Father’s Day Memories

One of my best father’s day memories doesn’t involve my father but by husband and son. 

It was June 16^th 1991 and 2 days before I had a total abdominal hysterectomy for uterine cancer, so I spent Father’s Day in the hospital and was not able to plan anything special for hubby.  No worries because Jacob, at the age of 6, took matters into his own hands.  He planned a “party” for his dad with the help of his Grammy A.  He asked her to get some crackers and drinks and invited people to their place after church that night for a celebration.  If memory serves me correctly, they had pizza with the crackers.  The memory of this still brings tears to my eyes.

After the party they came up to the hospital to visit me; it was after visiting hours but at the time I worked there and was able to take a few liberties.

I would love to be able to do that with my grandson someday.

What is your favorite memory from Father’s Day?

Til next time,
Linda<3

Depression VS Hypothyroidism

In 1991, I had a total abdominal hysterectomy, due to uterine cancer, which meant I went through menopause at the age of 33.  In the months following the surgery, I noticed some changes in me one of which was that I did not want to go to family activities.  Now you must understand that one of the things I love about my husband is his family.  Those of you, who know them, know they are very special and I fell in love with that so when I did not want to attend activities, I knew something was wrong with me.  I could go to work and be fine but if I saw someone I knew at the mall, I would do everything I could to not have to see them face to face.

When I told my doctor about these things, he felt I was suffering from depression related to the hormonal changes from the hysterectomy.  (I was not able to take estrogen for five years because of the cancer.)  I wasn’t sure what was going on and what he was saying made sense so I have been taking antidepressants since 1992.

Since my diagnosis of hypothyroidism, I have been doing some reading on the subject, especially the book “Living Well with Hypothyroidism” by Mary J. Shomon and have learned so much about how the thyroid hormones affect our bodies.  One of the things I have learned is that there is a belief that depression may be related to the hypothyroidism which means that I would not get better by taking antidepressants but rather need to get the thyroid hormone levels in the proper range for me.  This is good news because I hate taking so many medications.

Next time, my experience with weaning myself off the antidepressant Effexor XR…you won’t believe it!

Till next time,
Linda <3

A New Diagnosis

For the first three months I was off, I still had heart palpitations and difficulty remembering things but they did seem to be occurring less frequently.  The big thing was my sleeping.  I would sleep 12-14 hours each day then get up and usually fall asleep in the chair.  At first I thought I was trying to get “caught up” on my sleep but it never seemed as though I was gaining any ground.  No matter how much I slept it never seemed like enough.

Being the patient that good nurses make – NOT!  I did not go to my family doctor until September 2009! I know, I know, if it was someone else I would have told them to go to the doctor much sooner but I’m sure you’ve heard that doctors and nurses make the worst patients!

Anyway…. I told the doctor about the sleeping and he checked to see if they had done a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level.  They had and it was high indicating hypothyroidism so I was started on Synthroid which is an artificial hormone replacement drug.  I really did not notice any difference for a few months and an increase in dosage but now I am only sleeping 12 hours in bed and then I’m not falling asleep in the chair.  To some this may not be a big deal but it is a big deal to me.  I still have a lot to learn about hypothyroidism but at least I feel as though I’m on the right track!

More later!
Linda <3