Last night I was talking to my mother, updating her on the goings on in my life and whatnot. Then she told me that she was starting (about two weeks ago) to have symptoms: feet and hands swelling, shortness of breath, coughing, etc. Which to us equals congestive heart failure. My mother never would have even thought this if it hadn't been for raising me all these years. However, she did and went to the doctor about it.
Now here's the deal. She has had problems with her thyroid for years, and four years ago had surgery to remove the "bad" parts of it. Turned out that it was all bad and they had to remove it completely. So she now depends on meds to do all the little things the thyroid does. After an initial struggle she'd gotten everything pretty well regulated, then about 4 months ago or so her levels dropped severely. So severely the PA asked her if she was still taking her thyroid meds! So now she's playing the regulating game again.
When she added up all the symptoms and spelled CHF, she went to see her doc. She said all these symptoms could be related to the thyroid. She took a good hard listen to her heart, though, just to help ease my mom's mind (she's very agressive with her and my care). Well, after listening for awhile she detected a very slight murmur. So to "proove" it's not her heart, she's being sent to have an echo on Friday. We won't know the results until some time next week (I hate the waiting game!).
I know my mom is worried about it because she's a champion worrier, second only to my grandmother. I'm worried too. I don't like being on this end of a situation like this. As much as I hate that I have heart problems, I'd much rather be the patient than the one worrying about a loved one. It feels too helpless. Especially since we live five hours away from each other. I know my mom has gone through this with me more than her fair share, but I still don't like it.
Any prayers sent her way would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Now here's the deal. She has had problems with her thyroid for years, and four years ago had surgery to remove the "bad" parts of it. Turned out that it was all bad and they had to remove it completely. So she now depends on meds to do all the little things the thyroid does. After an initial struggle she'd gotten everything pretty well regulated, then about 4 months ago or so her levels dropped severely. So severely the PA asked her if she was still taking her thyroid meds! So now she's playing the regulating game again.
When she added up all the symptoms and spelled CHF, she went to see her doc. She said all these symptoms could be related to the thyroid. She took a good hard listen to her heart, though, just to help ease my mom's mind (she's very agressive with her and my care). Well, after listening for awhile she detected a very slight murmur. So to "proove" it's not her heart, she's being sent to have an echo on Friday. We won't know the results until some time next week (I hate the waiting game!).
I know my mom is worried about it because she's a champion worrier, second only to my grandmother. I'm worried too. I don't like being on this end of a situation like this. As much as I hate that I have heart problems, I'd much rather be the patient than the one worrying about a loved one. It feels too helpless. Especially since we live five hours away from each other. I know my mom has gone through this with me more than her fair share, but I still don't like it.
Any prayers sent her way would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
