A Crazy Few Weeks

It's been a crazy few weeks. I have a problem saying no to volunteering. I have seemed to have found myself as room mom for both Ellie AND Gavin's class. But because that is not enough, I am also taking pictures and doing yearbook for the PTA, a counseling big sister/brother type thing, reading groups in the kiddos classes, and teaching Sunday School.

So for the past few weeks I have been making volunteer spreadsheets, rosters, and calling parents setting up schedules.

Then when you throw a swollen jaw into the mix and a surprise phone call from MD Anderson, everything gets a little crazier.

I woke up a two weeks ago with a swollen jaw. I thought maybe I had something wrong with a tooth but I wasn't sure. I called my dentist and got an appointment for the following Monday. But Friday morning it was throbbing and I was running a little fever so I called to get fit in. My regular dentist wasn't in but xrays showed that I had a file (end of a drill bit from a root canal 13 years ago) stuck in my mouth and he thought it was abscessed. I was shocked. I was referred to an endodontist who I saw less than an hour later who told me he couldn't get the file out and that he thought the tooth needed to be pulled and an implant put in. I had a pretty big little breakdown in this poor mans office. I was NOT looking forward to what all that required. I was referred to an oral surgeon but he required a CT scan before my appointment. I went all weekend on meds and Monday I went in for the CT Scan at my Dentist's office. This time my wonderful dentist was in and the CT scan showed that my tooth was NOT abscessed. He suspected a salivary stone....because it was definitely my salivary gland that was swelling.

I cancelled my oral surgeon appointment and was given meds to help me salivate the stone out. Lovely. I never felt a stone come out and the swelling has continued every time I eat or drink something.
This past Monday, I just happened to have an MD Anderson appointment. Turns out I don't think I have a stone at all. It is very common for your salivary glands to be ruined with the treatment I had. And it probably settled there and collapsed, swelling up because the saliva won't pass through. So, MD Anderson has a great surgeon who I will be meeting with soon and he will put tubes in my salivary glands to open them back up. Then they will be removed a few weeks later. It's supposed to be a VERY easy surgery. And I must say I would take it over the initial surgery I thought I was going to be having. That little drill bit can stay put as long as it is not giving me any problems.

While I was trying to figure out the whole tooth/gland fiasco, I got a call from MDA telling me that there is a national shortage on a med that I was supposed to take two days before my treatment. You see, you can't have any synthroid in your system when doing the treatment. The drug that pushes my synthroid out is NOT available. I was given two choices. 1. Stop taking my synthroid for 8 weeks which would mean a good 4 months before I feel normal. or 2. Push back the treatment until after the first of the year, and see if they get anymore of the thyrogen in and do my treatment then. And they will just monitor me closely until then.  As much as I want to be DONE with my treatment, I just hate to feel bad for 4 months, when it could be just a few weeks. So I have opted to wait. I am meeting with my Doctor who treats me in October and we will discuss it further. Hopefully they get the thyrogen in or else it will be a LONG Spring as I will have to go off my synthroid.

But, looking on the bright side...there is no crazy diet starting any time soon, and I should be feeling fairly well during G's birthday and the holidays this year!!

So, not sure if any of that makes sense, but basically, life has just been a little crazy.

And if all of that isn't crazy/busy enough, tomorrow I will be starting BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) which I hear is pretty intensive. But it will be good and I am sure it is just what my crazy soul is needing.