Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Thyroid Update

I've written a ton of posts in my head, but with the start of fall schedules, I haven't been able to write down anything. Our days fly by, and by 9:30, I'm done. My brain is tired and the last thing I want to do is to try to remember what I wanted to write. Tonight, even though it's now almost ten, I'm going to attempt to write at least a few words.

Last week, I met with my endocrinologist for a followup on my thyroid.  I thought my thyroid was shrinking during chemo, but both of my doctors (GP and oncologist)  recently mentioned to me that it looked bigger. So, I make an appointment with Dr. Moore. He mentioned that tamoxifen, with it's role in suppressing estrogen, could also send my thyroid into hypothyroidism. At least that's what I think he said. The other option is hyperthyroidism. Hypo is when the thyroid doesn't make enough thyroid hormones, and hyper means my thyroid is over-producing. He took pictures with an ultrasound and afterwards showed me the pictures. My nodules decreased on one side, but increased on the other. He said I didn't need a biopsy, but he wanted to check my thyroid levels with a blood test. This was my first post-port blood test. The tech was able to access a vein in my arm and filled up the tube quickly. Today I got the results and all my levels are in the normal range. That is good news. Of course I didn't want to take another prescription drug. Thyroids are a bit touchy, and getting the levels right in combination with Tamoxifen could be a challenge. Thankfully, it's not an issue for me now. Hopefully that's the last I need to think about my thyroid until next year when I'll have another follow up appointment.

Since it's after 10 now, I think I'll stop here. This morning I had all sorts of ideas for things to write, but tonight I'm coming up blank. Clearly, it's too late for my brain to be fully functioning. So, time to head to bed. Maybe I'll find a few minutes during the day when I can actually write something interesting.

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