# Stopping by to say hi!



## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

I think about thyroidboards.com every day but so seldom get online anymore that I'll never get caught up with any news and I truly hate that. My thyroidectomy was two years ago next month and I suppose my own health now is probably as good as it's going to get. New Years Day morning, 2013, I was in the ER with what was probably a really bad reaction to Armour but thankfully a whole team of specialists converged to try to be sure what was happening. I had every imaginable test and the doctors all mentioned repeating them in six months. I thought yeh, sure! In one 3-day period a few weeks ago, I received follow-up test appointments for everything from my pancreas to my heart! Then, when I mentioned all the bone/joint pain I'd been experiencing to my cardiologist, he forwarded me on to yet another specialist whose diagnosis has made all the other stuff pale by comparison. I have NO cartilage in either knee and my only real option is knee replacement surgery.

Thyroid-wise, I manage. That's all I can say. I have new labs coming up the end of August but have given-up hope of ever really feeling well again. I'm thankful to be functional...specifically at a time when it has been imperative that I be able to help others in my family.

At almost 92, Mother looks so fragile but sometimes I think she has more energy than I have! My sister and brother and their families have had to be out of town a lot this summer and I've pretty much had taking care of Mother to myself. We have hired a sitter for 4 hours every day and that has been wonderful!

My son-in-law's mother has been hospitalized here for almost a month, in ICU for almost three weeks, just now being slowly weaned off a ventilator after complications from life-threatening surgery.

Incredibly, two of my neighbors, totally unrelated to each other, died within a couple of hours of each other. One the lady with cancer who I was helping with her dogs, the other was a middle aged pediatrician who had a massive heart attack while seeing patients. The pediatrician's family is moving out today, which makes me sad. It's hard to understand how quickly something tragic can change an entire family.

I miss reading all the personal stories here and learning so much from everyone. In many ways it has probably been good for me to have other people to think about locally and not worry so much about myself but it still makes me sad that I believe with all my heart that I should feel better.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> I have NO cartilage in either knee and my only real option is knee replacement surgery.


A diagnosis is a blessing - at least now you can address the pain.

As far as your life and all the doom and gloom happening with ppl around you - the stories are very familiar. My FIL dies and a week later the guy who bought the home he lived in for 30 years died unexpectedly at 62. The poor neighbor next door - she was devastated having lost a former neighbor and a current neighbor in a week.

Try and keep your chin up and let us know how your knee replacement surgery goes. Are you planning on doing both at the same time?


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

I told the orthopedic specialist that things could not be worse for me to do something like this - to make matters worse, Mother fell this weekend and hurt her back. There is not a day goes by without a major or minor crisis with her and I just simply could not be out of commission myself. I asked if there was anything I could try to maybe buy a little more time and he gave me steroid shots in each knee and a prescription for Hydrocodone+Acetaminophen that instantly made me desperately sick...so now I've got Ultram.

I honestly don't know what to do. Another worrisome fact is that my father died during hip replacement surgery, he had a blood clot and died instantly. My track record for all things medical is not good PLUS I really don't know what to think about the status of my thyroid situation.

My doctor said he never, ever tells patients they need knee, hip or shoulder replacement surgery - he lets them tell him when they can't stand the pain anymore. He said the cortisone might last 3 hours or 3 months - so far I'm still getting some relief from the shots and the Ultram.

My brother has Mother at the doctor's office right now, I'm just waiting to hear from him, hoping Mother doesn't get hospitalized and I don't think she will, this time!

The heck with these "Golden Years"!! :sick0010:


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## Velcro (Jul 26, 2013)

Hi there. I don't know what it was called, but my Dad needed both knees replaced and he was 9 months from retirement. He begged his Ortho to do something for 9 months so he would retire before the surgery. The Ortho sent him somewhere and they gave him shots of something made of chicken combs. Sounded kind of gross, but he swore he felt like he had two new knees. It got him through until retirement.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

I DClaire said:


> I think about thyroidboards.com every day but so seldom get online anymore that I'll never get caught up with any news and I truly hate that. My thyroidectomy was two years ago next month and I suppose my own health now is probably as good as it's going to get. New Years Day morning, 2013, I was in the ER with what was probably a really bad reaction to Armour but thankfully a whole team of specialists converged to try to be sure what was happening. I had every imaginable test and the doctors all mentioned repeating them in six months. I thought yeh, sure! In one 3-day period a few weeks ago, I received follow-up test appointments for everything from my pancreas to my heart! Then, when I mentioned all the bone/joint pain I'd been experiencing to my cardiologist, he forwarded me on to yet another specialist whose diagnosis has made all the other stuff pale by comparison. I have NO cartilage in either knee and my only real option is knee replacement surgery.
> 
> Thyroid-wise, I manage. That's all I can say. I have new labs coming up the end of August but have given-up hope of ever really feeling well again. I'm thankful to be functional...specifically at a time when it has been imperative that I be able to help others in my family.
> 
> ...


