Those of you that know me intimately, know that I've felt crappy on and off for the past couple of years. I've dubbed myself a hypochondriac of sorts, but believed the ailments to be true due to the pain and discomfort I have been in. I've frequently made the following statements to family, friends and indifferent aquaintences...
"What is wrong with me?"
"I feel like I'm falling apart!"
"I'm 30 years old and I feel like I'm 90!"
You get the picture. Finally... FINALLY I have been vindicated. I am NOT a hypochondriac! I'm a perfectly abnormal freak of nature who's been dealing with hyperparathyroidism for the last several years or so. I've had so many different things wrong with me that it seemed impossible to find the culprit. It was a rather large parathyroid that was reeking havoc in my body these many years!
**Normally people have 4 parathyroid glands that are the size of a grain of rice... one of mine was the size of a plum!
**My calcium level (the blood test that proved it all) was 19.4... normal is around 8. My surgeon said that was the highest she's ever seen, as well as the endocrine specialist at Covenant Hospital.
**My vitamin D level should have been around 30 and was a 7! She also said that was unheard of for a patient my age! I need vitamin D in order to absorb calcium!
On with the story...
As I'm recovering from Heel Spur Surgery, I'm feeling nauseus, vomiting (wretching) and feeling lightheaded. (Go figure I also got my period at this time as well... I know... you're jealous) I figured the first week it was a side effect of my pain meds as the doctor had warned me of before. Week two... I ended the pain meds... but my pain did not end. Saturday, January 3rd was when it all came to a head. I was home alone (Ed was working and Ed's parent's had the children while I was recovering) and all of the sudden I had a horrible pain in my gut! I thought I had to use the restroom so I went there and sat for a bit (constipation is also a side effect of the pain meds). I was doubled over in pain when a hot flash came over my body and so I took off my shirt and eased myself down to the cool hardwood floor of the hallway. I felt horrible! It was about 6:30 in the evening and I was in such pain that I called my mom to take me to the ER. It was freezing rain so my mom called the ambulance to take me. I hobbled out the door to the stretcher and into my first ambulance ever. One of the guys was a jerk and rolled his eyes when relaying my ailments to the nurse in the ER. Anyways... my mom was there when I was crapping my pants (well on the portable crapper they bring in) and throwing up at the same time... yes... she was gagging and so I told her, in between my wretching fits of a mossy green bile substance, to leave the room... that I was sorry she couldn't handle it in there. Yuck... who could! Soooooo... they poke me and get some blood and discover... that I'm weird. I have an EXTREMELY HIGH CALCIUM LEVEL in my blood. So, they admit me to Covenant where I have an EKG, get poked and proded all night long, have a horrible potassium drip burning through my veins, have high blood pressure, a CT scan, an X-ray of my chest and an ultrasound of my neck. Sound fun yet???
I saw several doctors from the Family Practice Center, none of which was my real and I have to say CRAPPY doctor, that came in and pretty much told me the same thing as the previous one had just told me. Anyways... I really liked Dr. Munns. She was the one that came in on Sunday and said that they found out what was wrong with me. She said that it was my parathyroid whose function it is to regulate the calcium in my body. For some reason my calcium was being leeched from my bones into my blood stream and reeking havoc in all parts of my body. (During these past few weeks my bones have begun to hurt like HELL!)
I had a Fine Needle Aspiration with Ultrasound on my neck to rule out cancer. It looked like there was a large tumor on one of the parathyroids and two nodules on my thyroid. The FNA at Covenant was only done on one of the nodules which was not cancerous. I knew that I had to have a parathyroidectomy and chose to have it done in Iowa City with a doctor who specializes in those kinds of surgeries. Since it's close to many arteries, nerves and my vocal chords, I wanted someone who knew what they were doing! Dr. Lal was going to be my surgeon.
I was at Covenant from Saturday, January 3rd to Thursday, January 8th and on Thursday evening was transferred to Iowa City to the UIHC (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics) via an ambulance... again. I almost peed myself in the ambulance and was getting ready to go in a bedpan when the driver said we'd be there in 12 miles if I could hold it... I did, but suffered a severely stretched out bladder I must say!! :o) I was admitted here in the epilepsy unit since that was where there was an open bed! The nurses were all fantastic there! I was poked dozens and dozens of times for blood and IV's leaving many bruises and bloody spots behind. NOT HAPPINESS. My calcium was high, so they pushed liquids through me to get it out of my system... my magnesium, phosphorous, potassium was all low. If my levels got too low, I would go into cardiac arrest. My nurse, Perla, said today that she was really worried about me! I had more thyroid scans, x-rays, ultrasounds and lab work done. My kidney function was below normal and I was just a mess! My bones hurt SO BAD that it hurt to walk, just to sit in bed hurt... to exist hurt!!! It's hard to describe bone pain, but WOW... not good and medicine didn't even touch it! My bones in my toes hurt, my wrists, elbows and knees... I could go on and on. Things are starting to get better. My calcium depletion was the reason for it. It was like I was suffering with short term osteoporosis. So... I was having many things go through my IV and taking many different pills as well as getting two heparin shots in my belly everyday to prevent blood clots! It seemed like everyday someone would tell me that I had something else wrong with me! On Monday I had another Biopsy (FNA) with Ultrasound done on my neck. This one was WAY more painful and left me big and bruised! He numbed me up first, which hurt, and then had six 5 - 6 inch needles that he would take individually and poke them into my neck, tap on them til they went down and then would wiggle them around and eventually pull them back out! "NEEDLE IN THE NECKMEAT!!!" WOW... the third one really hurt so he numbed me up again for three more. I was in pain for a whole week after that! Nothing was cancerous, but they did say that I probably did have Hashimoto's Disease as the biopsy showed at Covenant. Even though I have it, my thyroid function is fine for now, but I may have to be on medicines in the future for it for the rest of my life. Then... my potassium level was low AGAIN and they put the IV in me and I cryed for an hour and a half. For some reason my veins couldn't take it anymore! I broke down and called my friend to ask her for someone to come and give me a blessing. About a half hour later, two priesthood holders who work here at the hospital came and gave me a blessing (a special prayer). When they left, the nurses came in and turned it off. Such relief! It turns out that I can take it orally instead. It tasted like really salty homemade playdough! Much better than being in horrific pain for long periods of time, I must say!
