Health updates

About 11 years ago the boys and I were in a horrible accident.  A car pulled out in front of me on a 60  mph road.  Immediately before I crashed into it I managed to turn the van slightly so I took the greater hit rather than Steve who was sitting in the front seat.  We hit the car, both of us spun into a second car.  All three vehicles were totaled.  Sam and Shad's car seats were split down the back of each of them.  When our van came to a stop and I jumped out and grabbed the little boys while screaming for Steve to get out as the van was smoking.  We ran away from it and I literally dropped to my knees hugging the boys and thanked God for preserving our lives.  In that split second before we crashed I thought we would all die.  No one was seriously injured- the car I hit - the passenger's side was pushed into the driver's side.  If there had been a passenger that person would have been killed.  The driver that caused this was a 16 year old girl who was crying about her car..... her family reached us and all they could do was apologize and assure us that she would not be driving anything for awhile.  (And you know I can always find humor in everything.... I had the cutest white shirt and blue and white capri pants on.  When I looked down my whole right side was covered with blood.  But I couldn't find where the blood was coming from.  I was so busy checking out the kids that I forgot about it until an EMS worker gasped at me.  Then I smelled it, it was PIZZA SAUCE!  Steve was holding pizzas for a church party LOL)

The EMS insisted that I get an xray which I did the next day.  There was nothing too seriously wrong with me but I found out that my thyroid had nodules  on it.  So that led to me to seeing a doctor for years.  The doctor finally wanted me to get a biopsy.   I agreed to do it but only in the hospital.  Thankfully I did~while being prepped for the biopsy the head of radiology stopped everything!  They continued to do an ultrasound of the thyroid and decided that I had Hashimoto instead.  The doctor described my thyroid as burnt as a piece of toast  They couldn't believe it was still functioning   That was about 3 years ago and my thyroid has continued to function normal and I've gotten a sonogram yearly.   In the past year I've had hair loss.  Every time I brush my hair, it falls out.  The doctor had said perhaps that was an indication the thyroid was having more issues.  

Yesterday I get a robo call from my primary doctor's office saying it was urgent for me to schedule an appointment asap due to recent lab work.  I was actually in the process of getting ready to leave the house for my yearly thyroid appointment so I stopped in and got the results to take to him.  OMG!  They were AWFUL on every single level.  

Back in September I had had blood work done to establish myself with a new primary care doctor.  She was thrilled with my labs, everything was in normal range- I was just a little anemic.  We talked about how much I exercise and how I don't lose weight and she suggested cutting back carbs but other than that there was NO issues other than my strange pain issue.  

Yesterday my lab report read totally different.  I was wondering because just since January 1 I have gained 13 pounds.  That was freaking me out!   There had been no changes in my eating habits and I'd upped my walking goal from 10,000 steps to 11,000 steps daily.  Well everything was out of wack-my total cholesterol went from 182 to 209!   Every cholesterol marker was up.  The A1C indicator for diabetes went from 5.3 to 5.8 which is very pre-diabetic.  A test showed positive for fatty liver etc.....

AND the big thing was the tests on my thyroid showed that it is not working normally.  This is something they had been expecting but it still freaked me out!  The doctor started me immediately on thyroid meds  He did assure me that he thought the weight would come right off   In the mean time I am really cutting down carbs while maintaining my normal low fat diet.  For years I would eat low fat at home (since I have to cook that way for my husband) but if I went out to eat, I'd eat whatever I wanted within reason.  And that worked for me but now I'm even cutting that back for now.  Before this one of my goals for this year was to drink at least 48 oz of water a day and I'd mostly been reaching that goal.  Now I'm trying to up it and really cut down on sugar.  I'm not sure I'll always do this but I'm using Truvia instead of sugar in my tea and coffee and if I get a soda, I'm getting a sugar free one.  

The doctor was absolutely shocked by the change in my labs!  He said it was unusual to see such a large change and feels my thyroid is to blame.  That's what I'm hoping but I learned just how much a difference 13 pounds can make on the function of the body.  Obviously from my pictures I was not skinny LOL but this new weight gain has thrown everything off.  This whole thing has made me angry!!!!  I've got too much to do to have any health problems that I can control!  So hopefully between the meds and me working even harder at diet and exercise this will get under control!!!!  

And one thing that might be a bit TMI but it looks like maybe just maybe this may have caused me to start menopause.  At 53 I've been ready for it.  LOL   I could write a whole blog about that.  The huge majority of my friends are so past menopause and laugh at poor little completely regular me...

Now to get really TMI I was never regular until I had Sam.  In fact just months before I got pregnant with him my doctor thought I was pre-menopausal and didn't think I'd get pregnant.  But dang did I fool her now 16 freaking years later.....Anyhow after Sam was born I became like clock work...literally to the HOUR I knew when I would start.  It's been unreal to me because the whole time before Sam I couldn't get pregnant  because I didn't have periods and didn't ovulate.  I'd have to take medicine to have one, then medicine to ovulate....  It was intense.  It took us 6 years to get pregnant with Steve and then 8 years to get pregnant with Sam.  So the past 15 years have been a bit unusual for me.  Doctors can't explain it.  

So last night I had a huge green salad with chicken bacon on it!  Yummy!  Today I had a cauliflower crust pizza (Green Giant brand pretty good) with lots of veggies and turkey pepperoni on it.  I took the first pill last night before bed,  The one thing that is shocking to me is that I will have to be on medicine the rest of my life.  It's a strange feeling for someone who doesn't take Advil for a headache until she's about to pass out.  I'm just not a medicine taker.  

I told this whole story because  it seems a lot of my readers are around my age so this might help someone.   And to finish it up, there may FINALLY be an explanation for the pain I've been in for years.  In May 2008 I began to have unexplained pain in my body.  I first noticed it while we were on a short vacation and it scared me.  It started on my right side near my waist.  While to this day I still have that pain no doctor or test has been able to find the cause.  In fact it has worsen and now my neck/back and both sides hurt and sometimes my whole belly is tender.  Te back of my heels hurt so much.   Believe me there have been times when I knew I had to have some terrible disease to feel like this.  The ONLY thing that seemed to help me at all was walking..  I absolutely refused to even fill the prescriptions I've been given.  I've had all kinds of tests.  The only thing ever found was at the time of the accident, just a few months later, they noticed not just the thyroid problem but that two of my neck vertebra are fused   It was just an oddity until I came across an article on Facebook about Ankylosing Spondylitis.  The doctor think that is a possibility  And it's an auto immune disease just like the Hashimoto.  I'm not sure there's much they can do about it but I'd like to know why I hurt like I do!

Everyhing just works together for our good no mater what.  If I'd never had the accident, I wouldn't have known about this problem and wouldn't have been following it as closely  Another little story about that accident, Shad cried about our van being totalled.  We told him it would be fine, we had insurance and we'd get another one.  We did- the exact same white Dodge Caravan but one that was a few years younger.  We drove that van until we hit 250,000 and we gave it to a friend when we got another van given to us.


Well this post has been all about me.  But maybe someone might be helped by it.   If you have any medical issue going on have it checked out.  And do all you can to prevent and to reverse it!!!