We (I) miss you bunches; I kid you not!


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

You might want to ask if the series of gel shots can buy you a year or two until things settle down.


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## jsgarden1 (Aug 29, 2009)

IDClaire, I feel so bad for you, I know what its like to have to take care of an elder...I have my MIL here with alzheimers.  I'm scheduled for knee replacement on Nov. 1st, can't stand the pain any longer. I can't get up and moving to try and get some of this weight off, as it pains me after about 5 minutes of walking. I went through the cortisone shots, the first two times it helped a lot..I got 6 months out of the first shot and about 3 out of the second one. The third one did nothing. At that point the doctor said the only thing left is replacement. Keep in touch and let me know what you decide. We can complain to each other


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

Hi guys,

I had new labs today and thinking about all that made me miss everyone even more. I don't know what is going to happen between me and my endocrinologist but for as much as I truly do like her as a person, I feel like I'm dying for lack of _something_ and I don't know what. I've been thinking maybe everything about my so-called life was dragging me down to the point where I really am beginning to feel ill but I just don't know anymore.

My T4 Free was 1.1 (range 0.8-1.5)
My T3 Free was 2.1 (range 2.0-3.6)
TSH was 1.800 (range 0.37-4.55)

The PA called with the test results and I told her I am just about at the end of my rope with all this. I have faithfully done everything I've been told to do for two years, my surgery was two years ago in September, and the best she could recommend for me today was to start taking an extra half of a 125 mcg Synthroid every Sunday. This is all I do - take a little more, a little less, skip a day, now add a little more.

On top of all the other problems I've had to deal with, the government hit me with the craziest one yet! While I was in the hospital having thyroid surgery, I went on Medicare. I had turned 65 the month before and did not have a clue I'd gone on Medicare (received no notification) NOR that the Social Security Administration HAD CHANGED MY NAME. I'm not kidding! I have a double name - my Medicare card was issued using my middle name.

It has taken two years to get all my medical records straightened out. I've had to ask something like a dozen doctors, several imaging centers, a couple of labs and our pharmacy to change all my records to match the name Medicare gave me because we were told they could not/would not change their records. O.K., we finally got all that done - the last doctor being the orthopedic specialist.

My birthday is day after tomorrow. Last week I went to the Louisiana DMV to renew my driver's license. They wouldn't do it! My driver's license was issued in 1966 using my first name - my SS card/Medicare card have my middle name! A new government law says the driver's license must match the SS card identically.

It has taken four days of waiting in long lines at the DMV, the SS office, back to the DMV, back to SS to finally get my whole name on all my identification...and now I've got to go back to all those doctors, etc., and ask them to change my name back to the way it was originally!

I'm convinced I'm under a voodoo curse! I just can't figure out why?


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Good grief, IDClaire, you are having to deal with way too many crazy things right now! I hope you're hanging in there the best you can. Hopefully your family is done with traveling now and can help you out with your mother's care?

On your thyroid labs, your Free T3 is in the basement, the midpoint of the range is 2.8 and you aren't even close. That will definitely affect your quality of life--for me low FT3 causes tiredness, aches and pains, constipation...did I mention tiredness? Your FT4 could probably stand to be a little higher, too. Have you ever tried a combination of Synthroid and Cytomel?


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## Gwen1 (Sep 3, 2011)

IDClaire, just thinking about you and wondered how you are doing. Haven't been on the forum much lately myself. But with the slowness of thyroid, we don't miss much if we aren't on here for awhile!
Anyway, I figured out your last 3 doses and thought I could give you a 'visual' of them.

137x 6-1/2 = 890 weekly mcg. which averages 127 mcg. daily
125x7 = 875 weekly, of course 125 daily dose.
125x 7 1/2 = 937 weekly and averages to 133 mcg. for a daily dose.

This probably won't even help you at all knowing this. lol I'm just a numbers
person and like to figure out the actual dosage, so as to be able to look back and
see what each dose does for me. 
Anyway, I realize that treating Grave's patients and thyca patients has special
considerations that I personally don't have experience with, as I had hashi's and all
I need is to be on full replacement- no tsh suppression. It's good to see you are moving right along and doing better than when on the Armour. I know this is quite the
challenge to live with as I've been through umpteen dose changes trying to find the right one in the last 2 years since my levels went too far off track. 
Take care. -Gwen


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