I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: kitkatz on June 20, 2006, 07:47:49 PM
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Well it finally happened the doctor noticed the rising PTH levels and fairly uncontrolled phosphorous levels and decided to refer me to a surgeon. Oh Geez. Please tell me this is simple and uncomplicated???And it is a quick recovery time with little pain??? Anyway whatever the truth lay it on me.
Katherine
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I had my parathyroids removed on the 26th May.
Woke up from theatre with a drain tube draining any "gunk" away from the site, and a drip with calcium.
I was given some morphine when I was taken from theatre to recovery, the rest of the time I was just on paracetamol.
The pain wasn't too bad at all, and was discharged two days later, which is about the norm here in Melbourne, Australia.
You will most likely be on a lot of medication after it for a while though, just until all the calcium is resucked up in your bones after it having been depleted.
Still waiting for my meds to go down, currently on 15 calcitriol a day and 12 caltrate.
Small scar on my neck, but hey just adding to my scar collection, we all have one of those don't we ????
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Well it finally happened the doctor noticed the rising PTH levels and fairly uncontrolled phosphorous levels and decided to refer me to a surgeon. Oh Geez. Please tell me this is simple and uncomplicated???And it is a quick recovery time with little pain??? Anyway whatever the truth lay it on me.
Katherine
Well I had the procedure, but they could not find all the parathyroids, most people have 4-6 paras. So they had to go in a second time, and by doing so the surgeon cut one of my vocal cords, so I had to learn how to speak all over again using just one cord. The amount of calcium pills they will have you on will make you sick to your stomach and it will take some time for your body to adjust. They will leave some parathyroid in (you can NOT live with no parathyroid function. They most likely will put a piece in your arm for easy access in case they need to take out a little more. If you have a good surgeon the scar will be on a fold of skin and be unnoticeable after awhile. The pain is minimal. You run the risk of the surgeon cutting your cords, both of them, then your screwed, so ask the surgeon how many of these surgeries does he do yearly, he should do at least 50+ a year in you are in or by a major city. Sometimes the surgery can take an hour sometimes it can take a few depending on how hard the parathyroids are to find. Sometimes the paras even move or drop into your chest (like mine did) and that makes it especially hard to find. They should be the size of a grain of rice, so you see that makes them difficult to locate. One of mine was the size of a golfball, believe it or not. My PTH before the surgery was 3,500+ off the chart. Once they remove the parathyroids your PTH will DROP within minutes, they use special machines to monitor the progress during the surgery so they will know if they got them all, like I said before everyone is different some people have 4,5,6 or even more parathyroids. You will do fine as long as you have a good surgeon. A general surgeon can perform the surgery however a specialist is preferred. Understand that you will be on ALOT of calcium pills 2 different kinds most likely and I am talking taking like 15-30+ a day. And your calcium will still be low until your body adjusts. Hope this helps.
You might also want to check out this thread: http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=298.0
- Epoman
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Thank you all for the info
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After your parathyroids are removed can you drink all the milk you want to?
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After your parathyroids are removed can you drink all the milk you want to?
Well Milk still has Phosphourus and it is still a liquid, so not really. But you definately don't have to worry about your calcium being to low.
- Epoman
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After your parathyroids are removed can you drink all the milk you want to?
Well Milk still has Phosphourus and it is still a liquid, so not really. But you definately don't have to worry about your calcium being to low.
- Epoman
I still have to take calcium (I get the calcium in my tums) after I had all mine out.
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When my son had this surgery a couple of years ago the surgery seemed to go well but he required an IV following surgery that infiltrated and seriously burned his hand. It was the worst thing he has been through to date, without question. If your levels drop and you require an IV be very careful if you feel any infiltration. Apparently the nurse working knew nothing about this and she gave him a pain shot when he complained his hand was burning terribly and knocked him out. If I hadn't noticed redness and swelling and demanded she do something, he would have completely lost his hand.
As it was he required months of PT and if he were active would require a skin graft. They were very afraid his tendons were damaged and that he'd lose a potential fistula site. He has impaired circulation in that hand, two years later! Worst of all, the parathyroid was not implanted in the arm so the fragment left in the neck grew back and his PTH levels are soaring again.
Not trying to scare you, but no one warned us about these post surgical IVs and we had no idea how serious an infiltration could be--and had an ignorant nurse on duty.
