Thyroid Update

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I have just found out the most thrilling news! I had my thyroid levels checked last Monday and discovered Thursday that all systems are running normal again! Yay! Eight months of hard work and discipline have paid off. While being monitored by my M.D. and my Nutritionist, I went on a wheat and sugar free diet while taking special supplements. This has effectively normalized my TSH (pituitary gland) levels, T3 and T4 hormones.

There is one caveat: my thyroid could be on its way to burn out. I'm not in the clear just yet! I could still slip into Hypothyroidism. We will know for sure in November when I get tested again. My M.D. doesn't think this is the case since the T3 and T4 hormones have stayed the same for three months. I will always have Graves' Disease (autoimmune) and will always be on a modified diet... I'm seriously OK with that though! I beat the odds and I won't be subjected to the suffering of those who've had their thyroid killed by radioactive iodine or surgically removed. For those folks, thyroid replacement therapy is vital. From the many I've talked with, it's far from feeling well. Thyroid replacements basically keep your body from going totally wacky but it doesn't stop a lot of the troublesome side effects of hypothyroidism. People who are on this treatment tell me that their metabolism is not right, fatigue is always a factor and one even reported continued problems with her eyes (gritty, sandy feeling ~ extremely unpleasant ~ and bug eyes). Without proper thyroid hormones, other systems in the body suffer too. The endocrine system (essentially all the hormones in your body) is a delicately balanced system. See all the symptoms of hypothyroidism as outlined by the Mayo Clinic. Not fun!

As you can imagine, both of my doctors were THRILLED! The implications of my treatment are huge! It could make all the difference to the next person diagnosed with Graves' Disease. (Note: my case was diagnosed early and it is autoimmune... I understand from my doctors that straight up hyperthyroidism can't be treated with diet.) I am very lucky to have such sensitive and intelligent doctors. They worked in unison and continue to be so supportive. They answered an endless number of questions from me. They recognize that traditional medicine doesn't have all the answers. With my unique treatment, I hope it opens up avenues to other non-traditional treatments.

For more information on my experience, please read my first post about living with and treating Graves' Disease. Also know that I was (and continue to be) under close medical supervision throughout the entire process. A thyroid disorder is nothing to take lightly!

Cheers,
J.

Added bonus: I've lost about 20 pounds since last December. That's just my body normalizing... I've been too lazy/too fatigued to actively exercise. That's changing now that I feel so much better. Doctor's orders!

Babies, Babies and More Babies!

I look around me and babies are cropping up everywhere! Is it catching? Is it an epidemic? Not hardly! I consider baby creation a blessing!

To give you a quick idea of who in my world is having a baby, take a look at this list ~ in chronological order:

• Lisa, a sweet co-worker had her baby in June (her second child)
  
• Holley, my good friend is due in September (her third child)
  
• Shannon, my good friend is due in November (her second child)
  
• Marti, my dear sister is due in November (her third child)
  

When my sister has her third daughter, Gracie Leigh, that will make me an aunt six times over! Wow! I'm excited... a new life comes into the world and brings joy and hope. I look forward to passing on our family's unique perspective to her... one that she will carry on far into the future and hopefully pass on to her children. It's uplifting to think of what she will bring to this world and what kind of footprint she will leave behind her.

It was actually rather comical that my sister is having another girl. I am the youngest of four girls. All my sisters married men who have brothers. You'd think that the odds were excellent for having boys... Nope! My uncle, Fenton, was the last boy born into our family. I'm beginning to think that we're so good at producing girls in this family that we should probably stick with it. We can simply 'marry in' the menfolk...

I know one thing: when a boy IS finally born into my family, I will feel sorry for him. Not only will he be spoiled rotten and be surrounded by beautiful women, but he will never know a moment's peace! The only solution to that problem is to have two boys... spread out the abundance of attention.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that I will be the only one left to have the aforementioned boys. I'll probably end up with a whole gaggle of boys! It's OK because I am getting excellent training as we speak! All of my (immediate) co-workers are men. I have learned so much from them: how to look at situations with a uncomplicated attitude, what's acceptable man behavior and what's not, how to treat women and (best of all) how to walk like a man ~ literally. If there were a degree for such education, I'd certainly be working on my Master's by now. :) Holla ~ Edward, Ken and Sam! Thanks for the schooling!

