Life Updates

I'm back in California! Here's the story of the past week. 

Last Monday, we found out my mom's first bloodwork results. As I told y'all before, her TSH levels had to be at least 30 before she could have the radioactive iodine/whole body scan, and we found out on Monday that it was only 3. We were stunned and sad, and pretty much moped around for the rest of the day. We were so worried that if she felt like she did at 3, what would she feel like at 30? Or higher?

We got the amazing news on Tuesday that her 2nd bloodwork was at 20.7!! Now we were stunned and SO HAPPY! The amazing part was that she really didn't feel different than she did at 3, so we were hoping that her symptoms wouldn't get worse as her numbers increased. The amazing part through it all is that her symptoms weren't as horrible as we had expected- they were still really bad, but not the nightmarish things we had read about online. Typical symptoms during hypo hell include severe headaches, body aches, exhaustion, nausea, vertigo, hair loss, hallucinations....all really scary things. My mom has experienced lightheadedness, lack of energy, and pretty bad vertigo. She can't stand up or walk without getting very dizzy and nauseous, but compared to what we were expecting, this was manageable. She simply didn't walk around unless it was necessary. 

Once we found out she was at 20.7, we assumed that she would reach 30 by the next blood test, which was on Thursday, meaning she would have the radioactive iodine/body scan the following week. And we figured since she didn't feel much worse at 20 than she did at 3, she may feel about the same at 30+. So I started thinking about going back home to California a little early.

I had been gone exactly a month, and it's an understatement to say I missed Doug and the fur babies. But at the same time, I felt SO guilty for leaving my mom, just like I felt SO guilty for being away from Doug for so long. It's a very weird feeling- desperately wanting to be in two places at once. This past month has been the hardest, weirdest experience where I've basically felt every emotion possible, simultaneously. I was being torn in so many different ways. I was missing my life in California, yet I was so happy to be back home with my family. 

Once we decided it was time for me to go back home, I thought that surprising Doug would be fun! I had always planned on going back after my mom's body scan, so he wasn't expecting me for another week. So on Friday, I called him during his lunch break and told him he had to stay at our house for another 20 minutes because I was expecting an important package. 15 minutes later, he opened the door to a long-lost wife.

I have spent the past few days kissing them all non-stop. My sweet Maisy has been permanently attached to my hip, per usual, and Pep and Diego have been extra snuggly. I was shocked at how big Diego has gotten, I feel like he doubled in size!

As for my wonderful mom, her 3rd blood results were 37.7!! She is scheduled for the radiation tomorrow (Tuesday) and body scan on Thursday. Please pray for the scan to be clear so she can be done for a year! And thank you all for the support and encouragement y'all have given all of us. I am so blessed to have made so many real friends through this little blog.

Even though a huge chunk of my heart is in Atlanta, it's so good to be home.