Another day, another blood test

So home from a long, long day. A day that’s stretched over about 36 hours in fact and involved an overnight stay to see family. Boy is my ‘kitteh’ annoyed! Still, I had left her with about 9 days worth of food, cat milk, water, clean litter…but she did give me a fairly raucous homecoming (she doesn’t meow so much as screech at me) and lots of head butts. I often take her with me but this time my sister had brought along her little yappypants dog (he’s quite sweet but misunderstood) so she had to stay home. They don’t get along.

My next blood test is taken tomorrow. I think this is maybe the 7th (?) since this all began so I’m getting pretty good at it. Then I see the endo early next week. I’d love to see some improvement but in my heart (and in my heart) I suspect that won’t be the case. I’m still experiencing palpitations and shortness of breath on occasion. After many hours on the road today my sister commented that I all of a sudden seemed to deflate and my breathing was almost asthmatic…very wheezy. I think it’s just being over tired, not able to shake this head cold, same old same old….will make sure I get a full look over at the docs.

In the middle of two weeks off (yay!) so keeping my stress levels low and my sanity on track…or as much as possible anyway!

Turning around

So lots and lots has happened since my last post.  Almost too much to tell.  But here’s some of it.

My sister has had surgery to remove two malignant tumours.  After a week in hospital, she’s now home, still in remarkable spirits for someone who has been through so much.

With that and a lot of pressure at work, there’s been days I’ve forgotten to take my meds and I’m getting heart palpitations intermittently.  Still much better than before.  I do think I’m beginning to chunk up a bit though.  Could really do without that part.  Guess I will have to be really really careful about eating.  Finding that I still can’t really drink alcohol.  Even two glasses makes me feel quite ill.  And still keeping caffeine consumption low although allowing myself the off cup of tea here and there.  Next blood test is next week.

And today I was offered a new job with great pay, conditions and they seem to be a really cool group of people with a lot of empathy for their staff.  I’m considering things over the weekend but more than likely I’ll accept and be able to put my current job situation behind me.  With a new sense of strength I can see even more clearly that being there in the first place was the wrong move and not just because it coincided with my diagnosis at the height of my symptoms.

I read somewhere this week that the singer, Toni Childs (not my musical cup of tea), suffers with Graves disease and she had a ten year ‘break’ in order to recover.  In the article she said that she had to change her whole life.  It really brought home to me the need to take this disease seriously as the ramifications can be far reaching not just for the sufferer but their friends and family too.