Spring Semester

So Spring Semester starts.  I'm still not feeling well.  I can barely get out of bed.  But I do it.  Finally February arrives and I go see my new endocrinologist.  I do my blood work and later that afternoon I get a phone call from his nurse who asks if I am taking my medication. I told her that yes I was taking it religiously. At this point I was taking 1 grain of Armour thyroid.  She told me that I was extremely hypothyroid and the doctor wished to increase my dose.

So for those who are unfamiliar with hypothyroidism, normal ranges for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) are .3 - 3.  The more your body makes of this hormone, the higher dose of the medicine you need.  My level was 128.3!  No wonder they asked if I was even taking my meds.  This explains SOOOOO much!  Once the dose is increased it takes 6 weeks to get into your system and test again.  So since my initial appointment was the middle of February, we are looking at the end of April to test again. RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF EXAMS!

Cognitive difficulties, extreme fatigue, memory impairment.  These are merely a few of the symptoms of thyroid disease.  But I managed to push through these and take exams.  The day after exams ended, my loving husband made me go to the doctor again.  I was diagnosed with bronchitis and given a steroid shot. This was about 4 pm.  At about 11 pm that night, I started to not be able to hold my weight on my legs.  They would just give out on me. My husband took me to the Emergency Room.  I could not walk to the bathroom on my own.  They ended up admitting me due to hypokalemia, low potassium.  Apparently this is a rare reaction that happens with steroid shots and thyroid patients sometimes.  I was admitted and kept for two days.  I was released on Monday morning and have to take a potassium pill twice a day.

Around Memorial Day we got our grades.  I was screwed.  I didn't get a 2.0. I had a 1.95.  I called the Vice Chancellor.  We spoke about the situation and he told me to wait until the reports were run and if I was dropped that I would have to reapply.  He did tell me to email him about the medical situation I was having.  I did that thinking that he was going to see about perhaps dealing with the academic drop.  No such luck.  Tuesday, I was notified that I had been excluded from the student body.