WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A THYROID CHECK?

It was March, 2011and one day while on my way to the University where I attended, I began to feel extremely weak and tired. Earlier that morning, I had noticed that my feet were a little swollen at the ankles. At this point I began to be concerned because I knew this could not be good. I decided to skip class and go straight to the medical centre which was right there on campus. While on my way, a flood of thoughts raced through my mind. I wasn’t sure what was happening. I was scheduled to leave for a three and a half month long visit to the United States in a few weeks and it was my very first visit at that. I was too excited about this trip and I couldn’t afford to get sick now.

When it was my time to see the doctor, I went in and quietly sat down. He began to ask me a few questions, and then his eyes caught a glimpse of my neck. There was a little bulging in the lower part at the front of my neck. He wanted to know how long I had the lump. I had noticed it for about a year, but thought nothing of it. What a mistake that was! Right away, the doctor had his suspicions of what the problem was. My symptoms were that of a thyroid disorder. I was given a series of blood tests to do and was told to come back in one week when the tests results would be back.

A week later I sat in the doctor’s office. His suspicions were corroborated when the test results confirmed that I had Graves’ disease, the result of an overactive thyroid. I had no idea what that was. In fact, in all of my thirty years, I was not even sure to begin with, the purpose of the thyroid gland nor had I ever heard of people having “thyroid issues”. So needless to say, I had a multitude of questions for the good doctor. When I left the office, I felt a little better knowing that my condition had a name and the bulging at my neck was called a goiter. I was given a prescription for the treatment of the disease as well as beta blockers that help to reduce the workload on my heart and help it to beat more regularly since I had developed palpitations due to the disease.

A few weeks later, I was on my wait out of the Chicago O'Hare International Airport. I was ready to enjoy my vacation. I was so fascinated with the scenery as my little island Jamaica, was nothing compared to this big city, and country. Then it hit me. I left my medication back in Jamaica. Off all the things to leave, it had to have been my meds. I started to ponder what I was going to do. Since the diagnosis I have been taking the pills and I they were working. I had gotten my energy back and there were no symptoms. I was about to spend just under four months, miles away from home what was this going to mean for me? How long was it going to take before I started feeling sick again? How easy would it be for me to go to the doctor to get back the tablets?

When I got to where I was to stay for my visit, I called back home to let my family know that I had reached safely and that I had unfortunately left my pills. Of course, I was chastised because those were the first things I should have packed in my bag. Anyway, I decided to just take it one day at a time and hope that the symptoms won’t return until I get back home.

It was the second month of my visit my symptoms came back. This time with a vengeance. I had an irregular heartbeat and at times it felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. The swelling in my feet came back and this time it was from just below my knee all the way down to my toes. I lost a little over twenty pounds and I started to lose hair from every single part of my body and the goiter was three times bigger. These symptoms of course came over time and it was very irresponsible of me to not have visit the doctor sooner but when the symptoms became too unbearable, I was taken to the hospital my friends that I was staying with.

At the hospital, I was told that I could not be given the medication as they would need to do their tests in order to prescribe the proper medication even though I knew exactly the dosage of the pills I took. The test, I was told, would cost One Thousand Four Hundred United States Dollars. It was way too much. Where was I going to get that kind of money? I was a student for crying out loud. I told the doctor I was not able to pay for the tests and he let me know the only thing he could do at this point was to prescribe the lowest strength beta-blocker and he would not be able to prescribe anything for the disease. He said that the only reason he was prescribing the beta-blockers was because I was not at risk of getting a heart attack or stroke.

I had somehow managed to stick it out for the rest of my visit and time seemed to quickly fly by lucky enough for me. It was now time for me to go home. The symptoms had not gotten worse and the tablet for my heart seemed to be working. I was now outside my home airport waiting for my sister and cousin to pick me up. I had already warned them that I was not at all the same person that left three months ago. However, my warnings could not prepare them for what they were about to see. They had passed me first because they did not recognize that it was me. When they finally came back around and I got into the car, the shock was visible on their faces. My cousin who was just about ten years-old at the time, did not break her stare once for the twenty minute journey home.

When I got home, I was greeted with more stares from my family members and friends who could not believe the complete transformation. One of my cousins who was just like a little sister to me cried after seeing me. I quickly got my tablets and took them, as if a single dose was going to reverse all the damage done. I couldn’t wait for the morning to come when I would visit family doctor.

The next morning when I stepped into his office, the first thing he noticed was the goiter. As I sat down, his eyes dropped to my feet. Immediately I saw him reach for a sheet of paper and began to write something. He said that I needed to go to the Accident and Emergency section of the University Hospital of the West Indies immediately as I was now in heart failure. He increased the dosage of my medication and told me not to waste time, I should go right away.

The following day, I was still had not gone to the hospital. Hoping that he was just blowing things out of proportions and since I hated hospitals, I was in no hurry. Again, very irresponsible. The day after that, I was sitting at the table eating when my phone rang. It was the doctor asking if I had gone to the hospital. I wanted to lie, but I didn’t. I said no. Then came the scolding. I could hear the disgust in his voice. When he hung up, I quickly got ready and had my sister take me to the hospital.

When I handed the note to the nurse, she gave me a bag to put my belonging in and told me to change into the hospital gown. I was eventually admitted to the hospital as the doctor on duty stated that there was no way that there were going to send me home in the condition I was in. I had to send my sister home and laid there in the hospital. Getting up every twenty minutes to go to the bathroom since they had given me some form of medication that would all me to pass all the fluid that I was retaining. All through the night, the nurses came around, checking each patient. Every time I drifted off, there comes one of them, checking and asking me questing to make sure I know where I was and so forth.

I was sent home the following day. With strict orders to follow the regimen and to make an appointment with the endocrinologist right away to have my disease controlled. And that I did. Because I was irresponsible and lackadaisical, I could have caused more harm to myself and this experience has caused me to be more aware. I am now back to my old self. Everything is back to normal and currently I have no symptoms of Graves’ disease. Today, I am an advocate for thyroid health. Every time I see someone with a little bulging at the neck, I make it a point to talk with them and let them know, that they should try to get it checked out to make sure it is nothing or to catch the bugger before it gets any worse.