If you are in the process of making a baby (post-conception stories only, please!), let me know about it by posting a comment to this blog entry. I'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,
J.

The Paper Shredder

The last two weeks of work have involved moving the Help Desk (my job) to a new building. As you can imagine, it's an ongoing process. We are getting other people moved at the same time. For the most part we have settled in and have hit the ground running.

As the new workflow starts to take shape, we've noticed a few office items that cannot be split up... master keys, refrigerator, wall clock, paper shredder... oh, no! The paper shredder is vital! How will we keep sensitive data that we want to discard secured? We turn to our Budget Man and he says, "Sorry... No money!" What to do? I have come up with the perfect solution... it solves two problems at once... a true win/win situation!

Bring Willowby Bobbin to work as our in-house paper shredder! He's my two-year old pup and he loves to shred any paper product. He'll even do boxes. If it existed as a tree at one time, he loves to chew it up.

The other genius aspect to this plan is that if disgruntled users come to the Help Desk all we have to is point to Willowby and say, "Look! There's a cute, fluffy puppy who wants to play with you!" I guarantee it will work every time!

It also will keep me from missing him so much during the day. After all, he's my munchkin!

Cheers,
J.

Dancing Queen

I am coming to the conclusion that the biggest reason cruising is so relaxing is that there is music everywhere you go. Music for me is nearly transcendental! Where there is really good beat music, I love move to it. As the cruise went along, the more I found myself spontaneously and subconsciously moving to the music. On a cruise nobody cares if you're swaying in the breeze! In fact, it's almost expected to see people dancing any time of day or night.

This picture is of Maria and Lena practicing the Salsa lessons we learned one night on the cruise. Salsa dancing seems so easy! Three easy steps! Yeah, right! It's three combinations of three easy steps... and it goes fast! It was so much fun and I am so glad that I experienced it. If only my feet could say the same! I do believe that dancing is good for the mind, body and soul. I don't dance as well as Maria (how does she do that with her hips?!?) but I love feeling the music move through me and expressing that through dance. If you don't believe me, go ahead and try it right now. What? No one is watching! Put on your favorite toe-tapping music and get to it. You'll thank me later. ;)

Cheers,
J.

Welcome to Paradise Island!

The second most relaxing moment of my cruise with Maria was, without a doubt, lying on the white sand of Cabbage Beach located on Paradise Island, Bahamas. We found the location due to our excellent tour guide, Eustace, during the previous day's tour. He showed us all of New Providence Island for $20 apiece. All of the native Bahamians we encountered were so gracious and hospitable. I would probably be nicer, too, if I lived in paradise!

I've experienced many beaches before... Paradise Island ranks No. 1 now. Aside from being picture perfect, the warm salt water is so dense that you don't even need to kick to stay afloat. It simply cradles you in its embrace and all your cares melt away. The water takes on many shades of blue... from turquoise to a deep navy. Even though it was overcast the setting was ideal.

Throughout the four hours we languished there, several locals hawked their wares. Anything from beads and braiding to wooden flutes. Even if you didn't book an excursion, you had the opportunity to parasail, board a banana boat or rent a jet ski.

While soaking in the sun, I noticed a particularly industrious pigeon nearby. All the pigeons I've ever come close to always are hunting for food. This pigeon (see inset) was intent on digging a hole. If you look closely, you can see the sand flying up past its beak. I'm not sure what the little pigeon hoped to accomplish, but it seemed quite content. Truly, I believe it's impossible to be stressed on this little stretch of heaven. If you are stressed, then you're doing it wrong. :)

Cheers,
Jaime

Quote of the Day 07/19/2008

Today's four quotes are all about being yourself. I believe that is the most difficult task we each have in our lifetimes. Enjoy!
J.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummings

I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part. ~Shirley MacLaine

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. ~Benjamin Disraeli

You must have control of the authorship of your own destiny. The pen that writes your life story must be held in your own hand. ~Irene C. Kassorla

Cruise Magnets

Has everyone here read The Celestine Prophecy? Good! We're all on the same page then! No, wait... there's a hand in the back... What? You've never heard of The Celestine Prophecy? OK, no problem! Here's a quick overview: it's a journey into self that explains through nine easy steps how there are no accidents in Life. Everything that happens is meant to happen. It also speaks to the people we meet in this Life and how that is no coincidence... those people that you make a connection with in this Life are a part of your journey. This is not pre-destination, folks... it's a study into the meaning of Life. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I recommended to someone else and she actually hugged the book when she finished reading it! I digress...

