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in reply to: recovery time from surgery? #1061770
Agree with jansm and Bobbi. Can you get a sitter for part of a day, alternating with having someone else take your two year old for part of a day? I had surgery, also had an 8 month old. I did not have pain, just general sore neck, cause muscles of the neck were in an unfamiliar position in the OR. So I did not have that grogginess. I was a student wife, living in student housing. Friends stopped by with food, and took the baby some. My husband was in med school, so never home.
I have the same concerns about postponing the surgery, but if you talk with you docs, and know that you can be controlled with ADT’s and beta blockers for another few months, it would keep you safe, and waiting till fall could be a viable option.
However, if it is possible for you to have friends take your two year old for a few hours after your husband goes back to work, I think you would love that. It certainly would not involve your boys for the whole summer, but after your husband is there for four days, if they could help you the rest of that week, by being there, helping some with their sister, plus friends or pre school I think you would be able to plan on resuming your responsibilities and parenting by two weeks. But you will be tired. The procedure itself is only 45min to an hour, so that is not a long anesthesia at all. So you will bounce back fairly quickly, I think.
Shirleyin reply to: The past 2 days I can’t stop crying #1061798You are a good place with good surgeons. If you haven’t already taken a look at the posts on surgery, I think that will be helpful to you. I liked my surgery experience, because getting adjusted on the right dose of replacement seemed faster.
Madison is great! I live in Seattle now, but I am from Iowa City.
ShirleyI am sure it is the urine, but call tomorrow to confirm it.
Shirleyin reply to: The past 2 days I can’t stop crying #1061793Also ask/tell you doc (if you didn’t) about how your throat feels. Erica had some great ideas! Hope you level out soon!
Regarding your optic nerve atrophy. Here’s my thinking. And it is from my own experience. I suggest that you establish an ongoing relationship with a good neuro ophthamologist, continuing to have this condition evaluated on a regular basis. Is this possible for you? Optic nerve atrophy can have several causes. But one of them that can be treated is associated with TED, or thyroid eye disease. This is a different subject than Graves’, although it is certainly associated with Graves’ most of the time. My point is that if there is increased pressure from eye muscles being bigger, and developing additional orbital fat, it gets crowded in there! The optic nerve is being "pushed," and there is pressure on it. IF the cause is thyroid eye disease, then there is a surgery, called orbital decompression, which is done, to save the optic nerve from permanent damage. If you do have thyroid eye disease (TED) I suggest you talk to your ophthamologist about seeing a neuro/opth doc to follow your eyes. I have concerns about you being seen in a year. Any way you can ask more questions about this? I know you are focused on the RAI right now, but this is something for you to learn more about from your eye doc, so that it is/is not established what the cause is of your ONA.
I was followed closely, my eyes were fine for a while, then my visual fields decreased in my left eye, and the color red was less distinct. I had optic nerve atrophy. The treatment was to make more room in the eye socket, to relieve the pressure on the optic nerve, for the damage otherwise would probably be permanent, resulting in blindness. I had an OD, my visual fields and vision returned to normal.
ShirleyJust a general comment about potassium. Just sharing what I know, check it all out with a doctor if you have questions about potassium. This is a med that absolutely requires management by an MD, and careful labs. It struck a chord with me, for I used to work in an ER.
It is usually adequately found in foods, but we can be depleted if we have a lot of nausea and vomiting. It is a super serious drug. People also lose potassium when taking a diuretic that is not potassium sparing. Sometimes people on a diuretic, even if it is intended to be potassium sparing, get in trouble. Usually docs who have patients on a diuretic watch this, and in the ideal world, patients should know some symptoms of low potassium. And there is a lot more complexity to this electrolyte, and the range for normal function is quite tight.I am simply saying this because it is whole difference subject than taking a calcium or Vitamin D supplement. People can get in trouble VERY quickly with too much or too little. It is right to check with your doctor on this one!
Since potassium was mentioned, I thought it was a reasonable comment to make. I have worked as an RN for over 50 years,and thought I would share my thoughts. High potassium can be life threatening, for it is related to cardiac function.As Wendy Sue said, leg cramps are another clinical sign of low potassium. I am guessing that the ER, in the panels they drew for labs, did check her potassium. Sounds like you are getting careful care from you doctor, Wendy Sue.
But check with your doctor, and I sure hope you feel better fast!
Shirleyin reply to: Thyroxine Dosage #1061819I suggest you document your symptoms, ie. heart rate, blood pressure, heat intolerance, increased appetite, the way you "feel" in general, and report them to your doctor. Read your post again, and it seems that your endo is on board, has reduced the dose, and you need to wait some more.
But it sounds like your doc is doing the right thing, and perhaps it is a good thing to remember that all things Graves’ move very slowly. Perhaps during the next two weeks the hyper symptoms may begin to recede. You will learn nothing from the next lab that is useful, unless you wait at least 6-8 weeks. If it is done before that, it will not represent where your really are.
The waiting is hard.
ShirleyQuick reply, am on my way to bed. Yep, we met in San Diego. Same situation with me! Re contacting you. I had a general, went home same day, was home by noon. I think the rest of my stuff is in my post which was too late to be useful at the preop appt. I had no idea of how many mm. he intended to do. The goal was to relieve pressure on my optic nerve. My photophobia was not worse after surgery, not did it get worse. I just had it, and I still have it. All for now, tired!
