I'm not sure what this means, but I'm going to show the results to my ENT and Endocrinologist and see what they say.  I know the carbon dioxide might explain the joint pains and the weakness I have been having though it might be a sign of liver or kidney issues.  I hope not, but it's a possibility.

I had to call off of work three times already this month and hope to not have to again anytime soon, but it's hard to go to work when you're unable to put weight on your legs without falling down.  I have to talk to my doctors about this when I see them next month as that's the soonest I can see them.  I'm hoping to ask my Endocrinologist to put me on Armour as I don't like how Synthroid makes me feel and its side effects.

Though other than dealing with the cancer and its affects on my life, I'm looking forward of the two weeks I have off from work to go see my family and friends in Texas.  I will be able to celebrate a late Christmas with them and my fiance, so I'm really happy about that.  My manager was nice enough to approve it for me and Justin brought our plane tickets to see my family.  I'm also excited about winter break as Justin and I will be working on our comic stuff again once he's done with school this Thursday.

There isn't much else to say that's new in my life other than this though I would like to add that I hope this blog is helping someone else out there.  The main reason for this blog is for me to vent and write out my experiences, but I still hope this is helping or at least spreading the word of thyroid illnesses and diseases... and the need to take care of this gland.

Something's Wrong

My journey all started when the last weekend of July 2012 when I was having difficulty breathing for the first time in my life.  It was hard to describe as I knew it wasn't a chest/lung issue, but something blocking in my neck.  Also I was having more difficulties with swallowing food and liquids, but I've had that issue more of my life.  Well actually the difficulty with liquids, even water, started about five years ago and anytime I experience it, it felt like the liquid in question formed into a marble, which made me refer to it now as the "marble effect".

Anyways, the breathing issue was driving me insane... like drowning and trying to swim to the surface, but unable to since *thinks* a log  has trapped your leg.  You are fighting to breathe, but unable to push the log off, so you can get free.  I finally decided to call my doctor, but wasn't able to get in until later in the week and the breathing got worse as time went on that day, so my boyfriend took me to the hospital.  They checked my chest by listening to it, ran blood test claiming they were checking my thyroid with the testing as well, and then x-ray my neck since I found a large lump on my neck (I noticed this while we were driving to the hospital).  At first the one doctor said that might be normal for me, but I told him it wasn't and that it was new.  They gave me a breathe therapy treatment where you breathe in this vapors from a hose connected to a machine... yeah, it didn't help at all.  They said everything came back fine, but I should ask my family doctor to order an ultrasound on my neck.

I ended up getting an appointment with my family doctor on August 3rd, 2012 in the morning and told her what happened at the hospital and what I was dealing with.  She gave me two options: one, to do the ultrasound or two, to see if my esophagus needed to be widen.  I, of course, voted for the ultrasound and was able to go to the town over to get it done the same day.  A week later I got the email from my doctor that the left side of my thyroid was enlarged with a nodule that was an inch in size and three smaller (5mm, 7mm, and 9mm) nodules on the right with all different makes.

Now let me tell you, 90% of people have nodules and most are not noticeable and aren't cancerous (and not all will become cancerous).  But if you have one that's 1 cm in size, you need to get an ENT to do a fine-needle biopsy.  Also if you have a nodule, even if it's small, get it checked every once in a while... like every six months (you can get your family doctor to order the ultrasound for you... it's cheaper that way).  If it gets bigger in size get an ENT to look at it.  To note, my largest nodule was 2.5 cm when I found it.

This was just the beginning of a major change in my life.