On this trip, it was clear by Tuesday night that Maria and I were meant to make a connection with a particular family on board. They are a big group: two parents, Dana and Diane, and six adult children: Justin, Rick, Jonathan, Joel, Paul and Lena. We were in line behind them at the cruise terminal before embarking, we sat next to them at the Captain's Welcome and musical on Tuesday night and we ran smack into them at the Viking Crown Lounge later on Tuesday night. Clearly, something was telling us to connect with these people! When in the Caribbean, you simply go with the flow....

By the end of the cruise, we were like 10 peas in a pod. We all took the Salsa lessons, went snorkeling at various times, waved at each other before dinner at 6pm one night and danced the night away every chance we got! One night, we actually closed down several places before landing on the 24-hour deck. Maria and I learned how to play Finger (drinking game - not dirty!) and what Cougar/Cougar Hunter means ( a little bit dirty!).

The pièce de résistance was forming a team for "The Quest" on the last night. Hosted by the Activities Director, it's a scavenger hunt. Everything you need to find is right there in the room. As stated, this scavenger hunt is not for those people under 16 or those easily offended. Teams are made up of at least six people and have to have men and women on each team. The Quest started off with innocuous items like a business card, a Cruise Compass itinerary and even false teeth. It quickly got risqué when the teams were asked for a lady to bring up three men's belts. It was all very Three Musketeers-esque when three of our guys immediately stood and whipped off their belts! Are you getting the mental picture? Other requests were:

1. Send a guy with three women's bras
2. Send a gal with a form of birth control
3. Send a guy and a gal - wearing each other's shirts

The last (and funniest) request was saved to the last. We were asked to send a guy wearing a woman's bra, no pants, wearing makeup on his face and carrying a purse up to the stage. Poor Paul... he was our team leader at that point. He's a trooper though! He made us proud! When all the men reached the stage, the host had them line up and proceed down the catwalk. The music? Shania's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman!" LOL! I think Paul made 23 bucks that night!

So here's to Dana, Diane, Justin, Rick, Jonathan, Joel, Paul and Lena: Thank you for making our cruise so memorable! Same time, same place next year right?? :)

Cheers,
J.

P.S.~ If you still do not believe that running into them was no accident, take this into consideration: There were 2,600 guests and some 900 crew members onboard. I even saw people on the last day that I hadn't seen the entire trip - staying on the same deck!

Quote of the Day 07/17/2008

"The thing always happens that you really believe in. And the belief in a thing makes it happen. And I think nothing will happen until you thoroughly and deeply believe in it."

~Frank Lloyd Wright

(1869-1959, American Architect)

Quote of the Day 07/15/2008

This quote is all about energy. It accurately sums up how I feel about positive energy influencing happiness. It's all about wholeness and light. Enjoy!

"Love the moment and the energy of the moment will spread beyond all boundaries."

~Sister Corita Kent (1918-1986)
Artist, Member of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Shall We Cruise?

This weekend I started blogging about my cruise two weeks ago. Like a little robot I started with Day 1, Day 2, etc. Everything was in chronological order and clearly spelled out. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, I was reading back over those posts and all I could think was, "This is CRAAAAP!" It was so boring and so... predictable. So I am starting over with a fresh twist: I am going to post vignettes of my cruise. Yeah, I said it: vignettes!

They will be out of chronological order and posted here as they bubble up from my memories. I truly believe it will be more interesting that way. If at anytime you'd like clarification or to know when the story happened, feel free to ask. There are simply so many memories from this four day cruise that I know, for certain, this will be an entry-rich blog for some time into the future.

I kick off my cruise vignettes with my most peaceful moment on the cruise ship. One night, while sailing to Cococay, we decided that a midnight swim was in order. I put on my red swimsuit from VS (so I wouldn't get lost in the darkness of night) and we (myself, Maria and the crew) headed to the two pools on deck. I discovered then that they fill the pools and jacuzzis with seawater!

