DEAR THYROID^TM

Today’s Dear Thyroid letter “Thyroid Cancer Has Changed Me, And We Need To Talk About That” was written by Alexa, a thyroid cancer SURVIVOR, celebrating her 1^st year of being cancer free. Can I get a ‘YOU GO, GIRL’, please?!

If you missed her letter, please give it a read. You won’t be disappointed. Here’s an excerpt: “The main thing in our situation, dear thyroid, was the amount of emotional and mental strain I was faced with when you left. Luckily, my city has a support group for thyroid cancer patients/survivors, and the very support I receive from those people has made a world of difference.”

Not only was Alexa’s letter inspiring, so were the comments. The love and support, and celebration of Alexa’s cancerversary were awesome! Thank you so much for reaching out and sharing your story and lending support to Alexa. You thyrock.

Today’s comment…

Donna says:

Hi Alexa, I left a comment on Facebook for you but wanted to be sure you saw it so I will leave it here as well. Your letter shows that you are a very brave and intelligent young lady and I instinctively know that you will manage the process of being thyroidless perfectly. I am so happy you are a part of this community because we can all help each other by sharing our stories. You are lucky in that respect, I had my thyroid removed close to four years ago (follicular thyroid cancer) and if I had the resources available to me today back then I would have most definitely done some things differently. I’m happy you are part of our community and want you to know that we are here for you if need be. Good luck sweetie, I am so proud of you! Thank you again for sharing and best of luck to you. Hugs!

As always, Melissa, author of “Chronic Snarkopolist: What’s Your Worst Medical Story?!” penned a chronic-lee-licious column about medical experiences; horrific ones, of course. Here’s an excerpt from her post: “There is no such thing as a little bit of a complication when you are dealing with chronic autoimmune disorders. There is only a SONIC FUCK TON of complex KILLING-YOU-ITIS and simply, “Dear Melissa – you are merely whining today, leave us alone, yours truly, love, all 11 of your medical specialists.””

If you missed her column, and need a laugh, and to feel less alone about managing multiple chronic conditions, doctors and medications, among other things, you absolutely have to read this installation.

Everyone’s comments – OMGeers; the stories will take your wig off. Sadly, I think we can all relate to each person’s yarn. That being said, we also learn, I think, that we aren’t so alone. Finally, I believe there is strength in numbers and in sharing our stories with each other – we create awareness, laugh a lot, and hopefully find some catharsis along the way.

Today’s comment…

Cate says:

Melissa,

I can’t pick one. Here are a few random candidates from the past 15 years:

Was it Dr.Perky, family practice MD, who wouldn’t let her daughter play with Barbies, but scrawled “weepy, obese, 45 yr old female” across my chart? (I was only 40 and never shed a tear in front of her.) When she tired of not helping me, she told me I’d be better off with cancer.

Was it Dr.Zen, herbalist/accupunturist who said to me in front of my husband, “You have too much water and a dowager’s hump,” while I was on the table with my face in a cup and push pins in my back?

Maybe it was Dr.TreeSong(Tannenbaum)the surgeon, who laughed to his sadistic nurse at my shock and pain, while sticking long, electric needles into the heel of my unanesthetized hand, “testing” for carpal tunnel?

Or, Dr.Preoccupied, OD, whose only teenaged daughter drove her to distraction during appointments, and thought everything could be cured by eating salmon all the time?

Most recently, it could be Nurse Practitioner Would You Like Weight Loss Surgery With That, who is terrified to help me, and has refused to call with my thyroid labs for the past 13 months. When I tried to reach her, THE OFFICE insisted I come in again.

I am currently off all things Medical. And still breathing…

Cate

If you didn’t receive your INVISIBLE NO MORE thyroid awareness band, please let us know! We wrote a post about it today. Conversely, if you’d like to order one, they are 100% free. We just need a SASE. Here’s the URL for the postage and address.

Tags: Comment of the Day, community building, Dear Thyroid, graves disease support, hashimoto's disease support, Health Community, health support community, hyperthyroid support, hypothyroid support, literary community, literary support, thyroid cancer support, thyroid community, thyroid literary community, thyroid support community

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