I was so hopeful after radiodiodine therapy in June, and I still am. I still have all kinds of hope that this journey is over (we'll find out in October), BUT... I'm starting to feel the effects of that treatment now two months later, that I didn't feel at first. I was feeling SO GOOD initially, and it was so wonderful. I felt NORMAL. That's something that should never be taken for granted, that feeling NORMAL. For the past few weeks, though, I've been feeling super tired, and bloated. I've gained a ton of weight, even though my eating habits haven't changed. I haven't had a period in 3 months. My body "zings" when I wake up in the middle of the night...oh, and I'm waking up in the middle of the night, every night. I'm getting right flank pain. I'm an air head, and have a hard time motivating myself and concentrating on things. I'm stiff and walking around like a 90 year old woman. I have to hold on to the railing to do stairs, or do them one at a time. That's ridiculous. I get short of breath after doing very little work. And I have been super queasy/nauseous, which has caused me to lose hours at work, and that's not good. So general BLAH. Malaise. I just feel incredibly OLD. And I am NOT OLD, dang it!!
So, I made an appointment with a gynecologist, as I suspected that the old hormones were out of whack. And yes. They are. Again, therapy stunned my ovaries, and pushed me back into "post-menopausal" numbers, meaning they are not working AT ALL (FSH 40.4, Estradiol 15). I figured as much, given what happened after the last treatment. Last time, after about a year, my ovaries started coming slowly back to life, in a sputtering, half hearted manner. We'll see if they decide to wake up again eventually this time, or if they've just given up for good. So that explains some of my symptoms. But last time when this happened, I didn't throw up or feel so queasy, and I didn't have right flank pain. I didn't feel quite so weak or jittery, either.
Labs came back with a TSH of .02. We want that number low, to starve the cancer, but WHOA. It's supposed to be below .1, and at the start of 2019 I was running around .07. Now we're getting pretty dang close to zero. That could certainly cause some symptoms, too. The disturbing thing about my lab values, at least in my mind, is that my liver function tests are all out of whack, which is probably causing the flank pain and nausea. Apparently, hyperthyroidism can cause liver damage. I can't actually get much more hyperthyroid than I currently am, given my super high dose at the moment.
Don't know what all this means, besides something needs adjusting, to make me feel better. It's such a beautiful summer, I don't want to waste it feeling yucky.
It's all just minor stuff, though, and I'm acutely aware of that. I'm still abundantly blessed. An acquaintance's son just got diagnosed with stage three lymphoma, at 18 years old. He's on his second round of chemo already and has been in and out of the hospital this entire summer. And the son of a friend of Rob's just died of cancer as well. These kids getting cancer. It's not right. They have to deal with far more than I do. I don't want to "navel gaze" or perseverate on my stuff, because it is such an easier battle than what others are going through. Mine's not terminal, or life-consuming. It's just annoying. So, I'm not complaining, just documenting. It needs to go away already, and I think it has. Now I just need to feel back to normal, and we'll be all good.
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