Soooooooo... my levels were fine and I was prescribed several medicines to keep my levels stable between now and my scheduled surgery on January 22, 2009. I was released from UIHC on Wednesday, January 14th, stayed in a hotel with my mom and traveled home to Waterloo in the morning. We counted over 20 cars in the ditches due to ice storms and blizzard conditions that have been happening in our area these past few weeks. On our way home, I stopped by my doctors office (lab) to get poked even more times... I'm a glutton for punishment! I needed to stop there to have my levels checked every few days to make sure that I was good to go for surgery the following week.
NOT SO FAST...
Deja vu people... what do you suppose happened that following Saturday evening when I was home alone again. You guessed it... the same symptoms only THIS time I was tingling all over my face, lips, hands, arms, feet and up my legs. My hands started to cramp as well as my mouth. My lips were pursed and I was having trouble speaking properly. I knew that the tingling was from LOW CALCIUM from before. I felt this way after they pumped the calcium out of me. Now I was experiencing hypocalcemia. So... I called my brother Chad to take me to the ER. I called the number I had for Iowa City first and she said to call the ambulance and go to my local ER. Back to Covenant again. Good Night... I hadn't even unpacked my suitcase yet, so Chad drove behind the ambulance to the ER and met me there. Ed showed up a little while later. (Thanks Dan...) Anyways... I was nervous because I felt that if my calcium level is THIS LOW... are my other levels low... could I have a heart attack?!? I was pretty scared at this point. I knew that my calcium level may come back "normal", but for me... "normal" is low since I've been used to the high levels for so long. Anyways... after several hours... from 10 pm Saturday night to 5 am Sunday morning I laid in the ER until the doctor had a "pow wow" with the doctors in Iowa City. He came in and said that all of my levels were low and that I was going by ambulance to Iowa City. So... here I go again in the ambulance down to IC. This time my blood pressure was REALLY low and so I had to have another IV shoved into me during the very bumpy ambulance ride. I was pretty scared this time. I went straight to the ER there and they said that my levels were looking good again. So... they asked if I had a ride home and I was like... "WHAT?" So I called mom at 8 am and her and Chad came and picked me up. I stayed at her house since she didn't want me to be alone again. She was pretty ticked that I wasn't admitted and so was I. So... Ed got the kids and brought them to mom's in the afternoon. It was the first time I saw all of them in such a long time. I really missed seeing them! Jaren seemed to have grown so much! He even had more teeth coming in this time! Such sweet kids... I hope they don't forget me! So... Ollie and Eden spent the night with my mom and Chad and Jaren came home with us at about 8 pm. I hopped into the tub to soak my painful bones in hot water only to have Ed bring me the phone... it was my surgeon! She was pretty miffed that no one had called her to say that I had been in Iowa City in the ER. She said that she would have admitted me! She also said that there was a new doctor that didn't know about my history and that is why they let me go. Sooooo... she and Dr. Wilson were trying to call me all day long. She told me to go ahead and come back down tomorrow (MLK Jr. Day).
BACK IN IOWA CITY...
So... Ed let me sleep until 10 am and then off we went to UIHC AGAIN. Now I was in the surgical unit and being prepped for surgery. Usually the calcuim level drops AFTER the surgery. In my case it dropped BEFORE surgery. We needed to get it back up to a "normal" level for me so I was choking down antacids like they were going out of style! BUT... Dr. Lal told me on Sunday... my Vitamin D level was extremely low... therefore I wasn't absorbing any of the calcium I was putting into my body... triggering my tingling feeling and cramping muscles that drove me to the ER and landing me in the I.C. ER!!! CRAZINESS!!! SO... she told me to come down as a precautionary measure to pump me up with a calcium drip and move my surgery to Tuesday instead of Thursday, just to get the blasted thing out of me! So... Mom was here, Ed, my wonderful husband was here and my grandparents came up as well. Surgery was at around 2:30 pm on Tuesday, January 20th. I went in with 4 parathyroid glands and came out with 2 and a large exit wound to my neck... which really hurts. It's about 2 inches long and in the middle of my neck. I've been on pain meds, which really don't help a whole lot, but oh well... what can I do about it! This morning Dr. French came in during rounds and told me about the size of the ginormous parathyroid that was removed. I couldn't believe that something that large was in my neck and I didn't know it! Evidentally it was fairly mushy so it was easily hidden. Now... I'm sitting here in bed... at 11:30 pm... typing for all of you fine folks who have taken the time to read about my crazy month of pain and frustration... At least I'm on the healing side now! In about a month I'll feel like a brand new person... or so they say!
Thank you so much for all of the prayers and well wishes that you've all said on my behalf! I could still use them on this crazy road to recovery... who knows how long that will end up being. Hopefully soon!!! Thanks to ALL of my doctors and nurses, friends, family and acquaintances during this time! I also recieved some beautiful bouquets that brightened up my otherwise dreary days! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I love you all!!!! ***"Where's my award... it's like a thank you speech at an award's show... wait... don't take the microphone down into the floor and turn on the music... I'm not done yet..."***
