Some Rights Reserved
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
United States License.
Glanding Along?
Dear Thyroid,
You are a sneaky bastard. You crept up on me so slowly and silently that I didn’t know it was you that was sucking the life out of me. All my symptoms were explained away by aging, “peri-menopause”, and the stress of being a parent. But you got greedy, and that was your fatal mistake. After all this time living together, how did you not know that I am like the Princess with the Pea under her mattress? I could feel your mild enlargement even though the ENT said there was no way I possibly could. And that was all it took for me to wade through doctors and tests, with some help from Uncle Google and a friend’s physician husband, to rat you out. Once you were exposed, the truth tumbled out like clowns from a Mini Cooper, and just as scary.
But you are going down swinging. In my naiveté, I thought I could just take this little pill and be rid of your grip forever. The tricks up your sleeve keep coming (that brief switch to hyperthyroidism you sprung on me last week that made my neck swell up and my heart race was good one–touche!), but I want you to know that I will prevail. I am strong, I am stubborn, and I will not be defeated by my own body. You fucked with the wrong person, my glandular nemesis, and you will soon see that your best move will be to keep a low profile for a while. There is still a lot we need to do to be able to live under the same roof peacefully, and as long as you insist on not behaving, I will insist on fighting you. (And I will not hesitate to banish you to “time-out” if you don’t heed my warnings–if you think I’m kidding, just ask my daughter 🙂
(Bio) Robyn is a 40 year old veterinarian who spends as much time as possible with her precocious 3 year old daughter, and her husband when he isn’t overseas defending our nation. In her spare time, she rides dressage on her spunky horse, practices yoga, and Googles thyroid issues.
Tags: affects of thyroid disorders, hyperthyroidism support, hypothyroidism support, thyroid literary support, Thyroid patient letters, thyroid symptoms
Follow Dear Thyroid on Twitter/@DearThyroid | See our Facebook Page | Become a Fan on Facebook | Join our Facebook Group
You Can Create a Dear Thyroid Profile and share with friends!
Reader Feedback
16 Responses to “Glanding Along?”
Leave a Reply to carol
Comments are moderated in an effort to control spam. If you have a previously approved Comment, this one should go right through. Thanks for your patience!
Nice letter Robyn. It sounds like maybe you and the various doctors got a handle on this a bit faster than some. Hopefully life will revert to normal again, whatever that is.
I have a good friend who used to be a veterinarians assistant. She has always thought that too many animal xrays without taking the right precautions was what killed her thyroid-it got her in her early 20’s, (30 years ago) although treatment went well for her and she never really brought it up until I got Graves and she wanted to reassure me.
Zari
Awww. I was so ANGRY at my thyroid then. I would say I’m more resigned now. And Zari, you are right–I thought I got jerked around because it took 2 months to get a diagnosis, only to research and find out some people suffer for YEARS before getting help.
Your observation (or your friend’s) is quite astute, too. I still see our techs occasionally being cavalier with the Xray unit–and I’ve been guilty too. Xrays are invisible, and we forget how dangerous they are. In graduate school, I worked with an entirely different form of radiation (P32 mostly) as I sequenced the DNA of antibodies (yup, antibodies). Again, while liquid, it’s totally invisible, odorless, etc. and even with monitoring there is probably more exposure than is safe.
It’s not something I had thought about–but you can be sure I am now!!!!
Everfeel like you’re on an endless roller coaster ride? HaHa–you were also of the belief that it was the lovely peri-meno’s fault and the added sress of child-rearing…gives the docs a good excuse to look no further bcuz we couldn’t possibly know what our bodies were trying to tell us. I do know that I want you in my corner when I need help fighting the good fight.
Thank your husband for me for helping defend this great country and for assuring me the freedom to continue to rant and rave about this illness. We ARE SO FORTUNATE that sometimes thyroid issues are the worst thing in our day to day existence
I liked this letter esp. the last few lines! INSIST ON FIGHTING YOU. Yeah, I am with you on that one! I also have a three year old daughter…wonderful and challenging!
Damn the thyroid. It is a sneaky little gland it even snuck up on my cat!
Robyn,
just want to say… i LOVE this letter. i’m so glad you were able to get it out and say what you wanted. we absolutely love and adore you in our community and are so glad you found us!
i especially especially love the last line of this letter. 🙂
Robyn, amazing how things have a way of creeping up on you when you least expect them you were lucky it only took 2 months to diagnose you from onset, although there is now way of really knowing how long you had it before then.
Great letter keep on fighting the fight and don’t be letting that thyucker win. Your in charge, and don’t let it forget it.
Lolly
Love this letter! Kudos to you! Im also a military wife!
Thank you for sharing your story. I can’t tell you how it lifts my spirit to hear you were diagnosed so quickly. I hope as awareness grows more people will be diagnosed quickly. As you know, a quick diagnosis doesn’t mean you feel well quickly, that’s why it’s so important.
I am about to turn 50 and it took me the better part of my 40’s to be properly diagnosed with Hashimoto’s. I think I found every bad doctor from Boston to the South Shore.
I know what you mean about sneaking up on you, slow but very incidious.
Keep fighting, I know you will!!!
[…] Hypothyroid A hallmark of thyroid disease is mental fog. , My first letter has been published on Dear Thyroid–1 week ago. , Did I shout it from the rooftops? , Nope. , I posted on FaceBook, but totally […]