(clears throat) meee meemee meee meee...
Now, this is a story all about how
my life got flipped turned upside down
and I'd like to take a minute
just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the queen of a town called despair ...
P.S. I renounced my throne.
For a few years now, my mental function has been declining and I can't begin to explain the difficulties in communicating with others and the amount of restraint it takes to hold it together when people say things such as; " Oh I forget things too. I do that also. Everyone does that. etc" . Maybe the worst thing is my own mind pretending to know what others think of me. After all they must be angry with me. I am angry with me. I am mad at my body and mad at the things I allow my self to do and not to do.
For a recap for those just joining me on this journey. I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma when I was 7months pregnant with my youngest, that was in late July 2013. It was still very superficial and was removed by surgery which the margins tested clear. Since then I have had skin checks every three months to be certain there are no more spots appearing. I will soon go to skin checks every six months and then every year. Awareness note* Melanoma is NOT just skin cancer, so far in my case it has been and I am so very thankful. But for many warriors even ones that initially only had a superficial case, the outcome is far worse. In today's world even babies are dying from this horrible disease. Please use sun smarts! https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/melanoma.html
How my diagnosis of having an Acoustic Neuroma came about. I had been having the same symptoms as my mother for years. My grandmother had been diagnosed with Meniere's disease Due to the Meniere's she had lost all hearing in her left ear. In 2008 I went for a work physical where my hearing was tested. The test came back that I had hearing loss and I was told to have it checked out at my own Dr. I felt there was no need since I probably caused it myself with all the loud noises I had been around or I simply had what my grandmother had...which I had never read up on because she seemed fine other than her hearing. The hearing loss left me with constant ringing in my ears... very frustrating and inescapable. (here is a youtube audio of the sound that is constant in my ears...sometimes it changes tone or pitch but is never ending https://youtu.be/J08v0d7Fygg ) My mother and I both had hearing loss but opposite ears. I just assumed she and I both had what my grandma had and we were both going to be completely deaf in one ear some day. Some years later my mom had an MRI and was diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma. After my mom's diagnosis and learning what all an Acoustic Neuroma(AN) causes, I began to wonder if I should have my hearing tested and go from there. So since I had just had Melanoma surgery while pregnant I decided to wait till after my son was born to do anything. I then put it on a back burner for about 6 months and then I went for my hearing screening. After having an abnormal screening I was referred to an ENT surgeon and then scheduled for MRI. I had my MRI and got a call while at home telling me I had a 2.4cm AN. I called my mom and told her. I then sat dumbfounded. Awareness note* ANs are not passed on through genes, if they are they are part of a disease called NF2. However my mother and I both had one, and we believe my grandmother may have too since she never had an MRI and did not have all the symptoms of Menieres. Having nerve damage shows up different on a hearing screening than regular hearing loss. Nerve damage is cause to see an ENT and have an MRI. ANs are benign, but they can cause a person to have a slew of ailments and eventually cause a coma since the tumor grows and presses against the brain stem.( https://www.anausa.org/ )
So...flash forward to about a year after that diagnosis... Now everything wrong with me is due to the AN...in my mind and the neurologists mind. Yet other ANers don't all share the same symptoms as I do and my ENT says NOT all symptoms are AN related, so who is right? The neurologist did order a thyroid test for me. IT came back that my TSH level was high. My Dr. at the time prescribed a thyroid treatment. I don't take meds lightly so I dug deeper before I took the meds and I requested deeper testing into my thyroid. After doing an at home treatment and being retested my thyroid turned out fine upon the second testing. At that point was not sure if it was what I had done or not, I was just thankful I didn't have to take the meds. Sometime later I switched Dr.s and as I got worse and worse feeling and after a long winter of illness after long lasting illness I requested my new Dr. to shed some light on to why a very active 36 yr old woman feels so poorly and has a terrible time cognitively. He ran a battery of blood tests and found Chronic Autoimmune Thyroiditis(most likely Hashimotos) I learned that basically my thyroid is being attacked for an unknown reason. (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000371.htm) though not listed on this website, this disease is know to cause "brain fog".
The Melanoma I am watchful against, the AN I am on watch and wait but have been told to have it removed and I have planned to have surgery when I am able. The Autoimmune Thyroiditis I am being monitored on as I take high doses of vitamin D since that was low and an iron pill since that was low too...also I am being treated for mycoplasm, a bacterial infection I got in the early spring that is sticky. While I have not been prescribed thyroid meds I am going to re-evaluate my eating habits and that is where we meet in part 2.
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