Good luck with yours!
Mom3
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When my son had this surgery a couple of years ago the surgery seemed to go well but he required an IV following surgery that infiltrated and seriously burned his hand. It was the worst thing he has been through to date, without question. If your levels drop and you require an IV be very careful if you feel any infiltration. Apparently the nurse working knew nothing about this and she gave him a pain shot when he complained his hand was burning terribly and knocked him out. If I hadn't noticed redness and swelling and demanded she do something, he would have completely lost his hand.
Wow!! Are you serious?? Man!! I mean, even without me having any nursing degree I know enough from years of being in hospitals (since I was 9 years old) that any nurse who is told that any medication is causing a burning in the hand is an allergic reaction! Of course this should not shock me ... when I was in the hospital last year for 6 weeks and started having allergic reactions the nurse didn't believe me because I wasn't having the exact reactions that she learned in school to be "allergic reaction"!! The doc came in later and said it definately was.
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I think thats the calcium that causes burns like that. I remember being told this in the ER recently as I was having a calcium drip to lower my potassium. If you ever notice pain, swelling, redness, puss, anything like that with an IV, report it!
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Yes it is the calcium.
It causes a chemical burn that literally destroys tissue. No one warned us. Had no idea at all and clearly the nurse had no idea either. She treated it just like a saline infiltration--when it was burning away tissue inside his hand.
Even when they realized he had been burned the hospital was very slow to start the emergency measures called for with a calcium burn. he suffered horribly and more than necessary. Really none of it was necessary. As soon as he complained the nurse should have pulled the IV, to save tissue.
The doctors were initially afraid the tendons had been destroyed. Fortunately I insisted on an excellent hand specialist who was very conservative and did not rush to operate, the way the hospital doctors initially wanted to do. My son's fingers were swollen like smoked sausages and the hand really wasn't recognizable AS a HAND anymore... he was hospitalized 11 days with the hand, and could not use it at all for a couple more weeks after that, and he is right handed. i took a month off work he was in such awful shape... He had a huge patch of black necrotic tissue even after it was officially better and had to be checked weekly by the surgeon to make sure infection wasn't setting in. He couldn't drive and had PT on the hand three times a week. During the course of therapy,we saw THREE different had experts since different doctors were telling us different things about surgery.
It was really the worst thing he has been through so far, so be really careful with calcium IVs. And I really hope your surgery works for you!! :)
I'm curious, is it common in most places for the remaining piece of the parathyroids to be implanted in the arm? The first surgeon my son saw wanted to do that, but my son hated the thought of it! Now that he is facing the prospect of another surgery on his neck since his PTH went back up, he feels he made a mistake. Just wondered what standard practice is in other areas. I'm between two fair sized SC cities. In one, they implant in the arm most of the time and in the other, they don't. These places are THIRTY miles apart and we are in the middle!
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When I did my training if I was setting up an IV, I always red the information leaflet that came with the drug I was drawing up. If it didnt have one, I went and looked it up. Pity hardly anyone seems to do this these days.
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I'm curious, is it common in most places for the remaining piece of the parathyroids to be implanted in the arm? The first surgeon my son saw wanted to do that, but my son hated the thought of it! Now that he is facing the prospect of another surgery on his neck since his PTH went back up, he feels he made a mistake. Just wondered what standard practice is in other areas. I'm between two fair sized SC cities. In one, they implant in the arm most of the time and in the other, they don't. These places are THIRTY miles apart and we are in the middle!
I haven't heard of that but in Canada they don't do as many options that there are in the States. All I know is that when I had mine removed I read about the optional getting only some of them out instead of all 4 (usually 4 but some people have more or less). I had no option. They took all 4 out. My mom was really worried because she felt this was just a dialysis-related thing and that once I would have another transplant that it would be better if I kept my parathyroids because they would be needed again / or work again. But they tested them and said they all had to come out anyway.
I never heard of having them implanted in your arm.
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I have heard about part of them getting implanted into the arm, not sure how common it is.
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Just had a half of one left in my neck. PHT result creeping up just over 500 now.
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Just had a half of one left in my neck. PHT result creeping up just over 500 now.
YEA! Your back!!! I'll have to look for your post! I just had to day "hi."
