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in reply to: Sue’s TT – July 16, 2013 #1180340
Yep. Steri strips are little tapes, with little :threads” in them, with VERY sticky adhesive, that is intended to STICK for at least 7-10 days.
Thank for taking the time to tell me more re your IV. Although I retired a few years ago, it is so easy for me to get in the “work mode” again, given half the chance!
IT WAS, WHAT IT WAS!! AND IT IS DONE!!!! You are well on the road to recovery.
Do you have gorgeous fall colors in New England?? Sounds gorgeous.
Shirleyin reply to: Sue’s TT – July 16, 2013 #1180338WOW.
THE BAD
Sue, I am so sorry about the long wait. When you are able to, please tell me when they started the IV!!!! I think I understand from your post, that they did not start it right away! That is very weird. In all my experience as a preop nurse, that is the first thing we do. Then, when patients have to wait a long time (and usually afternoon people do…) they are fully hydrated, and we can “give stuff” through the IV to help calm anxious nerves for having to wait.
Unfortunately, your experience of going in way beyond your “start” time is pretty common. I am SO SORRY.MORE BAD AND MORE GOOD
I am glad this is behind you, that is all I can say to that! So glad you are home.1. I was hesitant to cough, because it hurt to do so. But it does not hurt the surgery that was done. ALL the muscles in our neck are VERY sore, cause they were in very unusual positions for the surgery.
2. In my experience, there was little or no swelling. I think the surgeon is the boss on this one. It’s her handiwork. So I suggest going with cool, not cold, for 10-15 minutes, then OFF for the ice packs.
3. No, Vitamin D was not prescribed for me, not have I heard of it. Guess it won’t hurt you? Tums, yes, but only 2-3day.When do you go for your first post op check from surgeon and labs? I am guessing she will order labs at that time, and she will be most interested in the calcium. When you see her, ask about Vitamin D. Maybe you had that in a lab, and your Vitamin D level was low. That is a possibility.
**remember, if you take many narcotics AT ALL, you WILL be constipated, so if you take the T3’s, at a stool softener each time, maybe take one a day.
Sue! you are absolutely right!!!!!
More Good:“I’m home and in my own bed, couch, husband waiting on me, dogs glad to have me home, etc. I don’t feel terrible… I am able to eat and keep it down and the pain isn’t terrible. Headache is gone – yippee! I’m tired, but can’t sleep really well but that’s to be expected. I think the worst is over but I remind myself that I will still have some bad days, emotionally and physically, but the surgery is over and it’s time to head towards feeling better. “
* you will surprise yourself at how tired you get in a big hurry, when you think you feel great. Respect that!
Shirleyin reply to: One of “those” days. #1180408Holy crap, Barbra,
the thing about all of this Graves’/TED stuff, is that it is really, really, really friggin’ HARD! We have been through SO MUCH. It is a see/saw trying to get to that doggone “sweet spot “that you hear about. But it happens. It really does. And it will.I imagine the headache and grungy eye will resolve. But you eye definitely should be seen if it is not better.
Wouldn’t it bE WONDERFUL if you, Boomer, Gabe and some of the other regulars COULD get together for a glass of wine, for those of us who would love that, and a can of Izzy soda for the rest of you. It would be SO SO SO great to meet!I have a small whine too. With the abysmal outcome of both my lower lid surgeries with grafts from my mouth, another complication that is presenting itself in a potentially serious way, is that with the lower lid displacement, my eyelashes grow INTO my eye, acting like a foreign body, and scratching my cornea. So now i go to have them yanked out. Then they grow back.
This is addition to taping my eyes closed at night because they do not close.
All of this scares me to death, for though I am quite old, I can do all the things that are necessary to keep myself out of trouble with my eyes. But what if I can’t? NOONE will understand any of this AT ALL. Nada. And whe I saw a doc at Harborview today, it was made clear that “you just can’t come here every five weeks when you eyelashes bother your cornea.”
