Simply Beautiful

Posting this retrospectively....but couldn't resist showing you all this:

All dressed up and....

...looking bloody gorgeous, if I do say so myself, in my finest gown, ready for a trip to the theatre...


Just hope they'll let me out in to the bar area for a cheeky glass of Pinot G during the Intermission...or is it not that kind of theatre?

D-Day

...or should that be TT Day?

Either way, today is the day....shortly we head off to hospital for my Total Thyroidectomy, and if all goes to plan, by the end of the day I will have no thyroid gland at all ...nada, zero...and my goitre will be history [yay!]...if they follow my wishes I hope they drop kick that mo-fo into the bin, and spit on it before they close the lid...alas, whilst I'd love to be the one to do that, I imagine I'll still be fast asleep in General-Anaesthetic-Land

Mixed feelings....but, also dead set that this is the only way forward for me....the gland has got to go!

Absolutely no idea whether I can bring the laptop in with me, but certainly not considering bringing it on 'Op Day'...perhaps my mum or hubby can bring it in tomorrow if I feel well enough.

Am I scared? You betcha!

Wish me luck!

No Room At The Inn....er...Hospital

I've already chewed my finger nails down to the knuckles...I've got nothing left to chew on!

So we rang the ward at 11am this morning, as instructed by my Admissions letter, to check that my bed was available for me from 2pm this afternoon....and guess what?

Yup, no bed.

I have to say, I was pretty hysterical to the poor nurse on the other end, after I had digested this information, and had to hand the phone to my mum to deal with it all.

We were asked to ring the ward back after 12pm, so we could discuss it further with the Ward Sister, and find out just what the heck was going on.

Sister explained that, although it didn't feel like it at the time, I was in fact *the* lucky one! She told me to 'fast' (no food OR drink) from 10pm this evening, and to present myself to the Admissions Office at 8am tomorrow morning, when I *would* be admitted, she personally guaranteed it.
She told me she had 16 people looking for space on her already-full ward today, and had told the other 15 to simply 'fast' from 10pm, and then to phone in at 8am in the morning to check on bed-availability. I was the *lucky* 16th, who was on her list as a *priority*, and who was told to come in at 8am tomorrow.
She said, if it made me feel any better, to at least be happy in the knowledge I could sleep comfortably in my own bed tonight before my operation tomorrow, and not have to spend the night in a busy surgical ward, waiting for the inevitable - she had a point there, I suppose.

But its all so frustrating, and having worked myself up about this all so much in the last 24 hours or so...at least if I was in my uncomfortable hospital bed, in my designated ward, then at least I'd know for sure the operation was going ahead tomorrow. Now though, although I had her personal guarantee that I *would* be admitted in the morning, all the while I wasn't actually in hospital there is always going to be that little nagging doubt in the back of my mind that they may still turn me away in the morning, and send me home again...

Will I sleep well tonight? Highly unlikely...

My last...

...Endo appointment before my thyroidectomy!

And bless him, he did make me laugh.

He reassured me that my current bloods looked as good as we could get them. And we indulged in a little mutual appreciation, and some metaphorical back-slapping as we congratulated ourselves on working so well together over the last few months, to get my bloods as good as we damn well could prior to the operation. To re-cap...all my levels have stayed within range for 2 months now...something we have until now totally failed to achieve since February 2008. Up until now, the *only* time my levels were' normal was during a 'snapshot' blood test taken whilst I was swinging from HypER to HypO or vice versa. So for 2 concurrent monthly tests to be within range is a momentous occasion for me!

I have to say, it has made a HUGE difference in my care to be able to see the same Endo each time I go in. In the very early days of my Endo referral I was bumped from Intern to fresh-faced Intern...and whilst some of them were absolutely on the button with their knowledge and destined to be brilliant in their future Endo careers, all too often I felt I was holding the hands of the less-experienced ones during my appointments, and having to help them along with ideas & suggestions. The fact that I'm such a regular in the Endo clinic now, that I can request (and receive) appointments exclusively with the Senior Registrar each & every time has made a big difference, and the fact that he and I get on so well together is a complete bonus!

