hypothyroidism...

i promised to let u know how my last scan went...well, i met with my oncologist on Monday (Corinn's bday) & found out that everything came back clear...praise God! the doc said my lymph nodes actually look smaller than when all this began...guess all that treatment really did do the trick!

in fact, the radiation did such a good job of zapping the tissues in my neck, that i'm still feeling the effects! i have a sore throat almost weekly, but the doc says this is normal (really? after almost a year?!)...i also have pretty brutal reflux - doesn't matter if i've eaten too much, eaten the wrong type of food, or just haven't eaten at all...i get heartburn almost daily (also apparently normal?!)

& now i'm finding out it has effected my thyroid as well - turns out my levels were low when they ran my blood work on Monday, so they asked to run it again...sure enough, Hypothyroidism...apparently, another common effect of radiation to the neck - yay! ;0)

thankfully, my levels are not severely low...i'm on a low dosage of meds now (Synthroid) & they'll check my levels again in a month...& this could explain my recent lack of concentration & memory loss...and my dry skin/irritation...maybe even some of my weight gain & lack of energy?! yeah, that's it! that's why i'm fat ;0)

so hopefully, the meds work...& hopefully i don't have to take em forever! sounds like there's a good chance i will tho - i guess we'll see...& of course i'll keep u updated

as for my next scan, i'll go again in may (another 3 months) - taking me up to a whole year since i finished treatment!!! if that 1 is all clear too, then i'll go down to just once every 6 months...that def will be nice!