Goodbye, Thyroid Gland. Hello, Metabolism Roller Coaster

It's just over a year since I started radiation and chemo. It was about one year ago that my liver quit, I got pulled off of all my pain meds, my throat hurt so bad that I couldn't eat at all, and I lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks.

It wasn't as bad this year. Last week I lost 5 pounds in 4 days. I upped my food intake until I stopped that and I've recovered most of the weight. I'm getting about 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day now.

My doctor recently put me on a thyroid supplement. Weight loss is associated with both too much and not enough thyroid. In my case, it was not enough. It's kind of interesting that the blood tests for thyroid don't measure thyroid levels, they measure the levels of a chemical your brain produces to signal the thyroid glands to produce more thyroid. A high number on the tests indicates not enough thyroid. My number was 3 times as high as the normal level.

The surgery took the thyroid and parathyroid on the right side. The glands on the left were not touched. I asked why it took this long to have that problem. There doesn't seem to be an absolute answer. Radiation kills thyroid glands. That's the treatment for Graves' Disease (runaway or excess thyroid production). My thyroid glands were not in the direct line of my radiation, but they probably took enough radiation to slowly kill them and they've just now died. The radiation used in cancer treatment is gamma radiation, which is what kills people from nuclear fallout. The total effects aren't fully seen for some period of time.

Until we get the med levels right, I get to eat all kids of things (like milk shakes) that aren't in most people's diets.

I've been able to add sandwiches to the growing list of foods I can eat. There's a bit of a twist, though. Mayonnaise and catsup are both a little unpleasant from the burning effect they have. I guess it's the acid in the vinegar. I eat my sandwiches with spaghetti sauce. That's pretty tasty and provides enough moisture that I can handle the bread and meat. Well, that and a glass of water provides enough moisture.

I don't need as much water to eat as I used to. I can generally get a decent-sized meal down with just 8 ounces of water now.

I went out for lunch with some co-workers today. It's my last day in the department I was in, so a group of us from work went to lunch together. This is only my third time to eat outside of my house in over a year. Today I had the courage to sit between two people where I wouldn't have easy access to leave if I had a problem.

One time I thought it might get embarrassing as I had a problem clearing some food that was sticking in my throat. I was able to resolve that without any one noticing I had a problem. A couple of months ago, that would have required some rather disturbing sounds, possibly some coughing, and possibly expelling the food out of my mouth. Without the option of leaving the table and heading for the restroom, I was able to resolve it unnoticed. That was a big help and gave me a lot of confidence for eating in public more often.