Several months ago, I was talking to my 83-year-old grandma, and all the sudden she said this:
“You know, Oprah just found out she has a thyroid problem and she immediately lost 20 pounds. Maybe you need to have yours checked.”
Thanks A LOT, Grandma.
I didn’t think much about it until a few weeks later when I was sitting talking to my other 83-year-old grandma. She looked at me thoughtfully and said, “Do you have thyroid problems?”
“Um, I don’t think so,” I replied. “Why?”
“Because I think you have a goiter.”
Well ok then. Obviously my post-partum self was looking HOT if even my ever-loving grandmothers were dogging my appearance.
In any case, I still didn’t give this thyroid theory much credence until I was sitting in the exam room with Andy at his diabetes doctor’s office, and there was a poster about thyroid disorders on the wall.
“Look at that,” I said. “That list of symptoms is like a description of me. I have every one of those things.”
After that, I did a little digging online (you know how I am about online research) and became convinced that my grandmas could have been onto something.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I was able to get an appointment with Andy’s diabetes doctor, whom we love (because she pretty much saved his life last winter, but that’s a whole other story). During my appointment with her, she examined my neck and said she could palpitate my thyroid, and she shouldn’t be able to do that. She also noticed the spot where my hair is thin (a symptom of thyroid issues and the bane of my existence). So she ordered up an ultrasound on my thyroid and referred me to a dermatologist for the hair thing.
Which brings us to today, when I’m going to both of these appointments. I’m a little nervous about it, I guess. I’m not even sure there’s anything wrong, but if there is, it would be nice to know what it is and get it sorted out. It appears that most thyroid disorders are easily treated with medication, so if that’s what it is, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be too difficult to deal with.
In any case, the moral of the story is this. Listen to your grandmas. Though they may not phrase their advice with your fragile self-esteem in mind, they have in fact picked up a thing or two along the way.
I’ll keep you posted.