Hmm. Well, what am I supposed to do? They tell me that I am at risk for corneal abrasion and then corneal transplants, then the eyelashes can abrade the new corneas, too. But she made it clear that this was a bother,and her time was to busy to be doing this kind of thing. But what about ME!!I really want to meet all of you.
I was planning to ask you to be my honorary husband, Boomer, but then realized two of my kids are older than you are. So…you heard it here first, with Barbra and Gabe as witnesses.
“will you be my honorary son?” Or, if you prefer, I will be your honorary second mother. Gabe and barbra can be my honorary much younger sisters. I am an only child.OK. Enough. Gonna tape my eyes closed, let NPR lull me to sleep.
Shirleyin reply to: Sue’s TT – July 16, 2013 #1180325Hi Sue!! Caffeine withdrawal is REAL! I’m very very surprised they have you fasting that long, since your scheduled time is in the afternoon. The new guidelines have been implemented for quite a while now. But the health care industry moves slowly, and change is HARD! Sometimes institutions continue to say the same thing, nothing to eat or drink after 12 midnight, even though guidelines and rationale have changed.
I think it will help you in your planning, if you reflect on the fact that the reflexive pre op order has historically been “no food or drink after midnight”
If you think about that, people scheduled for 6am start time for their surgeries, are really in good shape from a fluid volume point of view. And they have been NPO (Latin phrase, meaning “nothing per os” which means nothing in your mouth! So they have fasted of both food and water for @ 6 hours, when you will be fasting more than 12 hours! Big difference.Check this out, asking if you can have coffee, and a glass of water too, so you are as dehydrated. It might not even be too late today for you to call the contact number you may have, to ask if you can have clear liquids up until six hours before your arrival time. I’d ask for the anesthesiologist on call. Ask if you can have clear liquids up until six hours before your arrival time. He/she can look up your OR time. You might be told that it is fine to have clear liquids up until six hours before your arrival time.
So these folks have been NPO for only six hours. That should give a bit of a perspective on your situation.You are going to a good place, and all will be very fine for you. The reason I am giving you a reference, plus telling you what I know, having worked in the pre op/post op area recently for many years, is to support you in having that cup of coffee, and telling you what the new guidelines are, so you don’t worry about it. Of course we all know I am not a doctor. But my medical center changed their protocol some time ago, and there are several evidenced based studies that prompted to have a later NPO time for people who go to the OR later in the day. For liquids, not meals.
Hope you can find someone to get this checked out with your people. I’m just handing you some information. Good luck in getting that cup of coffee!
This a portion of a long article from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
http://www.theapms.com/topicpages/pre-postop-care/preop.htm#anchor3Preoperative Fasting Status
in reply to: Best wishes Sue #1180318Hi Sue, you sound very prepared for your TT! Pretty soon you will be a member of the TT club! Best to you, and you are getting closer and closer to the pampered part! Best to you.
Shirleyin reply to: 13 years of Graves, plan to TT, right decision?? #1180240Reference?
Shirleyin reply to: 13 years of Graves, plan to TT, right decision?? #1180238Well,
weight gain is a big subject. Some people who have been hyper have loved the fact that they lost weight at that time (much was muscle wasting, and it is not a good weight loss) Nevertheless, it is natural, when we are well again, to gain muscle (if we use them….) and gain weight we have lost. Basically, we will be like what were were like before all this happened. Of course, many factors come to play because we are women. So depends on the time in our life. Another factor is, that Graves’ or no Graves’, we are not the people we were when we were 20. Having said all this, I know this has been a complaint of some people, all women. I guess the best thing to to is to control all the variables that you know about for good health, good nutrition, no binging, exercise, and all that. If we had a few extra pounds before Graves’, there is no particular reason that they would not come back if we do the same thing.
ANd, as I said, time marches on, and as the years pass, our activity level, life situations etc and etc change.
Have a TT or RAI or ATD does not MEAN weight gain. It means health.Depression-Other than recovering from anesthesia, I was so darn happy to TAKE ACTION about Graves’, that I was not depressed at all. I was scared and depressed when it all started and I was hyper, because I sure did not want to live like THAT!
