Glowin' in the dark (etc.)

[Guest guest]

Hi! I promised an update, so here it is. My latest scan was on Thursday

morning and my father came up from DC on Wednesday (stayed through Thursday

afternoon), so I haven't had a chance to do much e-mail in a couple of days.

The result was 2 small spots shining very brightly, like stars against a

deep-midnight sky (pause for Christmas music), the larger no more than 1 cm.

They were close together and were in all likelihood the " two small tufts of

thyroid " that Fraker tied to the recurrent laryngeal nerve to protect it. If

my state of abject misery over the last couple of months is any guide, he got

everything, and I do mean everything, else (thyroid-wise). No other thyroid

tissue showed up on any of the three scans. He has quite a fine reputation,

and I know why! Seeing scans of myself, especially the

pitch-dark-with-a-little-light negatives, was most interesting! My only

regret (to paraphrase Hale) is that I missed getting Osama. Well,

he's apparently in ESRD (end-stage renal disease), so that'll get him, if

nothing (and no one) else does.

On Monday morning I started taking the Synthroid/Cytomel combo and began to

notice an improvement in the state of my digestive system literally within

hours. I also started taking glucosamine chondroitin that day, so with any

luck my TMJs will start to get better in the next (I hate to say it but)

couple of months; I don't expect quick results with it but most people do

find the results gratifying. Due to a combination of lithium and (mild)

chronic renal failure I've been advised against NSAIDs...even including

aspirin! The TMJs have been improving slowly and in fits and starts anyway;

I have an appliance that I wear not just at night but most of the day as

well. My memory is starting to come back; it's not quite as Swiss-cheesy as

it was...but I don't have a whole heck of a lot of energy yet and wonder if

I'll be able to go back to work on Wednesday, which was the original plan.

I'm told it can take a couple of weeks to notice any appreciable difference

after you start taking Synthroid (etc.). I did realize within a day (two at

the most) that I was no longer dizzy; I had that problem beginning some time

after the first surgery (9/11!) and considerably worse after the second

(10/16), and a low dose of Cytomel (25 mcg., then 50) did no good at

all...Levoxyl after the first surgery didn't help a bit, so I switched to

Cytomel after the second, stopped it after Dec. 2, spent two lovely weeks on

the LID from the 10th to the 24th, celebrated with sushi (shrimp!) and

seaweed salad.

For anyone who gets constipated, here's a recipe my endo's nurse-practitioner

gave me; it's effective and tasty, and can double as breakfast in the morning

(midnight snack at night): granulated bran (I found oat bran; you can use it

as hot cereal, too), apple sauce and prune juice. I used about a teaspoon of

bran, 1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons apple sauce, and 2 teaspoons prune juice. Mix

them together, microwave the mixture for 20-25 seconds and the result is not

bad at all! (I also used Metamucil, the orange-flavored kind since I got fed

up with the other, and Colace. I've stopped all of them, although I like

prune juice so I mix it with iced tea or another juice. Not all the time,

just when I feel like it.)

I had the cats at the vet (boarding and checkups; Charlotte, the youngest,

needed her shots) for a couple of days to minimize the risk to them, even

with a low dose of RAI (100 mCi)--they were there from last Wed. until last

Sat. afternoon, and I got the horse capsule last Thursday at around 11:30 AM.

Cosette's been sneezing since a couple of days after I brought her back, but

she's not wheezing or acting uncomfortable so I suspect it's from one of the

vaccines they sometimes get--it's a nasal spray and it makes them sneeze.

She was due for it anyway. I, alas, began to notice something the night I

brought them back: congestion. Woke me up in the middle of the night; worse

than it's ever been. Last night it wasn't as bad, but I have a feeling I'm

allergic to them now. I've never had such a bad problem with it before.

Well, I'm not giving them up; I was miserable without them!! (I have

horrible reactions to antihistamines; had an " allergy alert " hospital

bracelet about it.)

That's about it! Happy New Year to all...

Barbara