Hippothyroid?
The week after Thanksgiving whizzed by and on Friday the 2nd we attended our gourmet group's "Christmas traditions" dinner - a wonderful array of Old World foods (minus the Lutefisk, thank goodness), elegantly served at Ken and Doris'. I'm delighted to report no further stomach problems, despite eating just about everything. Still steering clear of fatty, spicey or garlicky stuff, but actually having no problems with dairy products - what a relief!
Set out early the next morning on the long drive to Kelso, WA for the Northwest Comanche Society's x-mas dinner, and to visit friends and relations on the west side of the mountains. A recent rock slide had reduced the Interstate (I-90) route to 2 lanes. This is usually our most direct route, but with Kelso only 39 miles north of Portland, it actually made more sense to drive through the Columbia Gorge, and avoid the mountain passes entirely.
Sunday morning we left early to meet Sarah (Olympia - 70 miles further north on I-5) for breakfast before she went to work. Then a scenic drive up the winding west shore of the Hood Canal up to Port Townsend to visit Bonnie (MC's youngest sister) and Joe. Joe scored last minute admission for all of us to a really interesting and informative Chocolate tasting - check out http://www.xocoatl.org/. Seventeen "tastes" of real cacao (most >70%) creates its own little high.
Next day drove over to Port Angeles and surprised MC's parents. Stayed with MC's sister Peggy and niece Celina, and visited with all four relatives for two days. Back over to Seattle on Wednesday. Stayed at cousin Julia's beautiful, high tech home. Saw MC's brother Joe for lunch on Thursday before heading over to Bainbridge Island to spend a couple of days with Burne (college roommate) and Robin. Heading home on Sunday successfully connected with Dana Scarr, a friend of my family from my days growing up in Milton, MA. Had not seen him in approximately 35 years. Coincidentally they're headed over to Sandpoint right after x-mas to visit relatives.
During this period of my recovery NIH requires that I get some basic lab tests done every week. Since we were "on the road", I had this drawn on Monday in Port Townsend. On Wednesday I was thinking about MC's recent comments about my eyelids being "puffy", my enhanced sensitivity to cold this winter, the ankle swelling, slow aerobic progress, and some other stuff. The Internist in me queried: "maybe you're hypothyroid (low on Thyroid)?". I called the lab in Port Townsend and had them run a Thyroid Panel on Monday's blood. I was shocked to learn on Thursday that my free T4 was undetectable and my TSH sky high - classic Hypothyroidism! I contacted NIH. Since I was due to see them this week, and tolerating this remarkably well, they wanted to hold off starting replacement therapy until they could repeat the tests, and do a few more to check for anti-thyroid antibodies (that might suggest that the thyroid had been knocked out by a form of GVH). Whatever they find I can bet I'm going to feel MUCH better once I get my thyroid levels back up to normal. MC of course wants me to be as healthy as possible, but one small part of her regrets that soon I'll probably no longer feel cold, and move at the speed of "normal" people".
Off to Bethesda, tomorrow, back the next day. Short and sweet; I like that!
Phil
posted by Mary Catherine @ 9:02 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Dear Phil and Mary Catherine,
Okay, what's T4, and is TSH the stuff that is supposed to be below 5 or so? (Mine--if that's it, keeps going from 3.5 to 6+. Not sensitive to the cold because of hot flashes all the time, but I am tired)
So if your thyroid was knocked out, does that mean you have to take thyroid med's forever? Maybe being in Idaho did that. I understand Idaho has an unusually high rate of thyroid disease--maybe from stupid testing done in the 50's. Does that account for neuropathy in your feet, too? Just wondering.
So, how was your Christmas? Spent ours with some of Jeremy's friends' family, so sweet, so generous, not American, and the kids translate. It was nice, we ate too much, and played King's Corner with them. So kind, why Americans have a problem with "other" people, I'll never know. Of course, nobody white living in America is descended from non-Americans. We were always Americans. And always will be, dontcha know. God, I hope Bush isn't wire-tapping your blogs, Phil, or I'm in trouble.
Did your parents have a nice wedding anniversary? Which one was it this year? Got a nice Christmas card as usual from Marjorie Scarr. She is so sweet to update us on all the Sarasota theatre goings-on.
So is Uncle Phil going to introduce Celina to healthy living? When you're done, would you like to do the same with Jeremy?
Say, Mary Catherine, you would be proud of me, I made Jeremy a polar fleece jacket without using anything but a sweatshirt for a pattern. And he actually wears it! That stuff's a gas to sew with. The only screw-up was when I was sewing several layers of cloth, and kind of pulled on the material, and that part of the jacket gets a little funky. But it's in the back, and nobody's told Jeremy about it , so he still wears it. It's really warm, too. Not bad. I would change a few things, but that's one thing you don't do with polar fleece, particularly black thread on black fleece. No room for error. Well, lots of room for error but no room for correcting error. Oh, well, he likes it.
Did all the kids make it home for Christmas? If so, I hope they managed to stay away from landslides.
So do you ride your bike in the winter? I have a few times since it snowed, but it's flat here, for the most part. Do you guys have a lot of snow? We did. It's all gone except for the middle of yards. We've had a "warm" spell here, with temperatures only near freezing, so no skiing for a while. Weird winter. Totally freezing, then snow, lots of sun, then melt, melt, melt, and gray, gray, gray. Hard to get your vitamin D all bundled up when it's below zero, and somewhat bundled when it's so gray. But it beats Florida's two and a half season weather--summer, hurricane, and fall. Or spring. Hot. Humid. Not so hot. Still humid.
Gotta go. Everyone says hi. Love to you both, and to the kids. May the new year bring riches and rewards you never knew you had all along!
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