First of all, I love swimming at night. The density of the salt water added an element of mystery. The safety of the pool was ideal. My peaceful moment came later when I went to an upper deck... ostensibly to dry off in the wind. It was simply magical to stand at the railing: feeling the warm breeze all around me and to see the cresting waves the boat made as we sailed on into the night. Ah! It was the best! I'm sure it was in that moment that my stress levels dropped to zero... I hope you can feel it too!

Cheers,
J.


P.S.~ Maria took this great snapshot of me. She really has an eye for photography, doesn't she?

Work, Work, Work!

For those of you who don't know, I work at the IT Help Desk at Blue Ridge Community College. I'm very proud to work there. I am also a 2002 graduate. What makes BRCC such a great place to work is the people. I am fairly sure I would not be celebrating my five year tenure if not for the caring, intelligent people that make up BRCC.

Like all work places, some days are so stressful that I just have to rant. Any workplace is going to have its fair share of politics, lunacy and general BS. Right? The past year seems to have been more than overflowing of all three! There have been big changes: reaccreditation, a new President (with her proactive-y goodness), two new buildings (one of which is centered around technology), lots of comings and goings (I've been on two hiring committees since March '07) and about a billion PC deployments. Well, a billion is probably exaggerated... but it sure feels like it! This is on top of our daily duties, requests, phone calls and general cries for help. :)

I did have a warm fuzzy experience on Tuesday: I toured the Help Desk office in the new building. I have seen it twice before, only now it has furniture. It feels good because there's lots more storage and centralized PC management (more so than before). Plus, it's just a fresh start! Not to mention the new furniture looks fantastic!

I get a great sense of accomplishment from the job ~ one that's unparalleled. I truly enjoy helping people. If I were to psychoanalyze myself, that probably stems from neurotic tendency to make everything OK. Ha! The reward is that the results are tangible... I can look around me and see the impact I am having. My co-workers are very thoughtful in letting me know, too, that I have a positive impact on their work experiences.

The saying goes, "Do what what you love and you'll never work a day in your Life." I'm not sure about love, but my job is very satisfying. One day I imagine myself on an archaeological dig somewhere in Egypt or Europe. Or perhaps I will be writing my memoirs of world travels that helped me study familiar cultures. For now, I am content carving out a niche at a small community college. There's something to be said for being a big fish in a small sea: everyone knows your name!

Cheers,
J.

P.S.~ I know this post has a lot of parenthetical inserts (and I apologize for that!).

Quote of the Day 07/10/2008

This is a great quote for someone who loves quotes!

The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.

~Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
British politician

Cruise Withdrawal!

It's now Wednesday, a full five days after Maria and I said goodbye to the Sovereign of the Seas. The withdrawal of those six carefree days hit me like a ton of bricks today. I'll be writing more about my cruise experiences later, but for now I've got to express this discontent so that I can move on to happier posts.

The best part of the whole cruise was that I came away with a refreshing perspective. I was more like the "me" I used to be when I was growing up... without a lot of the self-consciousness. Glorious! I feel myself slowly slipping back into the "Responsible Jaime" role and there's not much I can do to stop it. That's the main reason you've had so much to read on my blog lately; when I'm utterly relaxed and let loose of the stress I feel inspired to write. More than anything, I am afraid that inspiration will go away again so I am trying to set a habit in motion right now.

As my mother is fond of saying, "It's not the place, it's the person." I know I am ultimately in charge of my happiness... but like everyone else I am stumbling through Life trying to hold onto it. While I was on the cruise, I unintentionally let go of all the rules I live my Life by. Maybe that's only supposed to happen on vacation ~ otherwise, my Life would be chaos! Bottom line: I am trying to figure out how to hold on to that carefree version of myself ~ the one who dreams and who creates ~ while maintaining the everyday reality of my Life. I'm pretty sure I will resurface with a solution, but it just caught me by surprise today. I'm definitely open to suggestions, insight, wisdom of the ages...! Maybe it's as simple as making a list! (Ed. Note: See my post about making lists.) Now let me hear from all of you...