I have taken Synthroid for over 30 years. I have not had hair loss, and any fatigue I have had is related to other health problems.
T3 to T4-dunno. If Synthroid “works” at the right sweet spot, you are golden. Sometimes it takes a while to get there. Same with any of the choices.
Some people worry more than others, too. It is natural to worry about the unknown. But at least is a good unknown, a better life and not hyper or hypo. Word of caution, though, it takes some time to get to where you want to be. The body pretty much decides this, plus some labs.
Shirleyin reply to: 13 years of Graves, plan to TT, right decision?? #1180234Hi mamama28!!
Some thoughts regarding organs!
Maybe it is a good idea to think of organs this way. Just because we have them, does not always mean they function perfectly, or at all. Sometimes they need to go away so that we CAN be healthy. Sometimes, it is urgent to remove a particular organ to save our lives or help us regain our health.An appendix is a good example, and tonsils and/or adenoids (in certain instances) is another. Of course, when an organ has malignant cancer, uterus, ovaries, uterus, breasts, prostate, to keep them would be downright wrong, in my estimation.
Regarding decision making, it seems that most everyone on this forum, once they HAVE made their decision, feels vast relief, and begins to anticipate feeling better again. Indecision for me, is much more disturbing and worrisome to me.
Don’t know if these thoughts will help you.genuinruby!!! HOW NICE to hear from you again!! Glad you are doing well.
Shirleyin reply to: Pregnancy & Graves #1180257Hi, sorry you are having to deal with Graves’.
After your surgery, recover, get stable on your meds, I suggest following Kimberly’s references and advice. Find an OB doc who is familiar with Graves’. Although you really won’t be high risk in the scary sense of the word, it is more likely that high risk OB docs will be more familiar with Graves’, that is just a thought.
You will be fine. I had a TT in my 20’s, had two more children after that. It was so long ago, that I suspect antibody labs did not exist at that time. Babies tested at birth, all was well, and as adults they are fine, with no autoimmune issues or Graves’, and all three are almost 50 now.
Shirleyin reply to: Graves Disease and Menopause #1180291Welcome to the forum!
Not sure about any good references, I did not look before responding now.
As you see from my history, I had TT many decades ago. My experience with menopause was probably better than most women. A few episodes of hot flashes, but not bad at all. Probably a bit more emotional, as I recall, and irritable and annoyed with the hot flashes. But that is about it.
I do have a question about terminology. I am wondering if you mean that you have been EUTHYROID for past 24 years? The designations for thyroid levels for Graves’ are HYPERthyroid, HYPOthyroid and EUthyroid, meaning too much, too little, and “just right.” I’m thinking you probably have been in the “just right,” or been neither hyper or hypo for past 24 years?
I do think that some of the hyPER symptoms absolutely are the same as menopause symptoms. Just different physiology.
Do write again. You’ll probably get some more helpful responses than mine.
ShireyStymie, what do you mean by armpit and net? I have no idea.
And, what reference were you reading? The net is full of unreliable stuff, you really have to look for the reliable.Please send it or mention it, or if it is something that should not be on the forum, send in a PM. I’m interested in reliable studies if they exist.
Most of what I know is anecdotal about it, and my own experience, which described in my long post today. I felt better, then I crashed, felt better, then crashed, hyper/feel good, sluggish/feel crappy.
Shirleyin reply to: For those who took SSKI . . . #1180277No, other than disliking the taste, I had no side effects or symptoms that I am aware of.
ShirleyHi WWW12, and all others who are on this thread.
I’m another Grave’s patient, weighing with some thoughts, plus my experience.I don’t think doctors are on the same page about much of anything, except some very basic stuff. They train different places, their own personal beliefs enter in their treatment regimens. Some docs do not take the time to “keep up” with the current evidenced based literature, some do. Some are conscientious practitioners, some are not (scarce, I hope.) Some care, some don’t. If they care, and regard a patient as a person, the doc is likely to spend more time thinking, consulting, and trying very hard to help the patient.
