2 months post-op.

From the old forum, my intro post was this long narrative that entailed a history of anxiety, kidney stones, high calcium and doctor office staffs that never sent my info anywhere.  I've laid low a bit post-op as my body settles in and recovers.  Today was my post-op appointment.

Ionized calcium: 1.22 mmol/L
Calcium: 9.7
PTH: 23.6

pretty good!

blood pressure pre-surgery:154/111
blood pressure today: 110/62

My anxiety and depression issues are gone.  I'll always be a worrywart but I don't feel like offing myself all the time anymore. 

I have passed kidney stones since the operation but a) those were likely formed before my surgery and b) I might just be a stone-former in general.  Prior to surgery, I was passing a stone every month, minimum.  Post-op, I haven't passed a stone in 6 weeks? or thereabouts. 

The only bad news is that doctor offices still seem entirely incompetent at sending information to anyone.  I don't want to dwell on this but it is frustrating having to handle this part of the process on my own.  I am not joking, it is almost every single time I get a lab result, I have to chase it down myself and hand deliver it from the lab to the doctor. 

My endocrinologist appointment at Lahey clinic wasn't great but it didn't have to be.  I'm probably cured, the doctor can say she's sorry all she wants, I will never see her again.  ONWARD TO GLORY

Let me also say, over the past two months, I've had tingling in my pinky fingers and my face, but it has decreased in severity over time.  At first it was very worrisome and I really thought I was hypocalcemic, but now I think it's just my body going from wicked high blood pressure and hormones and calcium, to normal.  I haven't taken much calcium in a few days and it doesn't seem to change my little tingling at all, which is barely noticeable these days.

That's brilliant news Chris, I'm SO pleased for you!  Onward to glory indeed! Have a fantastic, PHPT-free life.......!  As for myself (just to remind everyone, Chris and I both had our surgery at the Norman Parathyroid Centre within two days of each other), the jury's still out as to whether I'm cured or not as my levels are still coming back high and I'm still having symptoms, but I'm persevering and will continue with the fight if I have to.  But I am REALLY cheered by your news Chris - brilliant!

Jasmine x

Chris fantastic news I'm really pleased you are on that road to glory. We need to hear the positive results from people as too many of us are suffering for too long and some of us multiple times. Have a happy life.
Jasmine it's hard for you going through this crap for too long, I hope you get to see your consultant soon and get some answers.
Since I've been out in the warm weather (I presume it's pushed vit d up and calcium) I feel awful, shaky, worse pains at night and in morning, headache, v dehydrated. I thought I'd feel a bit better with some sun but hell no.
I have my Endo appt on Thursday I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not, worried I won't get any answers.
Amanda xxxx

Hi Chris
It's just great to read your post. I am having exactly the same issues as you. Tingling fingers and face in particular. I was starting to worry about it but endo assures me that when I have higher vitamin D levels it will stop. Otherwise I am feeling improvements. Sleeping through the night, not needing to get up for the loo, no GERD, eyes are getting better but still not great. Anxiety is also better but hasn't gone completely and I have odd days when I don't manage things too well. As you say I guess all the damage needs to unravel. I hope you continue to improve, take good care of yourself. I hate reading all the posts of Jasmine and Amanda and see the problems they  are still having even though they had surgery and maybe our progress and the slow improvements Audrey is seeing at last will give them the encouragement needed to get to the other side!! 
Love to you all
Happy Easter
Lynn x

Hey, just what we need, some good news on the forum!!! YAY!!   

Chris, this really is such wonderful news! Not too many of us feel so wonderfully so soon after surgery. This really is great news! Dr. Norman speaks of the tortoises who are not so lucky. I have dubbed myself queen of the tortoises. I think I am getting there though. Things are looking better. I was very interested to read about your lowered blood pressure. I don't know if you've been following my posts, but just recently my blood pressure dropped to 85/45! Just about scared me to death. We know HPT can cause hypertension. Dr. Norman speaks of how some people's pressure will go even higher for a while after surgery before it settles back down to a normal range. Well, my PA thought I needed BP medication. I started talking it. All looked ok for a very short time, and then it really took a dip. The diastolic pressure kept hitting the 40s. I stopped taking the medication, and my pressure is now staying around 100/60. This is what my pressure was for just about my entire life, until a few years ago when I started suffering from all the other symptoms of HPT. So I think I can add 1 more symptom to my resolved list!

Jasmine and Amanda, your time is coming too!! It is so sad so many can't be cured with just 1 surgery, but we all know there is still hope for everyone to be healed and healthy again. We are all in this together, and we will all get through it together. Nobody will be left behind!

Lynn, sorry you're still feeling the tingling. I do hope the vitamin D will help. I had a bit of trouble with tingling several weeks ago, for a few weeks. I had trouble all over my body. That has resolved for me now. I am not sure what was causing it for me. My calcium certainly wasn't low, since it hasn't dropped below 10.0 since surgery. My vitamin D was 49 when checked last. That is not real high, and I have considered taking some D supplements, but I don't want my calcium to go higher, so I am a bit reluctant to try that. I do hope your tingling resolves soon!

Well, I've got a ton of stuff to do here for our Easter celebration tomorrow. I'd better get back to work. I just wanted to check in with all of my forum friends to see what's going on and see how you're all doing.

Happy Easter to everyone! So happy to be able to celebrate the holiday with you all.   

