Blood Work

Last week the fiance and I cruised down to Seattle for my check-up at Qliance with my delightful ARNP. In addition to a tetanus shot they took blood to be sent off for a cholesterol, blood sugar, organ function, and thyroid test.

Yesterday she called with my results and gave me the "I've got good news and bad news" intro. Turned out my cholesterol and blood sugar and organ functions were great. I was concerned about the blood sugar thing considering a high school friend of mine developed diabetes the year after we graduated and I just found out this past weekend-quite a shocker.

Anyways, the "bad" news was that my thyroid isn't functioning properly. Why is bad in quotations you wonder? Because hypothyroidism could explain a lot of symptoms that I've either linked to depression or my personality or simply the genetic lottery. It isn't really bad news to find out the thing ain't workin' right since it might mean solutions to some of my problems.

Hypothyroidism is linked to lots of symptoms which may or may not be directly linked to a dysfunctional thyroid: fatigue, weakness, weight gain, trouble losing weight, dry/brittle hair, dry/pale skin, hair loss, cold intolerance, muscle cramps/aches, constipation, depression, irritability, memory loss, decreased libido, and heavy menstrual periods.

Let's see, I'd say at least ten out of those fifteen symptoms apply to me and have applied to me for years.

The elephant in the room is, is the hypothyroidism the cause of my depression?

Personally, I'm not convinced medication for the thyroid could vanquish my depression problems since it runs in my family and I've responded to treatment before and it just seems plain too much to hope for.

But get this-I called my parents to tell them about the thyroid thing and they both said that their mother's took thyroid meds EVERYDAY. Wow, that would've been nice to know eight years ago! Even with this juicy tidbit of family history, I'm not convinced my new daily pill levothyroxine will alleviate all my symptoms, but it would sure be nice if it helped out a little :o)

In other news the fiance and I had a great camping trip with my folks this weekend and enjoyed Leavenworth and some summery weather on the first day of fall!

While Dad fly-fished, Mom, the fiance, and I hiked up a hill and some. It was a really cool trail not only for the views and environment, but the washed out creek we had to navigate through! It reminded us of Mt. St. Helen's aftermath. We didn't reach the top, but we saw a lizard and chipmunks and robins and had a good time.

One night I had a eerily emotional dream about the fiance and I having a baby. For some reason I recall having family nearby, like a party/get together and I was laboring. Then I was face-to-face with my baby. It wasn't a realistic fresh from the womb face-to-face, but it felt like it should be that first moment. It was a girl, with huge blue/green eyes and little tufts of blonde hair and she was so giddy and I was euphoric. She knew that I was mommy and I knew that she knew and was happy about it and we were both just blitzed out of our skulls.

I told Mom about the next day and she said, "Well your first better be a girl. I'm cross stitching a stocking with kittens on it!" Ha! I had no idea that my mom was gearing up for grandmotherhood, but I guess she would be, wouldn't she? I wonder how Dad feels about his little girl having a little girl, I'm not sure he's ready to be "stitching" anything just yet!

Between blood work, babies, camping, hiking, and family time I've had a good few days. And this weekend we're going to visit his folks, so more good times ahead! The cats were happy to have us home, we'll see how they cope with the second weekend alone in a row. They may break open the refrigerator...