My 1st Endocrynologist apt.!! Early!!

Ahhh!! Thank you sweet Jesus!!!

I had my first visit with my endocrinologist yesterday! YESTERDAY!!!!

I woke up Monday morning and decided to call the endo. office again. I had called on Friday March 25th and talked to a very uninterested receptionist who said the best she could do was put me on a waiting list with everyone else trying to get in sooner. Swell. Clearly she wasn't sympathetic to my case.

I didn't want to be a pest and call up there every day and ask...or beg. :~) So I decided to wait a week, and then try calling again, telling them why I felt it was so urgent I get in sooner.

So I called Monday morning. No one answered and before I hung up I made a quick decision to just leave a message on their machine, tell them what was going on, therefore giving them the opportunity to listen to it at their free time, and decide without me begging them on the phone if they would help me.

I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed some more that the Lord would grant me favor with someone, anyone, in that office. That just one person would take pity on me! And work on my behalf to get me a sooner appointment.

And praise Jesus this sweet receptionist called me back not an hour later! She worked diligently on my behalf all day getting records faxed over, and got me an appointment for Tuesday with another doctor in the office who happened to have an opening!

I was a bumbling fool. I was like, "thank you thank you thank you, this means so much to me, bless you for helping me..." ha ha ha! I nearly peed I couldn't believe it! (I brought her some chocolate as a thank you!)

Ahh, my sweet Jesus answers prayers! I wasn't expecting to be seen that soon, but in Jesus' great mercy that is what He provided! (maybe more for my sanity that my thyroid-ha ha!)

So, my visit went like this......

-this doctor gal highly suspects that I have Graves' Disease, which is an auto-immune disorder where my body is attacking my thyroid. So for some unknown reason my immune system can no longer tell the difference between my healthy body tissues and antigens...and is therefore producing antibodies and assaulting them onto my thyroid.

Okaaaaay.

Geesh, I go from having a pesky rapid heart rate, to having hyperthyroidism, to having masses on my thyroid, to being told it could possibly be cancerous, to now probably having Graves' Disease.

Nice.

Anyways...I guess it's better than hearing you have cancer. :~)

-Before the doc proceeded with any more tests she did more blood work to confirm my thyroid levels,
and I should be getting those results on Thursday.

-after my blood work comes back she is going to set me up a thyroid scan at the hospital. Basically I am going to drink some oh-so scrumptious radioactive iodine, be scanned at the 4th hour and 24th hour after drinking it, and presto....they'll know what's causing all this.

-the doc did not seem overly concerned about the masses like I did, and said she doesn't suspect that they are the cause of this. She is fairly certain it's Graves Disease, and not cancerous nodules.  She didn't rule it out, but said we'll have a clearer picture once I have the scan done.

-she indicated once we discover the cause she is not going to put me on daily medication to slow my thyroid down. Apparently those medications are not safe for long term use and since I was diagnosed with this early there are too many side effects that could harm me with long term usage. So she said she will likely give me something to take that will kill my thyroid, disabling it either fully or partially, and then I will take a thyroid supplement every day forever.

I can handle that. (not that I exactly have a choice.) :~)

She was a stark contrast compared to my base doctor who over supplied information trying. I wasn't prepared for that. When I left the office I looked at Isaak and said, " I did not like her. She had poor bedside manner." 

Isaak was like, "WHAT?! She had great bedside manner! What did you want her to do, give you a hug?!"

"Well yeah, now that you mention it, a hug would of been nice actually. And she could have smiled more too. I just didn't feel like she was sympathetic to my emotional state concerning this." 

Bah ha hah ha ha!!! Guys and girls are so different. :~) Anyways, she really was very good. Very proactive. And I feel in good hands under her care.

So grateful beyond words that the Lord provided a earlier appointment. I still can't believe I've already been seen. Literally four weeks to the day early! God is SO good and gracious and merciful!

This was definitely some much needed light and mercy and hope after the disappointing news Friday and Sunday brought. (Sunday's news is another post entirely.)

Now I just wait some more. (kinda starting to get used to that, which is good, because patience hasn't exactly been my strongest quality.)