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I had 3 and a half parathyroids removed last June... I don't recommend having it done unless it's totally necessary.. they told me that it would take a month for phosphorus and calcium levels to level up.. took over a year, and they're still not right... I was hospitalized twice because of it.. once for high phosphorus, the other for high calcium... I was told I had something called hungry bone sysndome, which caused the bones to suck up all the calcium, leaving none in the blood to counter the phosphorus... as for implanting the parathyroid in the arm, i asked the surgeon about this during the consultation.. he told me that I should never have that done, he considered it malpractice...
I didn't know that calcium could burn the tissue.. I'll have to remember that one.. I've had calcium interveinously a couple of times... it was how I was stalbized when I first got sick... until I could be dialyzed.. I had high phosphorus levels which caused lockjaw.. and I couldn't move voluntarily..
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I was told I had something called hungry bone sysndome, which caused the bones to suck up all the calcium, leaving none in the blood to counter the phosphorus...
Ah that is what it is called. I had that too!
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Yesterday I asked our supervisor to let me have a look at my last results. Since I have been reading many of your posts, I realise that I really have no idea what is going on in my body [we don't get reports as some of you do].
She showed my my last PTH results and they are 409. How bad is that?
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Yesterday I asked our supervisor to let me have a look at my last results. Since I have been reading many of your posts, I realise that I really have no idea what is going on in my body [we don't get reports as some of you do].
She showed my my last PTH results and they are 409. How bad is that?
I just looked through my dialysis bag where I keep all my dialysis records and thing I take to dialysis with me .. and it was getting so big that I cleaned it out and I must have thrown out all my old records :( I guess I will have to wait until after labwork so that I can get the new results :( to know my PTH numbers ..
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bajanne2000 my last level was 660, and they arent real worried about it. They upped my calcitriol and are going to see how it goes. 409 is high, but its not tooo bad. Normal is 14-72, but for a kidney patient the higher side of normal is higher than 72, I cant remember exactly, I think it is 270, but dont quote me on that. I posted it somewhere on the forums but no idea where.
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Well folks, the parathyroidectomy is being scheduled for around the first of November this year. I am a little scared and worried, but Id id read about it on line. I have the head surgeon of the department doing the surgery. he was very nice when I talked to him and answered my questions. He gave me all of the bad news then said it is usually a month to recover with few days spent in the hopsital. He says it is not very painful. We shall see. I am NOT looking forward to having my throat slit and being operated on again. Oh well another scar to add to the collection.
I plan to be back at work the end of November. I have a break from the end of October to the last week of November, then three weeks of work and the Christmas break.
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Hey Kitkatz, our thoughts and prayers are with you always. If i remember correctly, there are several members here that have had the procedure done and they seem to be doing fine.. so no worries, ok. (i know, easier said than done) but we are here for you
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Katz, so the Sensipar didn't work for you hua? How long were you on it. What did they say about it?
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Here goes our superwoman, flying onto another challenge. We know that you will come through this victoriously. You have to; you are a vital part of our resident superhero team. How is Victor doing, by the way? How will he cope with your being away?
You are definitely in my prayers and caring thoughts.
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Thank you all for the well wishes. Victor is doing okay. He is bright eyed and getting around in his chair okay. He looks good. I hope another set back does not come soon. We need a break.
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Thank you all for the well wishes. Victor is doing okay. He is bright eyed and getting around in his chair okay. He looks good. I hope another set back does not come soon. We need a break.
I just wanted to chime in.
Most of us have had some amount of our parathyroid glands removed and are better for that.
High phosphorus can be a real problem leading to soft tissue calcification.
And the Hungry Bone Syndrome that occurs after the surgery must be monitored carefully for low calcium. But HBS
is good because it adds calcium to our bones.
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High phosphorus can be a real problem leading to soft tissue calcification.
And the Hungry Bone Syndrome that occurs after the surgery must be monitored carefully for low calcium. But HBS
is good because it adds calcium to our bones.
What is HBS? I had all my parathyroids removed and keep a watch on my PTH and Phosphate and Calcium because I have seen that Hyperphosphatemia can lead to Calciphylaxis first hand from a girl I went to a kidney symposium with 2 years ago! It was absolutely terrible looking and it nearly killed her!
