Medical, Medical

We've been spending this last week at my in-laws. Rob's Mom is sick, and has been for a while, so we went down to help for a while. We got there to discover that my MIL, who was already underweight at 105, had dropped to 90 pounds. She's been sick for 4-6 weeks (intestinal), but only saw a doctor for the first time about 10 days ago. Our being there helped, but she was already in such poor shape that her internist admitted her Friday - official weight at intake was 86 pounds. At least at the hospital they can sit on her - give her food she should be eating (she designs meals around Dad's dietary requirements and ignores her own), supplement her food and fluids with IV's as necessary, and keep her from trying to do things she shouldn't. She already sounds better just having had intrevenous fluids - she was so dehydrated going in that they had to use a chest vein to start an IV - and that was after a week of us pushing fluids on her! We don't have a diagnosis yet, but the doctors appear to think she'll recover, as long as we can convince her to take care of herself.

I had my own check-up this week (had to scoot up to Louisville from Nashville and then back down again, but they had no open slots for rescheduling). The Crestor has done wonders, my cholesterol is down 70 points. Liver and kidney functions are both fine. I've lost an official 16 pounds since Febuary (total of 29 since last Sept.), and my blood sugar levels are fine. The lab forgot to check insulin levels though, so I'm now in possession of the funniest lab order I've ever seen. All the usual things are checked off, but on the line for other tests, "Check insulin levels" is written in all caps, underlined, exclamation pointed, and starred. Rob took a look at it, and said "I'm surprised they didn't tattoo it on your arm!"

The MRI showed no changes in the adenoma since January (yay!). cortisol was normal, though it bops all over the map, so one normal reading is pretty meaningless. The only real change was that TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels have risen, though thyroid levels remain the same. Because of this, I've been put on Synthroid. Which has been an experience. I started yesterday. Today I was sweeping the kitchen floor, and suddenly stopped dead. I had realized that thus far I had unpacked from Tennessee, done some laundry, done a load of dishes, unloaded a storage crate, gathered together our school supplies and checked them off the list to see what we still needed to get. It was about 2pm, and I wasn't tired.

Now you have to understand - I'm always tired. I don't wake up in the morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I'm already tired when I wake up, and it doesn't get better. There is never a moment in my life where, if someone presented me with a bed and said "I'll take care of everything, just rest", I wouldn't happily crawl into said bed and take a nap. I've been this way, not only my entire adult life, but for as long as I can remember. I know what bright-eyed and bushy-tailed feels like because it's happened to me twice. One day in the spring of 1997, and once in sophomore year of high school, I actually woke of feeling energetic and rested. That's it - my entire life experience of not being tired.

Until today. I accomplished approximately three times as much today as I usually do - and I'm not even feeling energetic - just not tired. It's a really strange and subtle thing to experience. I hope to God that it sticks and that it's not just an effect of adjusting to the Synthroid - 'cause I could get used to this really easily.