Shirleyin reply to: Nobody Cares #1061839Hi. YOu are so welcome here. No apologies needed. I think each one of has been at the very bottom of our lives, whether for Graves’ AND other stuff, or only other stuff. The economy is scary, jobs are hard to get, and life does get very complex.
It is hard to be the person who everyone else leans on in any situation, family or work. So that is another stressor you have. I don’t know if you would like any suggestions in this area, but being the "strong one" is a stressor for you, and perhaps you might consider gently suggesting and responding back to the people who come to you with THEIR problems, that "Why don’t you make a list of pros and cons, and then when you make your decision about that, it is your decision. I don’t want to tell you what to do, for really, it is your decision." I have absolutely no idea if this is even an issue for you, so forgive me for making the suggestion in this area. I was just responding to that part of your email (:
Re your weight. I am aware that bias exists against people who have more pounds than the charts recommend. I commend you so much for not aiming for anything drastic. Having said that, it would be nice for you if you were able to move more, stand more, etc. I am sure you are doing the best you can, and added to that is you are pretty happy with yourself in some ways, so motivation to lose weight is in conflict for you with the opposing interests of kinda wanting to lose SOME weight, and kinda being happy just as you are. It is distressing to be judged by your appearance (whether weight, bulging eyes, eyes that won’t shut and so much more,) and it does happen. NOt fair.
I think you are doing a great job with beginning to think about your world! It is so nice that you found this site. You have many new friends here, including me!
Shirleyin reply to: Decompression surgery #1061834Hi, welcome to this forum! I think you will like it a lot. It is so supportive, and nice to talk with people who have the same experiences you are having.
Take a look back about 8 posts or so, to one called Decompression Surgery: Pre op question to ask. Tuesday, May 10. YOu will see all my answers there (in blue), plus some comments from a following poster (sutan.)
Also, use the search engine on this site, write OD, Surgery, and see what pops up. There is a lot! Put lhc11 in the search box. She had a nice narration of her experience.Do you know if your post op appt is one week or two? So read some more, write back with more questions!
Shirleyin reply to: Hi Everyone #1074205I am so happy for you! What a rough time you have had! YOu will be on your way to feeling like yourself again soon!
P.S. You know everything Graves’ takes longer than we want it! I sure wish it were an "instant gratification" situation, rather than waiting so much. But you are on your way!
Shirleyin reply to: Not much has changed #1061865Hi Suz,
Well, that is discouraging. Does how you feel reflect your labs? In other words, do you still feel hayper? What are the docs telling you about this? I did not have RAI (had surgery) but at least two of the facilitators on the board did have RAI, and I think both have written recent posts about their experiences. They will probably respond with their knowledge and experience, plus I suggest using the search box to find posts, there a lot of them.
Shirleyin reply to: Shingles Question #1062099Yes, there is. It is strongly recommended for people over 60. There have not been large studies in age 60 and below.
Here is a reliable reference from CDC.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shi … d-know.htm
ShirleyI think I forgot to answer #9. I ate a big meal that night, and never restricted eating.
ShirelyI hope this is not too late for your appt. I am putting my answers and experiences after the question, then you can match it with what you hear and/or forgot to ask.
1. How long do I need someone with me?
I had a friend with me for 4 days. Helpful because she changed the cold packs, did all the cooking. We went out for Thai food the day after surgery.
2. Can I go for a walk the day after surgery if I feel like it?
I felt good, so we walked around the block. I was more than ready to get back in bed.
3. Can I see with my eye right away? Can I read?
u]Because of all the lubricant, and because I had cold on my eye a lot of the time, reading was hard for those two reason. But c[ould easily check my email, and I wrote about my OD before and after. Use the search engine to see what I wrote.[/u]
4. How long do I elevate the head of my bed?i]
It is my experience that pillows do not work at all. If your head is elevated, the swelling is minimal. IF you don’t it can be pretty signifi[cant.[/i]
5. Will it be apparent right away that my eye is not as bulging?
I could tell immediately, and my vision was better immediately. It kept getting better as the swelling went down
6. How long do I want for the final result and all healing to happen?
They said 2-3 months, but I was pretty much "better" and not thinking of myself in recovery mode at 6 weeks.
7. What should I call you about?
Decreased vision that is not because of swelling and ointment, or anything that you want checked out because you don’t know. And bleeding.
8. Is it very painful?
It was uncomfortable for a few days, but I did not take anything for pain. The minute I did not elevate my head, or stopped putting cold compresses on, the swelling increased, and then it did hurt more.
9. Can i eat anything I want the day of surgery?
10. How important is it to elevate the head of the bed?
In my opinion, it is super, super, important. It kept the swelling down,thus I was much more comfortable, and also I could see a lot better. SUGGESTION-I put pillows, many of them, and foam rubber stuff I had, UNDER the mattress, between the box springs and mattress, therefore raising head of bed to about 45 degrees, all the way across the bed. Get this ready before the surgery and sleep that way for a few nights. Definitely not the best sleep you will ever have, but then you do know what it will be like.Do write, hope you get this before your appt.
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