Cheers,
J.

"I'm with the Band"

Ok, this is quite an amazing story, so sit back and get comfy! It's a study in roller coasters and the magic of opals. It all started one morning around 10am at work. It was my Mama's birthday, January 12th. Maria came flying down to my office with a manic look on her face. It was OK because I mirrored her expression. The James Blunt tickets just went on sale! Yay!

We bought two tickets right there... instantly, I was launched onto Cloud Nine. I just knew it was going to be a great concert and maybe, just maybe, I might meet the man himself. Yay! And so it went for nearly a month until March 3rd rolled around. The date of the concert and the fact I was going to attend it on a Monday nights underscores the point of how excited I was. I also had Anthropology class, which I skipped (I told my instructor beforehand, thank you very much!). If you know me, you know that I do not go out cavorting on a week night. This night was special!

The night arrives and I am about to pop out of my skin. I first heard James Blunt on SNL in 2005. It was kind of crazy that he chose Asheville as a venue (out of places like LA, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.). We arrived and I bought an outrageously expensive program in hopes that I'd get it signed. (Ed. Note: I've only ever been this crazy about one other performer: Elton John.) We get settled in and are pleasantly surprised by Erick Baker, a folk rocker from Knoxville, TN. (We were so entertained that we went back two weeks later to see him perform at the Orange Peel.) Maria immediately declared that he was her future husband! :-D

The concert was rapturous... ok, no... that's ridiculous! The concert was thrilling. JB gives good concert! Sometimes you never know how the live performance will stack up against studio recording. We made our way to the front of the hall (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium) by the end of the concert. We almost immediately noticed that people were getting backstage! This was my moment! Rather, it was my moment until an event staffer came around and stated that we had to have passes to get backstage. Aw! A teenager standing near me saw how deflated I was and offered to take my program backstage and get it signed. Yay! We'll call her Tiffany.

Maria and I made our way outside of the hall and waited for Tiffany to deliver on her promise. 30 minutes passed, no sign of Tiffany. 45 minutes passed, still no sign of Tiffany. I was becoming despondent. I belatedly realized that I had just given away my $20 program! After an hour, I just wanted to get my program back and go home. With the saddest eyes you've ever seen, I approached an auditorium staffer (not a yellow-jacket event staffer) who was making sure the doors were locked tight. He was extremely nice and listened to my sad tale. I just wanted to find Tiffany and get my program back. He let us in and said, "You can try. Go ahead." Now I had a mission!

Awkwardly, we made our way back into the hall. We looked around hoping someone would help me get my program back. No one came to our rescue. We walked all the way to the backstage door. The door was unlocked so we peeked inside. No one was guarding the door... in fact no one was even to be found in the proceeding hallway. Sneaking backstage felt so wrong! We stood around that door for about 10 minutes arguing teh pros and cons of going backstage. Finally, I said, "What's the worst they can do? Throw us out??" Armed with my argument, Maria flew into action. She flung open the door and marched down the hallway. It was a beautiful moment.

We first encountered a crew member packing up equipment. He said tersely, "What are you doing back here?" Immediately the sad, sad eyes returned and I launched into my story. Grudgingly, he pointed to the stairs and said, "Follow those stairs." Okay... so far, so good! At the bottom of the stairs, we met with the yellow witch of the East. When she first saw us, her eyes lit up with welcome. Then her face clouded over and she said, "You can't come down here! Go back!" I quickly explained myself and stated quite plainly that I was not trying to sneak in but trying to retrieve my program from Tiffany. I spotted Tiffany across the room and said, "There! There she is! Please, please I just want my program back and I will leave quickly and quietly!"

Apparently, Maria moved in some way she did not like and the event staffer made the mistake of grabbing Maria's arm. Big mistake! Immediately, Maria commanded her (that's the only verb for it) to remove her hand and to not touch her again. I guess it was Maria's tone because she cracked somewhat and shuffled us out the back door nearby and told us to wait on the stairs outside. A few minutes later, Tiffany appeared and handed me my program. Yay! We had broken in backstage of Thomas Wolfe, achieved our objective and didn't get arrested! Relief seems like such a pithy word compared to what I felt at that moment.

