Feeling skeptical

Yes, I am feeling a little skeptical today.  How can you have all of the symptoms for a disease, but not have it?
Yesterday at the Endocrinologists, the doctor gave me a paper on Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.( I'll post what this is at the bottom of the post.) And told me that she was going to have me tested for this because I have ALL of the symptoms.  She felt pretty sure that I had it.  But the lab work came back negative.  Loren's response was,"did they do the test right".
Other lab results came back normal except for Thyroid levels are now too high. So now they have decreased my med's.  Also, she said that my iron level is on the low end of normal and that I should take over the counter iron pills.  I have another appointment scheduled for 6 weeks to do more test and see how I am doing then.
I don't like to complain but I wish that I didn't feel so yucky.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is a condition caused by inflammation of the thyroid gland. It is an autoimmune disease, which means that the body inappropriately attacks the thyroid gland--as if it was foreign tissue. The underlying cause of the autoimmune process still is unknown. Hashimoto's thyroiditis tends to occur in families.
These are the symptoms.....

• Fatigue
  Depression
• Modest weight gain
• Cold intolerance
• Excessive sleepiness
• Dry, coarse hair
• Constipation
• Dry skin
• Muscle cramps
• Decreased concentration
• Vague aches and pains
• thinning of hair and nails

Doctors and more doctors

My thyroid has been doing horrible things to me lately.  My ENT did blood work and increased my med's before Christmas.  I felt better for awhile and then I started getting other symptoms-like my hair falling out by the handfuls, always feel worn out, and the list goes on.  So the ENT sent me to an Endocrinologist, who is testing for all kinds of things.  I should have results in 2 days, or less.  I hope that they can figure out what is going on, so I can feel normal again.

The second day back to school, proved to be better than the first for all of the children.
Yesterday, Parker cried because he didn't want to go back.  Loren drove Braden to school because he thought that he had missed the bus. Turns out he was early, so no one was there.  Paige and Zach's bus showed up 30 minutes late.  They got to school on time because we have wonderful neighbors that picked them up and took them.  Ethan didn't complain but I could tell that he wasn't excited about it.
It is hard getting back into the whole get up early routine after sleeping in and going to bed late for 2 weeks.

It has been very cold here for the past few days.  The doors were frozen on the Excursion when I went to drive the 2 youngest boys to school, yesterday.  We got the front door opened and we all climbed in.  It was hard to climb into the back to get Hope in her car seat.  It still wouldn't open when we got home.  Today, the doors were frozen again.  Thankfully it had warmed up enough by 1 p.m. that the doors opened when I had to head to the doctors.  I love seeing the sun.  I hope it shows up more often.

Fun in Pheonix

While we were in Arizona, we took in some sights.  We went to the Aquarium.  It was neat seeing al of the different kinds of fish and sea life.  Hope was thrilled by it all and thought that she should be able to touch the fish.

We spent a few hours at Castles and Coasters. It is like a mini Lagoon but had some great rides.  The roller coaster was the best.  Their weren't lines at most of the rides so we just went from ride to ride.  Parker would only ride the go carts, over and over.  I took Hope on the carousal. I couldn't tell if she liked it or not.  She didn't get upset, but she din't smile either.  We also played miniature golf. I think Hope had the most fun.  She would get 2 balls from people,so we were always sharing golf balls, find the holes and drop them in.  She loved running up and down the slopes.

It was fun to be able to play outside in December without a jacket and get some sun.

Snow and Christmas

We decided to spend Christmas in Arizona this year with Loren parents and siblings.  We left the WRONG  day.  We left Tuesday during the storm that turned into a night mare. The roads were snowy and icy.  After seeing 20 cars in the snow banks, diesels stuck in the middle of the high way blocking traffic and snow plows going no where we gave up for the day.  We had been on the road for 4 1/2 hours and only made it to Fillmore. In normal weather we would have made it that far in under 2 hours.  We found a motel and spent the rest of the day and night.  The power had been out there since 6 a.m. and didn't come back on until about 4 p.m..  The motel had back up power, enough to run the heater and stay warm. Loren decided to go find something for lunch, to find out most places where closed. He came back with lost of different kinds of food from a gas station.  The children called it random food and asked if we were going to have to have it again for dinner.  Thankfully, places where open again by 6 p.m..  We hit the road again Wednesday morning in dense fog that lifted after about 30 minutes.  The rest of the trip was smooth sailing.  All of the children did well for the long car ride.  Hope would get fussy and we would get out a a baby genius movie and put it on for her and she would settle down.
It was great to walk through the door and be welcomed by Loren's parent and his siblings and their kids.  It is always fun to get together with family and eat good food and just relax.

I went to pull my camera out to get some pictures and guess what, It was covered in children's liquid ibuprofen.  I saw it sitting on the counter the morning we left and hurriedly through it in the bag of med's I was holding.  What a big mistake!!! I washed it off wet a wet cloth, just to have to wipe it off again a few minutes later cause it was oozing out of the buttons and cracks.  The battery compartment was filled and I wondered if it would work.  Loren surprised me by buying me a new one when he went shopping.  Thanks for the early Christmas present.

Christmas was a blast!! Hope couldn't figure out what was going on, but loved opening present and playing with everything.  The 3 oldest kids got laptops and where very quiet and entertained the rest of the stay. Ethan got DS games and lego sets, Parker got a DS and games, and Hope got the Fisher Price doll house and a talking tea pot.  Santa brought Loren an I pad and myself some sizzix dies.
We kept Christmas small because it all had to make it the the car for the ride home.

Putting on the nativity.

The children and their cousins put on the Nativity story Christmas eve. It was fun and quick since their are still small children.