I just got home from taking the girls to the ENT. Well Baby girl had a a followup appointment and Lil Bit tagged along. After a little kicking and a lot of crying Dr. N saw Baby girls ears looked great! While we were there Dr. N says "Wow Momma! is your neck always that big?" And the rest of the conversation goes like this... Me: well today it does seem a little swollen but I just had a radiation treatment about 6 weeks ago for hyperthyroid. Dr. N: Ooohh! And how long have you had that? Me: About 9-10 years. Dr. N: And they are just now doing something about it? Me: For a couple of years I was prescribed PTU but for the last 3 years I have taken nothing. Dr. N: Hhmm So how have you been feeling? Me: Most days, ok. But then there are days that I am very tired. Dr. N: I hope all goes well for you. We have a family friend that is in her early 20's and she had this as well. She was a college student attending on scholarship. She gained a lot of weight and then lost some weight and then she gained some more weight. She was so tired and weak that she started missing classes. Her hormone levels were like a rollercoaster, up and down and all over the place. She ended up losing her scholarship over this. It has now been about 3 years and she is finally leveling out. Me: O wow! Well I'm glad she is finally feeling better. I hope to not go thru all that. I go to the doctor next week to get my levels checked so i guess we'll see. During this conversation Baby girl has gotten out of my lap and Little Bit was now sitting with me. So I ask if he had a minute could he check her right ear. She has been saying it was bothering her. So he kindly looked for us. Little Bit is very good at the ENT. You see she has practically been raised with people looking in her ears for either infections, followups, hearing test, or check ups. This time was no different. She was very good. Dr. N said the tube in her right ear was still in place and the ear drum looked good although had considerable scarring. As for her left ear the tube was angled and appeared to still be in tact but he could not see past the tube to the eardrum. He also mentioned she had titanium tubes and had asked when and where she had them put in. I told him she has had them a little over a year and had them put in at Children's. I also asked if he knew of any headway for correcting enlarged vestibular aqueduct. Unfortunately he said no. But I will continue to ask in hopes that one day there is a fix! So the girls got suckers to go and I dropped them off at daycare so they could join class time, lunch and nap. I can't wait to pick them up. Tonight we are going to see Santa or as Baby girl calls him "Sanda". After Santa they have open house at dance class and we have invited my Mom to come watch with us! I LOVE watching my girls dance! I think I will go take a nap now to prepare myseld for tonights events! And I know I haven't mentioned Peanut lately but he is doing fine! He is ready for Christmas. He has been lifting weights in off season football and he is getting so big. AND so handsome! If I had to guess he is probably about 5'6" so that would make him bigger than me!!! Man how time flies. Seems like that kids was just born.

Follow up

It has been 2 weeks now since my treatment. As of last night my thyroid started to swell. Tonight it is swollen to point it has been hard to swallow. I called the clinic and they have prescribed me Prednisone and Prilosec to reduce the swelling. I have an appointment tomorrow with the doc so he can check it out. I was really hoping for all this to be simple and go smoothly. I do believe that this can easily be taken care of and I can carry on from here!
Update:
Just got back from seeing Dr. N. My blood pressure is good but my weight is up about 5 lbs but....I do have on boots and a jacket so I'm sure that is why :) The swelling has gone done some but not completely. He did say swelling is normal but usually not to the point it effects swallowing. He said to finish the prescriptions and come back in December. So I guess all is good. After my appointment I treated myself to lunch at PF Chang's and then stopped at Rue 21 and bought a new watch! So ya I'm good now!!!

Radioactive Iodine I-131 treatment

It has now been 12 days since I have received the radioactive iodine I-131 capsule. That should make me around 31% radioactive still. The first 7 days I did not get to see the kids at all. (Children are more susceptible to the radiation than adults.) I spent most of those days sleeping. I was sooo tired and nausea. Thankfully the last couple of days I have felt really good. Day 8 I picked the kids up from daycare, gave them quick hugs when we got home and then spent the evening in the bedroom. At that point I would still have contained @ 56% and didn't feel comfortable being around the girls yet. Baby Girl had a very hard time. She stood at the door and cried most of the night. Since then I have spent a little more time with them everyday. I have yet to hold them and rock them like I want but I should be clear of radiation by this Friday...or so I understood. So Friday night will be spent with lots of hugs and rocking!
The purpose of this treatment is for my overactive thyroid - hyperthyroidism. The thyroid is a gland in your neck that produces hormones that regulate all aspects of metabolism and the chemical process of converting food into energy. Since my thyroid has been overactive, it has produced to much hormone, accelerating metabolism. This dose of I-131 is absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to the thyroid gland, where it destroys the gland. I have an appointment with my endocrinologist in December. At that time, I will be prescribed a replacement hormone based on the level of hormone(if any) shown in my bloodwork.
I pray for little to no weight gain in this process. I hope for this to be the cure so I can live to have a long healthy life with my family.
Have you had this treatment or know of anyone that has? How did it go?