Audrey

Chris - that is such wonderful news!!

It gives hope to us all - diagnosed, not diagnosed, 2nd timers alike.

Road to glory indeed!

Please keep us posted with all positive developments from now on - it helps us all and it's great to "see" you.

Best of Health, Life and Wishes, Tigerlily.

Good for you Chris, hope you feel better each day.

Chris, so pleased to read these posts from you. I've been thinking of you and wondering how things have gone on for you, especially the bit about having to try and repair some of the mess ups that happened in your Hpth days. I really identified with that!

I am about 6 weeks behind you surgery wise, or more. I had mine on 1st April in Tampa. I was going to post a 2-week update last week ( to say how well i am feeling, generally) but our cat was run over on monday evening last week, and died a few hours later! I'd never even got as far as posting a picture of her either! So I've delayed posting whilst I adjust.

Health wise i'm so pleased at how I feel. The biggest difference is in how I feel psychologically. That sense of O  always being on the edge, anxious, easily stressed, fragile and downright miserable has pretty much gone. I'm not freaking out at the slightest thing, like I used to.

My sleep is so different, especially the quality of it. I can get off to sleep easily, and stay asleep for much longer, and wake up less often.
This just by itself has made a huge difference. And I genuinely feel happy most of the time. This is SO different from how it has been for a very long time.

I must confess I have also hesitated to post because there are so many of you still struggling with this disease and I really feel for you. Hopefully there will be good news for you too soon.  

Hi Jennza

Just wanted to post quickly to say so sorry to her about your cat - just so sorry.

I'm resonating here also with what you say about how much better you feel as you describe so well how you used to feel prior to your op - "always being on the edge, anxious, easily stressed, fragile and downright miserable ... freaking out at the slightest thing" just about describes me perfectly at the moment. And some unbroken sleep would be wonderulf (and not transposing the letters in words would be a bonus, too!). I used to sleep for England, but not now.

Do not hesitate to post these benefits of surgery and post-surgery feelings, PLEASE! It helps the rest of us to believe that there is hope. I've been really helped to know that things can get better - in tears here just thinking that it might be possible from what you say.

Love from Tigerlily xx

Ditto that Jen!  Never be concerned about posting positive news, it gives us all such a boost, as Tigerlily says.  Yes, it's a real bummer that some of us are still struggling but we need to see evidence of some light at the end of the tunnel to keep us marching on .....

I'm so sorry about your kitty....it's heart wrenching, just horrible ....

Jasmine x

Hi Jennza,

I agree 100% with Tigerlily and Jasmine.   You should never feel badly about posting good news.   It does give the rest of us who are still struggling, a bit of hope.    And hope is what we all need more than anything!!   So happy things are going so well for you, and you are recovering so nicely!    That is wonderful!

I too am very sorry about your little kitty.   I know how awful that is.   I witnessed 1 of my little kitties get hit by a car when I was about 7 years old.   I still remember that very clearly.  It hurt so badly.    I also had a terrible accident with another 1 of my cats 23 years ago.   I was taking my daughter to school early 1 dark, rainy, very foggy morning.  I was backing up my driveway.   I never saw my poor cat, and I ran over him myself and killed him.    I can't tell you the pain I still feel because of that accident that morning.    I loved that little guy dearly!   I'm tearing up now thinking about it all.   After we got out of the car to check on our cat, we saw a little rabbit sitting on the other side of the driveway.   I guess my kitty must have been chasing that rabbit and never noticed the car coming.   I have had 6 cats since that time, and none of them have been outside since I brought them in close to 22 years ago.    I couldn't bear the thought of going through that again.    It is so sad what we must endure in life.    I am praying that your heartache will subside soon.   I'm so very sorry for your loss.  

Audrey

When I was out in the sun before surgery, I would quickly feel sick/tired and usually not really be in good shape the day after.  My yard isn't particularly big but a quick mow would leave me reeling.  I think at this point it was the vitamin D.  I'm happy to report that today, a few months post-op, I spent the day in the sun and doing yard work, and I feel pretty good.  I'm way out of shape still, my hands got blistered up pretty bad, but feel great. 

Beats shoveling snow anyway

And I started boosting my Vit D after reading Linny's post and my issues went away for the most part.  It makes sense - I had very low vitamin D before surgery, but I never brought it back up.

This is GREAT news, Chris!! So happy to hear this!   

I have been wondering if I should start taking some vitamin D also, but mine is at 45 now, which isn't too bad, and since my calcium is still at 10.2, I have to take a chance of raising it even higher. I do wonder, though, if more vitamin D might help with my lingering symptoms. Forty-five really isn't all that high, so maybe I should. What is your vitamin D level now?

I had a better day than I've had in a while now. I was very grateful for this, because I had a ton of flowers to plant outside. It took me 5 hours to get them all in, and I am totally exhausted, but, like I said, it was a better day than I've had for a while, so I'm happy. Glad you got your yardwork done too!

As I was outside, sitting on the edge of the porch in the sun, putting flowers in the pots, I was wondering if possibly I was having a better day because I was sitting in the sun. I can't wait til I can get out there more often. Our pool is now open. Not quite ready to use yet, but it's open, so soon I'll be out in the sun much more often. We'll see if that helps or hurts.

Again, very happy to hear of your news!!

Audrey

Great news, Willsce and Audrey, so glad to hear it!!

Keep on gardening and potting!

Love Tigerlily xx