How It All Began
Well hi, welcome to my blog. It didn't occur to me until recently that I may want to look back on this experience I'm having and be able to remember what happened and what it felt like.
I was at work one day in December 2011 and in the bathroom mirror, I saw a lump on my neck. I was immediately pretty freaked out. I took a break right then and there to call Kaiser and have an appointment with my primary care doctor. Part of me didn't want to read too much into it or get too worried, but there was a small voice in me, wondering if this was a serious thing. Boy, I didn't know what lay ahead for me.
I saw my primary care doctor and he agreed that there was something there. I remember him standing behind me and feeling both sides of my neck. He said my neck had some tension. He had me do an exercise where I stuck my tongue out and he put a lot of pressure on a part of the back of my neck. It made my back crack. He actually said, "Wow, I can't believe that. It actually feels smaller." He was referring to the lump. He swore it went down in size. He said the lump didn't feel like fatty tissue to him; it felt like thyroid tissue. He sent me to the lab to get bloodwork done.
I had a lot of neck pain around that time because of my job and having to use a computer. I carry a lot of tension in my neck, so I hoped it was from that. I can actually remember telling friends something like, "Oh, ya know, the body is so weird sometimes, maybe it's just a lump from neck strain."
I had to laugh when I got the results back from my blood. My TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) was normal. But I found out I have high cholesterol. (!!!!) Kaiser's website is set up very nicely. I just clicked to view the results and for everything that was tested, like glucose, sodium, cholesterol, all that stuff, it had a column that gave a range of where I should be. I was pretty much perfect in everything but my cholesterol. Dr. Kwiatkowski suggested I take some fish oil and "continue to make healthy choices." (I had emailed him and asked why the hell I had high cholesterol. So. Ya know).
Based on the results, he suggested I have an ultrasound. This was kind of scary. At this point in my life, I'd never had a disease, a condition or a chronic illness. I'd certainly never had an ultrasound. The most I'd ever had was an X-Ray. Long story short, Johnny--my now boyfriend of 3 1/2 years--had accidentally hit me in the face with a PVC pipe when we were younger. My poor Mom saw the whole thing and had to take me to the ER. But anyway yeah, no history of health issues up to this point. I'm done writing for right now, but I'd like to pick up where I left off soon enough.
I was at work one day in December 2011 and in the bathroom mirror, I saw a lump on my neck. I was immediately pretty freaked out. I took a break right then and there to call Kaiser and have an appointment with my primary care doctor. Part of me didn't want to read too much into it or get too worried, but there was a small voice in me, wondering if this was a serious thing. Boy, I didn't know what lay ahead for me.
I saw my primary care doctor and he agreed that there was something there. I remember him standing behind me and feeling both sides of my neck. He said my neck had some tension. He had me do an exercise where I stuck my tongue out and he put a lot of pressure on a part of the back of my neck. It made my back crack. He actually said, "Wow, I can't believe that. It actually feels smaller." He was referring to the lump. He swore it went down in size. He said the lump didn't feel like fatty tissue to him; it felt like thyroid tissue. He sent me to the lab to get bloodwork done.
I had a lot of neck pain around that time because of my job and having to use a computer. I carry a lot of tension in my neck, so I hoped it was from that. I can actually remember telling friends something like, "Oh, ya know, the body is so weird sometimes, maybe it's just a lump from neck strain."
I had to laugh when I got the results back from my blood. My TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) was normal. But I found out I have high cholesterol. (!!!!) Kaiser's website is set up very nicely. I just clicked to view the results and for everything that was tested, like glucose, sodium, cholesterol, all that stuff, it had a column that gave a range of where I should be. I was pretty much perfect in everything but my cholesterol. Dr. Kwiatkowski suggested I take some fish oil and "continue to make healthy choices." (I had emailed him and asked why the hell I had high cholesterol. So. Ya know).
Based on the results, he suggested I have an ultrasound. This was kind of scary. At this point in my life, I'd never had a disease, a condition or a chronic illness. I'd certainly never had an ultrasound. The most I'd ever had was an X-Ray. Long story short, Johnny--my now boyfriend of 3 1/2 years--had accidentally hit me in the face with a PVC pipe when we were younger. My poor Mom saw the whole thing and had to take me to the ER. But anyway yeah, no history of health issues up to this point. I'm done writing for right now, but I'd like to pick up where I left off soon enough.
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