A little more detail

Not only do I like to hear pregnancy and delivery stories, I also like to tell mine. So here we go.
Peanut was a good pregnancy for the most part. From about 2-4 months I had morning sickness. Daily!!! At 32 weeks and 4 days (to be exact) I went into labor. I was at the Ms Tech Pageant with Baby J's friend Russell. Baby J was sick and decided not to go. I had a lot of contractions at the pageant. Even Russell joked, "Am I gonna have to take you to the hospital?!" Being my first pregnancy I thought it just must be gas! When the pageant was over I went to the bathroom and had a lot of bleeding. (TMI maybe...sorry) My first thought was I had to get Baby J. I struggled up three flights of stairs to get to his room. Ya I realize now it may have been easier to just call him but in time of shock you just don't think straight! He and his friend Nathan carried me down and off to the hospital we went. I stayed in the hospital 3 days trying to stop labor when they realized my water was leaking. At 6am on the 4th day they broke my water. I was soooo not ready for this. I cried alot.....he can't come out yet, it's not time! He was born by emergency c-section at 8:12pm and weighed 3lbs 6oz. I did get see him before they rushed him to the nursery but would not get to hold him for days. He stayed on Oxygen for the rest of that day and most of the next. On the 3rd day I was able to get wheeled to the nursery to see him. Oh my gosh! He looked like a little bird!!! He skin was not fully developed and was somewhat transparent. He had wires all over him and I could just not believe this was real! Anyway he only lost 4 oz which is very good. He was a very tough cookie. By the time he was 3 weeks old he had reached 4 lbs and we got to take him home!!! That is home with an Apnea monitor. At about a month old his monitor alarmed. I did everything I had been taught to get him going again....and nothing worked! So I called 911. As soon as they answer he starts to cry! He is soooo grounded for this! I was a nervous wreck! He had a monitor until he was almost 9 months old. Currently at 12 years old he is about 5 feet tall and 90 lbs and healthy!
So that was baby #1
Little Bit was definitely a different pregnancy. I was sick all the time and losing weight. I continued to go to the doctor and be told it was just bad morning sickness. At 4 months pregnant, I weighed 88 lbs. I looked terrible to say the least! On several occasions I had to go to the clinic for and iv for dehydration. I could keep nothing down. On top of that I started to have high blood pressure, tremors, and heart palpitations. They finally discovered I was suffering from an overactive thyroid. After several medications, I was back on a good track by 5 1/2 months. Now, she was a scheduled c-section because the hospital we have here requires you to continue to have c-sections once you've already had one. I disagreed, but my only choice was go to another hospital which we did not want to do. We arrived at the hospital having very good contractions. Without thinking I directed Baby J to drop me off at the front doors. I'm surprised the doors were open...it was just shortly after 5 am. There was a Barney Fife security guard at the door. He said ma'm you must go to the ER. As I continued to walk toward the elevator, he repeated himself, yet a little louder. I said NO I am going to labor and delivery! He said, you must go thru ER. NO! I will go thru this elevator. Baby J had gone to park the car and about the time I got to the elevator door he was there with me. Barney (the guard) had realized I was not going to ER and called L&D. When the elevator door opened there was the nurse with the wheelchair. I was prepped for surgery. Everything was ready, we were just waiting on the anesthesiologist. But wait....here she comes! And we had been at the the hospital less than 20 minutes. She was born VBAC 4 Weeks early weighing 4 lbs 13 oz. We stayed at the hospital 3 days for jaundice. When she was four days old the pediatrician called to tell me there was something wrong with her blood work and she need to be seen right away. I freaked out!!! When the results came in they showed she had traces of the medication I had been taking in her blood. Apparently they passed thru the placenta. After three blood draws over the next couple of weeks her blood was free from the medications and she was fine. Fine that is with the except she kept failing her hearing screening. Like I said in my previous post she has unilateral hearing. She has received some speech therapy and as of now is almost up to speed.
And that's #2
Baby Girl was so easy in every way! I expected her delivery early as her siblings but she was hanging on for the long run! Again a c-section was scheduled. My water broke at home, Baby J drove like a maniac to the hospital. In the car he called the hospital to have them waiting with a wheelchair to get me to L&D. At the ER door was a very young man waiting for me. I got in the chair and directed him to hurry. Baby J went to park the car. It was just me in the wheelchair whimpering and the employee in the elevator. The nurses were waiting for me in the observation room. I said oh no...there is no observation, she is coming!!! I was stubborn and would not get out the wheelchair! Baby J finally arrived and convinced me to get up. And the wheelchair boy....look terrified!! I changed into a gown and the nurse checked me....and yelled....the heads coming!!! Uh huh...told ya so! I was immediately taken across the hall to delivery. The doctor was not there yet so the nurses delivered her. From the time my water broke to the time she was delivered was exactly 21 minutes!!! She was born weighing 6 lbs 5 oz!
Now...it was 11:57pm when she was born. Baby J and I talked about it at the time. When we got our paperwork it said 12:00am which made it the next day. I argued that this was wrong and was sturnly told SHE WAS BORN at 12:00!!! Therefore the birthday discrepancy.
When she was 2 weeks old exactly I had just fed her and while burping her she spit up. That's what babies do, right? But this was very thick, mucousy. She appeared to be having trouble so we got that sucker thing they give you at the hospital and sucked her nose and sides of her mouth. It wasn't working. She was struggling. We decided to take her to the doctor. Before we got to the end of our blog she was doing a very weird breathing thing. I called 911 from my cell and explained the happenings to the dispatcher. Less than a half a mile from the house I noticed her mouth and feet were turning purple. The dispatcher said you must take her clothes off and start CPR. NOOOOOO I can't! (Remember my baby was just 2 weeks old and I was a little hormonal and emotional). The dispatcher says Yes you can. So I have her clothes off about the time we hit the grocery store parking lot we had prepared to meet the ambulance at! I jumped out of the car with my limp daughter and gave her to the paramedic. He put her on the stretcher and she started to cough. By this point I am crying hysterically. He said mam she is coughing so she is going to be ok. They took us to the ER (Which was my first and I hope last ambulance ride) where we stayed for a few hours so she could get oxygen since her readings were low. She too should be grounded for this!
So now ya have it. That's how all my babies got here! Now I wanna hear your stories!!