Am I Glowing? All Kinds of Stuff

Friday 2/13
I guess I should really write February 2001. That was when my sister and I first had Dove chocolate hearts. Ok, I'm gonna ramble now. In 2001 Patty went to her yearly eye doc checkup. Patty has terrible vision. Anyway, the doc thought he saw a weakening of some blood vessels. Did some more tests and sent her to a specialist because he was certain Patty had a brain aneurysm. I was sick with worry. It was a long 2 week wait for her to have her tests done and then to get the results. During that time, of course we both went to work. We both worked in the city, she was in the loop at the time, I was on the west side. I worked crazy hours. I never got out of work before 5, ever. But one day as luck would have it, I left around 4 p.m. Also, I never took the train. I hate the train. To sit with all those people, coughing, sneezing, bumping you, I HATE THE TRAIN. But on this day I was leaving early and Scott was working late so I took the train and by some twist of fate, Patty was off early and she ended up on the same one. Literally we walked into each other getting on. It was awesome. We found a seat and she just so happened to have a bag of Dove Milk Chocolate hearts. We ate and laughed about nothing the entire ride home. We ate the whole bag. It was wonderful. It's one of my favorite memories I have with her. I didn't hate the train that day. So the point of 2/13/09? Patty was home from work so I went to Walgreens and got a bag of Dove Hearts and went to see her. It was good. We only ate about 5 hearts each though. (?) Hmmm, I must have eaten a big breakfast.

Thursday 2/12 - Friday 2/13
I went for Thyroid Uptake and Scan on the Thursday. Doc wanted to see what's going on in there and she said this is the best way to do it. So at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday I found myself in the radiology department of the hospital, in a sealed room taking some radioactive iodine. It left me with really creepy feeling. I was wondering if I was going to start glowing green. The radiologist told me to come back at 1:30 for my test. So I did. It took about 20 minutes. It was kind of like have a really long x-ray taken. 3 times. When I was leaving I saw my pictures on the computer and asked the radiologist if that was my thyroid? Honestly, that was all I wanted to know. Yup, he tells me and then says "see it looks like a butterfly an is now flying away" and then clicks it off the screen. Then nearly pushed me out of the room. Ok, he needs a lesson on how to be a descent human being. Not even "nice" just descent. Friday I went back for 5 minutes. I think just to make sure all the radioactive iodine is out of my system. It must have been cause I got to leave right after the test.

Tuesday 2/10
I couldn't stand my heart racing for another minute so I told the doc I wanted to start the beta blockers. I picked them up from the pharmacy at night and took it immediately. I felt like a meth addictive needing a fix. Then I waited. I picked up Gracie from dance and still waiting. I probably asked myself every 5 minutes if I thought I was feeling better. Then Scott took over that question asking for me. Are you feeling better now? How about now? Is it working? Can you feel it now? Well, by the time I went to bed it was working. I couldn't feel my heart pounding. It was such a relief. Until about 10 a.m. the next morning. When the pounding and anxiety started up again. I wrote it off to I probably have to have the meds build up in my system. By the week-end it didn't even feel like I was taking anything. The relief I felt earlier was gone. What the heck is happening to me?

Sunday 2/15
The heart was racing but I was determined to jog with the kids. I was able to go 2 miles with them and the jog out 5 miles, average 10:40 pace and kept and average heart rate of 142. It felt so good. Got say every step I made was a conscious one. I was proud that I could maintain a consistant pace and a fairly consistant HR. But then I could get the HR to come down. I managed to keep it in the 90's while getting dinner on the table and during our wii bowling tourney - I won the second game! Of course it went up when I was jumping up and down :)

Monday 2/16
Called the doc and asked for an increase in heart meds. I never in a million years thought I would have to take heart meds. Ok, I know it's temporary. She told me she got the results of my test and my entire thyroid is enlarged with nodules on it. I need to decide on what type of treatment route I want to take. Honestly, I don't like either one because I'm probably going to have to take a pill for the rest of my life. But, it's not like it's going to interfere with my lifestyle. I can still run and be a wife and mother and be happy. So it's all good. Now, which one should I pick. I told the doc I'll tell her by the end of the week.

Oh! Oh my gosh. I almost forgot the high light of my Sunday. We were walking into church and the usher asked us to carry the gifts to the alter. I was so excited. I had to keep myself in check and it took a lot to just listen to the Homily. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to carry the gifts up. Well, I didn't get to carry but I got to walk with Scott behind the kids as they carried the wine and host. Ah, life is good. :)