DEAR THYROID^TM

A Graves’ Situation, Linda F’s Dear Thyroid letter was the impetus for a wonderful conversation about various medications for patients with Graves disease and hyperthyroidism. We learned a lot from each other, by reading each other’s responses and, yes, allergic reactions to certain medications. Linda’s letter is very touching and inspiring. Like so many of our thymmunity members, Linda is a fighter.

Here is an excerpt of her letter: “Dear Thyroid, our relationship is worth fighting for, yet I hope I don’t have to do battle with you again. We have fought this battle twice. You are on probation. You have been warned. If the choice is between you and me, I choose me!”

Thyroid success stories are as integral to our healing process as angry, sad, funny and frustrating letters. We celebrate each with gusto.

Today’s comment…

Nicholle says:

It’s interesting – when I went on tapazole I could tell my specialist was a bit….nervous…about it. She wanted my blood levels checked almost daily, and she did mention that it had the highest rate of side effects. She seemed relieved and almost a little surprised when within 10 days I needed to lower the dosage because my T4 levels had come down so quickly.

But I did feel some of the less-serious side effects – headaches, dry mouth.

c1ners: were the red welts hives?? Each of my 2 crazy almost-thyroid-storm episodes have been accompanied by insane hives (direct result of stress triggering my hyperT). Good for you for listing to your body and ditching the doctor. That’s my biggest difficulty with doctors – they don’t realize how self-aware I am with my body and my symptoms. I know my body better than you do!

Chronic Snarkopolist: Ghost Stories: When Did Sick Get Scary?, Written by Melissa Travis was one of the best essays I’ve ever read in my life. If you haven’t read it, please do. Melissa went there, the crevice in our bodies and hearts where we hide all of the ugliness and fear, and anger about our diseases. She forced our demons front and center, and gifted us with the opportunity to examine them. BRAVO, THYSISTAH.

An excerpt from Melissa’s essay: “When I worry about my bowel movements or my laxatives or my kidneys I worry as a woman who is CHRONICALLY ILL, not as a YOUNG woman or an OLD woman.  Yet – I do it QUIETLY.  I have two sorts of friends, my, “healthy friends” and my “sick friends” because my “healthy friends” do not like to be reminded of illness.  They have their own terrorized thoughts brought on by past aging relatives and visits to the nursing homes.”

The conversation was equally stunning. It was as if a movement began – truly remarkable.

yogichic says:

Melissa,

Wow, very powerful.

People fear the unknown (those who have never experienced a major disease or illness) or fear that one day they may be just like us (those who have).

When I was diagnosed with lupus, 90% of the people reacted with shock, disbelief, then would ask, um, can you tell me what lupus is? I found myself having to educate, advise and put others at ease.

Then when I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, my brother and sister-in-law who also had TTs but not cancer were only interested in comparing surgical notes and scars – never talking to me about how I’m feeling or sharing their feelings. Most people, I now realize, didn’t really ask me any questions or talk about my thyroid cancer. I believe they just wanted to change the subject because they were uncomfortable.

How ridiculous that the day after I came home from surgery I was serving coffee and muffins to a friend who came by to visit me and I’m acting all nicey nice.

Now I’m pissed thinking about this. WTF? I’m the one that needed to talk, vent, cry, scream, yet I had to pacify everyone else.

So what now? It is extraordinary and fabulous to know that I have a place to visit whenever I need to talk, vent, cry or scream. I am so thankful to have found a second home here at Dear Thyroid.

Monica

Literary Butterfly Painting Contest, Win An Original Painting By Thyroid Patient And Advocate, Allyson Jones Averell

We launced a Literary contest today. And, you must enter, especially because the prize is so awesome! Allyson is a thyroid patient, and a painter. She created a thyroid series. 10% of all profits go to the American Cancer Society.

Please enter this content to win the painting here.

In case you forgot, here are the: Contest Details and Guidelines:

• We are only accepting 20 submissions. Your literary task is to write butterflygraphs (paragraphs), about your relationship with butterflies post-diagnosis. If you want to write more than a paragraph, please feel free to do so.
• The community will vote on the first round of submissions.
• The submissions that make it to the top 5 will be posted. Ally will choose the winner, to be announced on July 31st.

All entries must be submitted via email by July 15th. Your entries will be posted, so the community can vote. On July 31’st, the top 5 submissions will be posted and the winner will be announced.

Cards to “B” campaign; in yesterday’s installation of Life Redefined, we launched a card campaign for “B”. So many wonderful community members have said they’d send cards by July 31^st. Thank you.

As Joanna put it, and so eloquently, “Let’s bombard her with love and encouragement. Here’s what we at Dear Thyroid want you to do: send “B” a card showing your support and your love. Let her know we’re all in this together. Remind her why she’s fighting. Remind her she’s not alone.” Here’s the link to where you should send your cards to “B”.

Tomorrow, we kick off a 10 week series written by Dr. Gottfried. We are beyond elated about this. First of all Dr. G’s motto is “A totally new paradigm for healing & creating balance…” She’s writing a series of guest posts about thyroids, hormones, nutrition and more. We’re so excited to have her, and she is really excited about connecting with each of us. In fact, as a reminder, she’s made herself available to answer all of our questions, in comments. How thylicious is Dr. G. If you live in the Bay Area, you should consider making an appointment at the Gottfried Center.

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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