He promised me that if there were any 'endo' issues during my stay in hospital next week that they would of course contact him in the first instance. And that if I was truly worried I should get a permanent marker pen and write "If in doubt contact Doctor Xxxxxxx on Bleep # xxx before cutting!" on my chest! Ha ha!


Edited to add: In a nod to this blog entry: CT Scan & Wedding Anniversaries , yes...my 2nd wedding anniversary will indeed be spent in hospital, attending my Endo...so at least there's no need for me to try and have an accident or something like that - just kidding! I got my hospital anniversary wish, without trying!

Bumpety-Bump

And I've already been 'bumped'

Going in this Sunday now, instead of Thursday, to be slashed either Monday or Friday, depending on whether I still need 'blocking' before the op.

Judging by my interpretation of this month's blood tests I'd say he'll do me on Monday though, as at the moment, the important ones are within 'normal' lab ranges...although my TSH is higher than I'd like it.

Should get more info tomorrow though, as I have an appointment with my Endocrinologist in the afternoon....who's meant to be working with my surgeon on sorting my levels prior to the operation.

Sunday suits me better anyway....Mum doesn't arrive off the ferry from the UK until Saturday, and it'll be nicer to see her and catch up on stuff before I go in...but please cross your fingers that I don't get 'bumped' again

The Sunday Confessional

Now is the time to come clean.

I've not been nearly as a efficient as I'd have liked in keeping this blog up to date with everything going on in my life, since I started it.

For various reasons really. I've had a really sucky, slow Internet connection for too long, which just made Blogger very slow and hard to use. And so I found myself posting on here less and less, to the extent where for huge chunks of time I forgot I'd even set this up completely.
But I continued to post bits and bobs on various support sites and related (and un-related) forums here and there.
And lets not forget that old 'thyroid chant'....many times I didn't come here and post stuff because I just couldn't be bothered.

So...if you go back through my blog-post history, you may find huge gaps in time where nothing seemed to happen, and then a post with information that probably should have been covered in more detail, making you wonder if you missed something somewhere?

And you may find I've doubled up on some info etc, albeit wording it differently.

This is because, now I have a *good* Internet connection speed, I not only intend to try and keep this place up to date with what is going on right NOW....especially as things are starting to get exciting, with regards to impending Thyroidectomy...but I also plan to try and re-visit some of those old haunts and support sites, and pick out my old posts & journals and re-post them here, in some semblance of chronological order.

So if you're reading a particular entry, and think it looks familiar....well, just maybe it is...maybe you've come across me and my story somewhere else, and now you've found me here too...welcome back :-)

And if you find huge gaps in my story, and want to ask 'wtf happened there'...please feel free to do so....and I'll try to fill in the spaces as best I can, with whatever dates, blood test results & memories that I can drag up.

Oh Crap !!!

Just heard from my surgeon's secretary....I'm being admitted next Thurs (27th) assuming my bed is still available. I have to ring in morning to check.

... and then he'll stick the knife on the Friday or Monday, depending on my latest bloods (taken yesterday).

News Article: Irish team to develop better thyroid test

Taken from Irish Health . com

Irish researchers are to develop a more accurate test for thyroid disorders.

The thyroid is a small gland located in the throat. It produces hormones that affect the body's metabolism and energy levels.

Thyroid disorders are common but because symptoms can appear gradually and are similar to the symptoms of other conditions, they are often misdiagnosed. A common thyroid disorder is hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), the symptoms of which can include weight gain, a lack of energy, dry skin and constipation.

Now, researchers at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at Dublin City University and Cork-based company, Audit Diagnostics, are working together to produce a fast, low-cost test for thyroid disorders.

The project, ThyroQuant, is aiming to develop a ‘point-of-care' test, which will allow doctors to diagnose patients accurately in their surgery.

The project is being funded by a €350,000 grant from Enterprise Ireland.

I just hope they can make it 100% reliable and accurate, because anything that speeds up the blood testing & results procedure can only be a good thing...however, it won't address the issues that many, many thyroid disease sufferers have with regards to errors by their doctors (and occasionally endos) in the interpretation of tests, lab ranges and guidance statements.