GOT MILK?

In my quest to rid my body of its extra organs (tonsils and adnoids when I was 8; ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus and cervix, May, 2005; and gall bladder, December, 2007), I had my thyroid removed on Monday, February 9th, 2009. I have had a hypothyroid disease called Hashimoto's for about the last 10 years, which is when your body treats your thyroid as a foreign object and it attacks it. My thyroid was basically dead and didn't do what it was supposed to be doing and it was quite large and caused me problems with swallowing. Like Oprah, I also like to blame it for my less than bathing suit ready figure...ha, ha.

Anyway, true to form, the results were not what was expected. I was in the hospital for two days and when I was released my calcium level had dropped below normal but I guess they expect that for a little while and usually calcium supplements remedy it. So, I go home and the next day I wake up and I have severe tingling in my arms and legs and my face, hands and feet are cramping. It was the weirdest feeling. Imagine having a charie horse in your face!!

Luckily, my private nurse Ric was home with me and he started taking my vitals and making notes about what was happening. He told me I was fine and that he would just call the surgeon for a precaution. Sweet thing at least tried to act casual but soon I heard him calling the surgeon's office and saying that he was bringing me in this minute and I could kind of hear a little bit of panic in his voice. Ric is always so calm that hearing that panic in his voice totally freaked me out.

All the way to the surgeon's office he assured me everthing was fine and he just wanted the dr. to take a look at me. Well, the dr. also acted a little too casually and sent me immediately over to the iv clinic, and they drew my blood I was given two bags of calcium through an iv. M calcium level was severely low. The next day Ric told me that since the crisis was over that it had been a serious situation and he had been truly worried for me. I told him he didn't hide it as well as he thought he did, but I appreciated that he tried. :)

Since that day I go every day to the iv clinic and spend five to six hours getting calcium through an iv. My levels had continued to stay low, but yesterday it finally went up a little even though it was still not enough. It's finally progress though...YAY!!!! Hopefully, when they draw my blood and test it tomorrow my calcium will have at least stayed the same and hopefully, gone up a little bit. At least I finally see a small light at the end of the tunnel. Spending my days hooked to an iv is not my idea of fun!

So...who knew that calcium was such a big deal. I didn't, that's for sure. If I heard someone was low on clacium I would tell them to go get a glass of milk...ha, ha. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for watching over me this last week and blessing me with a loving, kind husband who has taken such great care of me and who honors his priesthood and was able to give me blessings when I needed them. Things could have turned out much worse, but I have been truly blessed. Thanks to my family and everyone else who has expressed their concern. Thanks mom and dad for the flowers and Kim and Syd for the yummy dinner and visit at the hospital. I am on my way to getting better. I just like to take the long road. Drink your milk everyone, ha, ha!