We walked down the back stairs, ostensibly to go home. We noticed people standing around in groups. A lot of people. Maria and I looked at each other... we knew they were waiting for the band to hop on the tour buses. Aha! I had a questioning look on my face, to which Maria replied, "What could it hurt to hang out for a minute?" Not a thing! Neither one of us knew what to expect. With eagle eyes, we studied all the people coming and going.

Within 10 minutes, Maria spotted some suspicious movement on one of the upper balconies that had a bus nearby. Maria said, "There they are! They are coming out right there!" At the same time, I noticed my own suspicious movement and I just KNEW that it was James Blunt coming toward us. Maybe it was the group we were standing nearby moving forward... I don't really know... but I said under my breath, "No he's right there!" She said, "No, no the band is up there." I had to grab her arm and said almost too loudly, "No! He's RIGHT THERE!" We moved forward with the rest and sure enough, there he was. It looked like I was going to get my program signed after all. Yay!

I waited my turn patiently and finally got to say hello. I told him that I first saw him perform in 2005 on SNL and that I've been a big fan ever since. I wished him a belated birthday and he looked at me with faint surprise. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Thank you!" I backed away and let Maria get in there. She reached over and shook his hand. Maria commented on how calm and collected I was in that moment. Happily, we made our way toward the parking deck - laughing and giggling as we walked away.

As it always happens when I'm out with Maria, we ran into someone she knows. (This chick knows how to network people resources!) I don't recall his name (we'll call him Scott) but we got to chatting with him and Scott told us his story. The day before he and his buddies were asked to play soccer with some guys coming into town. Happy to oblige, they beat the pants off the new guys. Only later did he find out that the new guys were JB's band members. Ha ha! In exchange for the hospitality, they got tickets, backstage passes and an itinerary. He asked us if we wanted to hang out with the band. With looks of incredulity, we said, "Hell Yeah!" in unison. He said they were going over to the Asheville Bier Garden - right around the corner.

We walk over with Scott and saddled up to the bar. Sure enough, a few minutes later JB and his band members strolled up to the bar. Surreal describes the rest of the evening. Mainly, we chatted up Ben Castle, bass guitarist, with some chicks from Tennessee. We talked about everything from the Democratic candidates, to favorite places to travel, to favorite accents (he loves Southern accents - we love British accents), to the differences between cigarette pack warnings in the USA and the UK. Again, surreal.

It was so much more than I ever anticipated! I went from utter despair to elation in the span of an hour. That night I was wearing my Grandmother's opal ring. I really do believe that it helped me out... you know the whole theory of a stone transmitting special vibrations to its wearers? Yeah, opal is my birthstone and this opal ring had seen much in its' lifetime. :-)

Weary with the ups and downs, we decided to make our way home. It was about 1:30am at this point. We did get a snapshot with our buddy, Ben, before we left. That's us in the upper left corner... hanging out with the band.

Cheers,
J.

P.S.~ I planned ahead for this concert... not only did I take leave early on Monday, but I also took leave for Tuesday morning! How's that for optimism?? :-)

Thought of the Day 07/08/2008

Ok, this is a little different than the 'Quote of the Day' in that these are just random thoughts that I have... some are questions, some are revelations, some are just ramblings. Enjoy!

Jaime says: Ok, I got my sea legs, now how do I give them back?!?!

Cheers,
J.

I Work with Geniuses!

As many of you know, I work for Blue Ridge Community College. For the past few years, staff at the college have come together as a team to participate in the Asheville 48 Hour Film Project. Last Friday, I found out that the BRCC team won the entire competition. They took home Best Film. Incredible!

Today I fully understood the enormity of winning this competition. Only 60 of these festivals take place around the world. By winning the Asheville 48 Hour Film Project, the BRCC team goes on to compete internationally!!

The name of the seven minute film is Serial Love. It's genre is comedy. In order to compete, the film has to be written, filmed and edited within exactly 48 hours. That's a tall order! In addition to those requirements, the contestants must also include certain elements such as snippets of dialogue, named characters and/or specific props. It takes a crew of highly talented and extremely creative people to accomplish this feat - not to mention make it look GOOD!

I am so proud to say that I work side by side with these folks. Now everybody else knows what we knew all along: just how terrific these folks are! Bravo!

