DEAR THYROID^TM

We win. We lose. We fail. We succeed. We feel hopeless. We feel hopeful. And, that is just the tip of the ‘life’ iceberg. Many of us crave time travel, so we can savor the uninterrupted moments of our lives. Here’s the deal, the awful truth, we can’t. Boom. There. I said it. Our iconic selves are fractured. We’ve all changed in some way as a result of our diseases. Do they define us or do we define ourselves? Another truth, in my opinion, we do everything we can to define ourselves. Yet, when we’re hit with another diagnoses or weird ass virus/infection that only a patient with a suppressed autoimmune system may get, we falter. The fear is overpowering, akin to seeing a new doctor. “What will happen? Will this doctor be the one? Will I find true wellness? Will I be able to brave whatever comes out of his or her mouth?”

YES. YES. YES.

What I think we’ve all forgotten or not, and perhaps need to be reminded of, is that we are so much stronger than we think. We don’t give ourselves enough credit. LOOK – YOU HAVE SURVIVED THUS FAR. Whether the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to endure is ahead of you or behind you, JUST LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED! Remind yourselves that you are so much braver than your fears. Look at where you came from, I know I said it before, but I’m saying it again, a doctor’s office, a diagnosis and a life forever changed. Even when you feel like the very best parts of yourselves have been swallowed whole, never to return again; they do and will.

YOU ARE THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN. YOU ARE MY HEROES. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU.

—

Mismanagement, Misogyny, and Misdirection, Today’s Dear Thyroid Letter, written by Shirley, a recent Dear Thyroid member via Mary Shomon. If you haven’t read her letter, please do. Though, some of what she writes about might seem ‘fringe’ or ‘controversial’, she got us all thinking and talking.

Here’s an excerpt “What drew my attention to your site is a nurse’s story about the removal of her thyroid in error at Duke. I don’t have thyroid cancer but the threat is always there so her sharing that experience meant a lot to me. I might be in her position one day, and believe me her comments made me think.”

Comment of the day…

sadiemac says:

Thank you so much for posting this. I knew next to nothing about thyroids 3 months ago. Being a naturally inquisitive “big picture” thinker, I started a crash-course on them when my nurse practitioner referred me to an endo because my tsh had been suppressed for 2 years, in addition to a host of other nagging problems: insomnia, major depression, irritability, panic attacks, swollen lymph nodes, hair loss, etc. Had an ultrasound, then a radioactive iodine scan (which showed 2 large nodules of equal size, 1 hot and 1 cold) and am now waiting for next Wednesday’s biopsy. Even after seeing all of these techs and docs and logging about a gazillion hours of research, I don’t feel like anyone understands what is going on with my big picture except the people on this site. It seems to me that the thyroidectomy is the new lobotomy. Physicians seem to think that it can be easily replaced with a synthetic pill, and voila, problem solved. It wasn’t all that many years ago that scooping out the frontal lobe was an acceptable treatment for mental illness. When are our Western docs gonna realize that systems are more than the sum of their parts?

Butterfly Paragraph Submission, Written By Myka, today’s butterflygraph entry; so poetic and beautiful. If you haven’t read it, please do. Don’t forget to cast your vote for Myka’s butterflygraph.

Here’s an excerpt: “So I jump on a trampoline of wisdom and belief, (that I can feel good again). Strengthened with the sweet nectar of blossoming friends, she flits past quickly, but turns this time as if to gently glide home to me”

Chronic Snarkopolist: Illness – The Monkey Wrench In My Plans, another in your face installation from Melissa. She tasked us with a very interesting truth. To quote her: “Life has a funny way of curing us of our disease.”  An excerpt from her column: “I guess my diseases were perfectionism, a feeling of NEVER being enough no matter how much I accomplished, and a dollop of ego. (just a smidge for that smooth smoky taste).  I NEVER liked to be told no.  In fact – it was the ONE WAY to make me TICK.” Please, if you haven’t read it, do. What a thought provoking installation.

Comment of the day…

Monica says:

Melissa,

One thing I have come to appreciate about DT is the commonality we share in this community, from the various diseases we possess to how we deal with the daily ups and downs of life.

Kudos to you for articulating so succinctly what I have been feeling and going through since last August. I have a triple type A personality that I have been trying to tame since I retired from my career a decade ago. In my career I was swimming with the sharks but realized I wanted to hang with the clown fish. I often wonder if my zealous perfectionism contributed to the body breaking down.

This past year I took a break from my “life” to figure out who am I. But any joy I had disappeared for a while, what I now know was a necessary process to discover the real me. Now that the dark looming clouds have begun to dissipate, things are looking clearer and brighter. There is no doubt feeling connected to others is very important in my relationships, whether personal or professional.

I look forward to your weekly column. Your words resonate deeply with me and I love that you share your wonderful writing with us.

☮ ♥

–NEWS AND UPDATES–

Los Angeles Dear Thyroid Meet-Up, Sunday, July 25, 2010 – Are You Coming? Yes, we are so excited about this meet-up. Please join us. Nicole and Katie are hosting. We’ve had some RSVPs, even if you didn’t RSVP, show up and let’s dish our hearts out.

We’ve moved Column archives and Latest Archives to the far right navigation. We’ve also updated resources and added a page for thyroid bloggers.

We’ve tricked out the Activity Page and the My Profile Pages respectively! Thank you, Stephen Smith! We can talk our heads off right on the site! He did us proud as always.

Butterflygraph Competition In Full Swing! Let The Voting Begin, all of the butterflygraphs have been and will continue to be posted here, so you can click through and vote for the butterfly paragraphs you wish to.

Thyroid Mad Libs, Enter! Your Team Will Each Win A $25 iTunes Gift Card, what gives thyrellas and thyfellas?! You don’t want to win a $25 iTunes card? Remember, each member of your team will win their own iTunes card. How cool is that?! Submit those mad libs. This contest is super fun. We hope you’ll all participate.

Love,

Katie

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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