The Results Are In....Well, Sort of....

Before I move on with things, first let me say Merry (late) Christmas, Friends! I hope that the holiday came and went with joy for each of you. It's so hard to believe that the year and decade just has a few more days left in it...where did the time go??? Let's see.....when the decade began, I was a single mom still working in radio...WOW that one is hard to believe. It seems like another lifetime ago. By late 2000 my life changed when I decided to take a hiatus from radio, decided to temporarily sell furniture and wound up meeting my future husband (even though he was clueless that I even had a crush on him & didn't start dating til February '01 lol) Graham and I were so immensely blessed to have found such a wonderful man to love us and we were married in 2002 & Emalea joined our family later that same year (what can I say....I did marriage and kids a little backwards). Moving to Tennessee where we didn't know a soul, Graham being officially diagnosed with Autism, homeschooling and so many other milestones and events have filled up the last 10 years. As a family unit we've experienced more hardships than we probably anticipated, but I can now say that we've come out the other side a strong family unit. Of course that's a severely abbreviated version of my decades worth of nostalgia. :)

I've had several friends ask me to update when I get test results from Seattle and learn something new. Last week I received a packet from Swedish Hospital with (most) my test results of my week out there. Results seem to be really up and down, roller coasterish if you will. I have a few low results including my T4 (thyroid) and my IGF-1 (growth hormone), a couple of pretty high ACTH levels and some moderate cortisol levels. The CT scan of my adrenals showed some mild thickening at the apex, but they were unable to identify a focal nodule, which they can typically see. This afternoon Dr. Ludlam's assistant, Jennifer (LOVE LOVE LOVE that girl!!) called to go over the results (they didn't know they had been sent to me already, but was good to have someone to go over them). For the most part, they found most of my results to be normal. My highest UFC was a 25, but the reference range goes 0 to 50, so even that is smack in the middle. My Dex suppression was normal and with the exception of a 6.58 overnight cortisol blood level, most others were normal as well. I had one ACTH level that was particularly elevated at 57.9 and they said that that and the 6.58 were at least indications that something is going on, just not diffinitive enough to make a diagnosis yet. The two results that were low were their biggest concern at this point. My low T4 level leans toward hypothryoidism so they are starting me on a thyroid medication to see if that makes any difference in how I feel. They said that underactive thyroid is dangerous if untreated, but low growth hormone is not, neither of which I knew, but found interesting. They want to do continued testing, most of which I can do at home. More urine and blood tests need to be done when I feel "good", but they also want to do growth hormone testing, which I would have to go back out to Seattle to have done. Money alone, makes that impossible any time soon, and they say that if I need to, I can go out a year from my last appointment, but that also means waiting til December. More waiting means waiting longer to continue the search for what's wrong. But we'll do what we have to do. In a nutshell, my levels (and CT scan reading "interesting") were just high enough to lend to something being wrong (and quite possibly Cushings), but not high enough to diagnose with Cushings just yet. So tests, tests and then some more tests. YAY!! I called Scott to let him know (working) and I felt so bad because he was so disappointed. I anticipated the additional tests, after all, nothing (and I do mean nothing) with me EVER goes simply when it comes to the medical realm. He thought for sure that they would give a yay or nay verdict right off the bat, and, well, obviously not what happened.

Thanks so much to all of you who are following this and taking the time to read my ramblings. I tend to forget that I have this blog, so hopefully I'll remember to keep writing!!

Much love to you all & I hope you have a most EXCELLENT New Years!!! Make a good one & BE SAME!!!