Note: I'd like to give a special "Holla!" out to Edward, Brent, Jennifer and Katie. Well Done!

Cheers,
Jaime

Playing Catch-Up

Where in the World is Jaime?

Once again, I've disappeared into the great blue yonder. There has been so much happening in the last three months I've barely had time to catch my breath! I am going to make a list below so that you can hold me accountable in the future. Something to the effect of, "Hey Jaime, what about that story about so-and-so you were going to tell me...?" I have already promised in a previous entry that I would talk about Hyperthyroidism, so I will do that now... right after my list:

1. Hanging Out with the Band: My James Blunt Experience
   
2. When Bad Allergies Go Even Worse
3. To Crown or Not to Crown, That Is The Question!
   
4. SACS Hell and Other Work Related Items
5. Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC
6. Babies, Babies and More Babies!
7. Shall We Cruise?

Those of just some of the exciting topics, coming soon to a blog near you. Now here's everything you ever wanted to know about Hyperthyroidism...

Last November, I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease. Before you start crying me a river, it's not as serious as it sounds. The condition was simply named after the Irish physician who first described hyperthyroidism in women: Robert Graves. In basic terms, your immune system "attacks" your thyroid into making lots and lots of thyroid hormones: T3 and T4. About one percent of the population develop hyperthyroidism. About 80% of those people are women. It's also genetic. It usually develops in the early 30's for most people.

On the up side, the person suffering from Graves' disease rarely gets sick and will probably lose weight. On the down side, if left untreated, the patient can have a heart attack or stroke. Essentially, hyperthyroidism speeds up everything in the body: heart rate, metabolism, hair growth, etc. It causes trouble sleeping, anxiety and hot flashes. My eyes felt like they had grains of sand in them... literally. Talk about getting cranky! I was not fun to be around before I started treatment!

Ask any endocrinologist or general MD, they will tell you that the typical treatments are thyroidectomy, anti-thyroid medication, beta blockers to control heart rate or (my favorite) radioactive iodine. Ack! I didn't want to do any of these simply because after any one of those treatments the patient has to stay on Synthroid (synthetic thyroid hormone) - FOREVER! While this works (and prevents death) I have talked with many who are taking Synthroid and they all say that their bodies don't function quite the same as before developing hyperthyroidism. The thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine essentially damages or completely removes the thyroid so it doesn't function anymore. :(

I am a very lucky woman. I haven't had to do any of those treatments. I have a very hip General Practitioner. By working with my nutritionist, we came up with a plan for diet modification and infusing special supplements. I am now 6 months from the first diagnosis and my thyroid production is NORMAL! Yay! We were only able to do this treatment because of the type of hyperthyroidism I have. Since the immune system is involved, removing wheat and sugar from my diet causes inflammation levels in the body to go down. Once inflammation levels go down, my immune system stops "pinging" my thyroid. If I had straight-up hyperthyroidism, diet modification and taking supplements would not work. The supplements I take include glutithione (a cream applied directly to the skin that covers my thyroid) and Vitamin D. Glutithione supports healthy function and Vitamin D supports my immune system. Note: Be careful taking Vitamin D. It is fat-soluble and can cause toxicity in certain important organs.

Since January of 2008, I have been sick four times. Not fun! But that also means that I am getting better. I initially took beta blockers to maintain a steady heartbeat... my blood pressure was wacky when I first started, like 130 over 70. Now it's about 110 over 70. Much better! While beta blockers won't prevent a thyroid storm, it does help prevent heart attacks. My last set of blood tests showed my thyroid hormone production as normal. The pituitary gland still shows a little abnormal, but my doctor says we'll watch it to see what it does. Maybe it just hasn't gotten the memo! (For those of you who are curious, the pituitary gland - located in the brain - takes measure of the thyroid hormones in the body and sends a signal to the thyroid either produce more hormones or sends no signal at all.) When my last set of tests came back so well, I stopped taking the beta blockers. My next set of tests is scheduled for July 17th. I can't wait! The optimal results we are looking for the same T3 and T4 levels as in April and a normalized TSH (pituitary gland). Wish me luck! Go thyroid!

Cheers,
J.