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Dramaedy Series Finale

Hello!

I have not updated most of you since November 21st!  Sorry for the delay but I just have not been well enough to spend time at the computer nor did I have the emotional energy to write to anyone about the past month.

I'm happy to say that the members of the Bredal-Bell family have made it through November AND December!

I'll first update you on Mom.  She came home from rehab and a second stay in the hospital about 5 days after my surgery.  She did have pneumonia.  But it turned out that she DID NOT have the MRSA virus after all.  It was a false positive due to the lab leaving her specimen out over the weekend!  Can you believe it?  And the antibiotic they treated her with put her into renal failure.  We just came from the kidney doc and things have improved quite a bit.  She is anemic and her blood count is down to 10 from 13 so she will be having another iron infusion next week.  We are back to managing her health  issues as usual but now have added a kidney specialist to the long list of Docs for her care.  She's stable and that's all that matters! 

Dad got over his pneumonia very quickly and is back full steam.  He's made from hearty Norwegian stock!  Mr. Magoo is back!!!!

Richard has been catching up on his rest from all of the stress and drama of the past two months.  He's fighting a "bug" as we all have this past week but doing just fine.  He has truly been my "pillar of strength"!  He's the best.

As for me.  I am getting better everyday.  I can tell you that finding my thyroid tumors and dealing with them so quickly hardly gave me time to react.  I'm happy that I decided to deal with it right away as you will see why further into my story.  Normally this surgery is very simple and you recover rather quickly.  Then it's just a pill a day and adjusting the dose as needed.  That would have been the case for me too.

They found what they expected, right lobe of my thyroid had been completely taken over by a tumor a little larger than it and my left lobe had a tumor about 1/4 the size of it.  The surgery usually takes about 2 hours.  And, 2 hours into it, they were getting ready to close me up.  They even went out to tell Richard that they were closing now.  But Dr. Ho spotted what he called a "mass" behind where the right lobe of my thyroid used to be just as they were getting ready to close. 

Upon investigating, they found what they called "a congenital tumor" about the size of a jumbo egg.  It was intertwined with the carotid artery, jugular vein and the nerve pack.  They determined that it was benign right there and decided that they could remove it safely right then and there.  This added another 2 1/2 hours to the surgery.  Poor Richard as sitting in the waiting room wondering what in the world was going on!!!

All in all, I was very fortunate.  Dr. Ho said it was the 3rd hardest surgeries he's ever done.  He wished he had a camera in the OR because this would have been a great teaching case.  But now it will just be one of his war stories...and mine too!  Rich said he was completely exhausted when it was over and even 10 days after, he was still shaking his head and VERY HAPPY to see me up and breathing.  Everything was benign.  Had I waited, I may not have had such a good outcome.  The tumors were the type that turn to cancer, we caught everything in time.  The "extra" tumor was dangerous.  I was basically a ticking time bomb waiting for the right moment to blow.  Dr. Ho said that if they had seen it on a CT scan, they probably would have assumed it was cancer and sent me to NYC.  It would have be a long, drawn out, stressful, dramatic thing.  So this was the best case scenario actually!

Another piece of good news...I am off of my diabetic meds.  I have been able to control my sugar w/ diet.  All are normal and have been w/ no meds for 3 months now.  The weight battle continues.  I still have to deal with the metabolic syndrome (Hyperandrogenemia / Insulin Resistance).  Basically I have to eat a boring and extremely healthy diet balanced with twice as much exercise as the average person.  If only I was a bubble headed aerobic instructor instead of Tina Fey uber geek!  So I guess I should pack my things and move to NYC where I would have to walk everywhere and have eclectic health food restaurants at my disposal with dozens of Pilates Studios at the ready....hmmmm sounds like a plan! LOL!  I guess I'll have to settle for my kitchen and the new Planet Fitness opening up down the street...

In the end, it's good to be alive and past the drama.  Life can return to normal with the exception of a few good sprout salads and a ton of exercise.  Bring it on 2009!

Thanks for reading!

hugs w/ much love and appreciation for all of you,

Simmy ;)

PS - This Dramaedy series has had it's finale, stay tuned for the sitcom it will be replaced with...