2012

Christmas 2011

We forgot the camera and had to take this after night church.  That is why we all look a little out of it! :)

2012 - that sounds so space age!  Shouldn't we all be driving flying cars now?  I remember when I was growing up in the 90's thinking that 2000 was a long time away.  Now it's been over 10 years since Y2K.  Unvelievable!

So anyway, back to Earth.  As my mom reminded me the other day, I haven't updated my blog in a while.  Well, I switched over to Google+ because someone kept telling me how wonderful it was.  The only problem I had with it was that I couldn't find my blog on it.  I'm sure it's quite easy to do and if I had time to sit down and play around on the computer I probably could have figured it out.  However, I don't really have a lot of spare time to sit around and figure new computer programmes out.  So, I figured out how to delete my Google+ account and go back to the plain ole' Google.  Ahhhhh . . . a sigh of relief, something I'm familar with.

Now, what's been happening since October?  One major thing has been occupying our time especially mine.  At the end of October I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease.  Graves' Disease is a type of hypertyroidism.  Basically, my immune system was attacking my thyroid and then my thyroid would work over-time to protect itself.  This lead to increased heart rate (114 beats per minute resting), increased metabolism (losing weight very rapidly), increased hunger, hand tremors, hair falling out, insomnia, extreme fatigue, and hormone issues that left me feeling like I was going crazy.

The doctor did blood tests and found that Graves' Disease was the problem.  He proceeded to put me on medication to slow my thyroid down.  They've found that there is a medicine that if taken for 2 years can cure your thyroid and you won't have any more problems with it.   The problem is that this medicine only works for 40% of people that take it.  I was not in the 40%.  The side effects that I had were a supressed immune system and a rash all over my body.  I ended up in the emergency room because of a high fever and the rash.  There we met another doctor that was more specialized in this disease.

A week after the emergency room episode I had an appointment with the doctor we met there.  They decided to give me anithystemines to help with the rash, but they didn't help.  You could no longer see the rash on my body, but I was so itchy.  Like uncontrollably itchy.  I couldn't sleep and I wasn't functioning very well.  The doctor then decided that I need to have my thyroid destroyed.  This is done by using radioactive iodine.

Nearly a month later I had an appoinment with a specialist who did some tests on my thyroid.  He asked me right there and then if I wanted the radioactive iodine.  We said yes knowing that this would be the best solution for me.  He took me into a little room, a nurse came in with a little glass bottle with a straw and told me to drink.  I did and that was the end of my treatment.

That was on 19 December.  For three days after I was quite sick.  Thankfully my mother-in-law was off of work and able to look after Abby.  On the fourth morning I woke up with more energy that I had had in a long time. 

This week has been so good.  Each morning I wake up feeling rested and have so much energy throughout the day.  My house is finally getting clean! :)

So, why am I telling you all of this?  Do I want you to feel sorry for me?  No, I know that there have been a lot of people praying for me and I wanted to let them know from a first-hand account how it all happened.  Also, I want to thank all of you that prayed for my family and me.  We couldn't have made it through all of this without your prayers.  It was such a blessing knowing while I was going through this that there were people praying for me.  I can't tell you how many times I cried and thanked God because I felt so loved by people.  So to all of you who have been praying for  us, thank you.  You are loved and appreciated!