And, sometimes, the current thinking and standards of care are simply wrong and dangerous. sometimes it is known, and other times, it takes years and years to find out, by looking at poor outcomes and retrospective studies.AND. There is rarely one answer to most things,and I’d hazard to say Graves’ is certainly on that list. That is why we have 2nd and third opinions.
AND. Because of the reasons I listed in my first paragraph, plus that we are all different, I think the health of ALL of us would greatly suffer, if we received “cookbook” medicine. Which is what would happen if docs were all on the same page. There is always the human element involved, other variables of our bodies, perhaps other conditions that contradict the same treatment that is usually prescribed.
I don’t recall, WWW12, are you in a country other than US? This is a good example of contradictory thinking. Doing block and replace is much more common in Europe and other countries than it is int he US.
You new endo sounds like a good one, to get a baseline. I am hoping you are very careful to report how you are feeling during this time of no drugs, so you don’t slip in to hyPER territory, which requires your reporting and labs. Presume this is the case.I’d like to add that I imagine that there might be some of us, very few, who might profit from T3. I think that T3 is more frequently suggested by patients, and occasionally thought of by endos. So for @@@12 But there are distinct disadvantages of it.
If you get to that point, and have exhausted all other options to get to feeling better,I suggest you say something to this new endo like, “I know how you feel about T3, but Please, I’d like to try it anyway.” She might say yes.
My experience with T3 follows.
That is what I did, some years ago. ***My endo said his main concern was that almost all the time it did not seem to help, although he said that, as usual, there were instance when someone believes it helped, it could be the drug or the belief.
AND T3 has a main disadvantage, which is its’ short half life, IF TAKEN ONCE A DAY, (this is not as relevant if there is a divided dose, which neither docs or patients want to do, of either two or three times a day,) which is a significant one, and it did not take me long to experience it, it is not dispersed gradually in the body over a period of time. It tends to “dump” pretty much all at the same time, and you feel GREAT, AND ENERGETIC, until it is gone, then there is a “crash” where energy is gone,and you feel sluggish. That was my experience.Here’s a brief and interesting reference summarizing what I am referring to about half life of T3 and divided doses. I learned when I was working, that patient compliance of divided doses is pretty bad, and there are good studies to document that. It is recent, from a respected journal.
Notice the last sentence, but read all if it.Int J Pharm Compd. 2012 Sep-Oct;16(5):376-80.
Bioidentical thyroid replacement therapy in practice: Delivering a physiologic T4:T3 ratio for improved patient outcomes with the Listecki-Snyder protocol.
Snyder S, Listecki RE.
Source
Midwestern University, Chicago College of Pharmacy, Downers Grove, Illinois, USA.
Abstract
Effective thyroid replacement therapy may be elusive to some patients, and compounding pharmacists have an opportunity to deliver more effective therapy. Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics 12th edition states that the body usually secretes T4:T3 in an 11:1 ratio but cautions against pursuing combined thyroid replacement due to the short halflife of T3 that necessitates multiple daily dosing; no commercial availability and lack of benefit were shown in trials. Commercial combinations of T4/T3 such as Armour Thyroid and Nature-Throid have a 4.22:1 T4:T3 ratio. Applying the same concept as bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, compounding pharmacists can deliver an 11:1 ratio using a commercial T4 product and taking into account oral bioavailability of each entity. The short half-life of T3 can be remedied by taking the patient’s daily T3 dose and dividing it into two slow-release capsules to be dosed every 12 hours.Shirley
in reply to: My baby girl #1180170Good @ labs.
Stymie, how is she doing “overall ” the past few days? Anxious? Irritable? Hungry? Poor sleeping? P and BP? Good to have all this info at your fingertips, even in brief notes, it is SO EASy to forget the one important thing you wanted to say.Does not seem that you need to leave the pediatrician. But if this continues to be confusing and confounding, ask him for a referral to an endo who has a clue about Graves….sorry, i am not checking your other emails first to see….just saying this and signing off. looking forward to hearing from you.
My little girl is 46, and I feel the same about her…..
Shirley -
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