More Thyroid Drama, Oh Snap!

First of all, happy birthday Dani! Hope it was a wonderful day!

I went back to the doc on Monday. Cailin was not so pleasant in the waiting room but cheered up by the time we got to the examination room. She sat on the bed and listened to the doc as he checked her ears and throat. Her ears are fine, but her throat was slightly irritated. Might have had something to do with her using it to voice her displeasure in the waiting room just prior, but hey, I'm not a doctor. He wants me to get her bloodwork done to rule out low iron and to check her sugar levels. I'm not looking forward to that. Carter was good, just tagged along for the ride.

So remember when I said I had nodules on my thyroid and the gland next to it or beside it or whatever? Turns out it's a bigger deal than I thought. The doc referred me to the hospital to get this pesky thing checked out with the radioactive dye/X-ray combo. Imagine my surprise when the hospital called me the next day.

I was under the impression that we would be looking for hotspots in the thyroid, but the imaging staff informed me that they were doing the procedure on the parathyroid glands. This would be one of four glands neighboring that pesky thyroid gland. One of which has a nodule on it. Only they were calling it a tumor. Then there's the whole breastfeeding thing where you can't nurse for 24hrs at least after having the procedure, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. So they told me to call back when I was ready to do it and they would fit me in right away.

I hung up a little confused. I was sure the large nodule in the thyroid was going to be scanned, but now it's the parathyroid? Tumor? Say what?

Google is the most useful tool.

There are four parathyroid glands located behind the thyroid. Despite sharing similar names and close real estate, the two glands are not related at all. These four glands, normally the size of a grain of rice each, control calcium levels in the body. Since many systems require calcium to function properly, these glands are quite important. One of my glands presented on the ultrasound with a tumor on it. I prefer 'nodule' myself, but I stand corrected.

Sometimes these glands just simply puff up and become tumors for no apparent reason. They can mess with your calcium levels, making them too high, and cause health problems like fatigue, generally not feeling well, anxiety and irritability. And cancer and stroke too. You know, the fun stuff. Generally speaking, the cure is to remove the offending tumorous gland(s) before they wreak havoc on your body.

I made the mistake of watching a parathyroid removal video. While it is only a one inch incision into the front of the throat, the narration really got to me. "... And now the surgeon will expose the thyroid and check for any sign of suspicious nodules and remove them, being careful of the vocal chord nerve..." as he flops about the gland responsible for this poor guy's metabolism. Then they showed the removed gland/tumor and I got queasy. Not the greatest feeling when you already have heartburn....

I really hope I don't have to have this parathyroid thingy removed. It really freaks me out that I might have my throat operated on. My arm or leg or torso? That's fine, but not my teeth, eyes or throat thank you.

So it looks like I may have hyperparathyroidism as well as hyperthyroidism. Totally unrelated glands, both really hyper. Nice.

The Results Are In - Kinda

Last Friday I got yet more bloodwork done. On the way home, the ultrasound clinic phoned and said they could fit me in that afternoon. I couldn't believe how quickly I got in.

The ultrasound was quick and painless (since then I've had a pretty sore throat). I watched her take measurements of suspicious white circles on the ultrasound screen. Nodules. I knew what to expect then.

Today I went back to the doctor's office. Anyone keeping track? What is this, like the 12,199th time in the last month? Anyway, my regular doc is still on vacation and the place was in complete disarray. Long story short, they finally found my results and dished them to me, cold-leftovers-straight-out-of-the-fridge style:

Liver: two different elevated enzymes. No conclusive verdict as to why.

Cholesterol: Meh. Borderline. Possibly becoming a problem if I don't clean up my diet.

Good cholesterol: Low (crap).

Urine: Contains blood (what the what!)

Thyroid blood test: Whack, yo. Overactive, or if you prefer, hyperactive. But not hypoallergenic.

Blood Sugar Level: Perfectly normal, thank you!

Thyroid ultrasound: Pesky thing contains a nodule smack dab in the center. And another one either on the neighoring gland, or pushing on said gland from on the pesky thyroid. They are both fairly small. At any rate, they are enough to be pushing my peer pressure-prone thyroid into overdrive.

I don't have many choices at this point. I can get some nice, lovely radioactive dye injected into my body and see where it floats to in the thyroid now, or I can wait another 6 months to do it. Since you can't be a nursing mother when you get that done, I guess I will wait. There isn't much in terms of medication at this point. The doc is sure my thyroid will burn itself out and quit working as is normally the case. Then I go on thyroid hormone treatment for the rest of my life. I could also have Graves Disease, an autoimmune disorder of the thyroid. There is no cure. So in the meantime, I get to enjoy a heightened metabolism, being too hot constantly, and feeling antsy in my pantsy 98% of the time. Don't forget my hair trigger irritability level. But hey, my house has never been cleaner!

The liver enzymes and blood in the urine are some cause for concern as well. The doc can't come to any conclusions other than a possible infection. I'm going in for more bloodwork in two weeks to see what we find then. It's possible everything will be clear by then. We won't ever know why things were out of whack. However, the thyroid issue is here to stay for a while.

How about a nice baby picture?
Isn't he cute? He really likes to jump in his Jumperoo now.

I'm staying positive. Now that I know it's my thyroid making me feel funny, I can deal with it. We have a game plan. Waiting isn't much of a plan really, but I'm optimistic about the results of future testing.

There are big changes coming to our dinner table as a result of these tests. It's time to eat a little better than we have been. Stay tuned for what I can only presume to be a veritable riot in our household. Heh.