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HBS = Hungry Bone Syndrome
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Glad I read this thread. For ages my son's consultant has wanted to remove my son's parathyroid glands - and son has repeatedly said "No". The right decision I think.
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I’ve had 4 parathyroid surgeries with each one becoming just a little more difficult than the previous one to recover from. For some reason, I’m great at growing back parathyroid glands. Sure wish we could do the same thing with kidneys! :) My last surgery was in Sept. 2003 and resulted in my being back on dialysis after almost 16 years with a kidney transplant. I was pissed to say the least! Having had 3 previous surgeries, I saw no reason to think I’d have any more difficulties with this one. But just to be safe, my doctors and I fought with my HMO to get a referral to the University of Iowa where I’d had my previous paratyroidectomies and also my 2 transplants. I figured I’d be in the best of hands there because they’d have all my records and the transplant staff would also be available to look out for my best interests. My husband and I had discussed all of this with the surgeon when we went up there for a pre-surgery consultation.
Because I take coumadin on a regular basis, about a week or so prior to the surgery the surgeon switched me to a shorter acting blood thinner that my husband had to inject me with 3 times daily. This was to insure that during surgery I wouldn’t lose too much blood. I don’t have the specific results of what my blood counts were on my day of discharge (the 2nd day after surgery) but I came home and was bedridden for almost a week. As I started to get up and move around and was able to start eating solid foods again, I started a rapid decline. Overnight I struggled to breathe and had a terrible ache in my jaw. In hindsight, I know now what was happening but at the time we were just trying anything to make me comfortable.
The next morning I contacted my kidney center and asked for their help to try and find out what was wrong. Thinking maybe my electrolytes were out of balance because I hadn’t been eating well, a BMP was drawn but nothing showed up in those results. The nurse didn’t like the way I looked (pretty much like death warmed over) and after discussing it with the nephro on call, I was admitted to the hospital. There they found my hemoglobin level was less than 7; less than half of what it should have been. Somewhere along with line I’d lost a lot of blood but it hadn’t been detected. Because of the blood loss, I suffered a fairly significant heart attack. My heart was so weak I was put on an intra-aortic balloon pump. This pump continually inflated and deflated a balloon within my aorta for two days, decreasing the work load that my heart had to perform and thereby giving it a rest.
The stress of all this was just too much and as a result my transplant started to suffer. I was put on hemo temporarily but was then allowed to discontinue it to see if my transplant would recover as my heart grew stronger. But after suffering several bouts of congestive heart failure, my doctors informed my husband and I that I needed to make a decision on what type of dialysis I’d like to continue with. Since “none” was not an option, I went with peritoneal dialysis once again.
Three years later and I’m starting to have high PTH levels again. Right now with medication, it seems like it’s being controlled. But I sure am glad that during my last surgery, the doctor removed everything from my neck area and auto-transplanted a small amount of a parathyroid into my left forearm. If nothing else, at least I won’t have to go through another major surgery because of the darn things! ;)
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Well folks, the parathyroidectomy is being scheduled for around the first of November this year. I am a little scared and worried, but Id id read about it on line. I have the head surgeon of the department doing the surgery. he was very nice when I talked to him and answered my questions. He gave me all of the bad news then said it is usually a month to recover with few days spent in the hopsital. He says it is not very painful. We shall see. I am NOT looking forward to having my throat slit and being operated on again. Oh well another scar to add to the collection.
I plan to be back at work the end of November. I have a break from the end of October to the last week of November, then three weeks of work and the Christmas break.
Have you tried Hectorol? My husband takes it and so far has had no apparent side effects and it worked quickly to bring his levels down. It's rather expensive but his Neph usually has samples available. www.hectorol.com Might be worth a try between now and surgery time.
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Well it finally happened the doctor noticed the rising PTH levels and fairly uncontrolled phosphorous levels and decided to refer me to a surgeon. Oh Geez. Please tell me this is simple and uncomplicated???And it is a quick recovery time with little pain??? Anyway whatever the truth lay it on me.
Katherine
Update Update Update
Tomorrow, October 24 will be my parathyroidectomy at 8a.m. I had a phone call at 10:30 this morning from the doctors nurse , that said, even though we forgot about you and your surgery for November, how about doing it tomorrow? I went into frantic mode to get all the work I had to do at school done. Brought a ton of it home with me. We go on break on Friday, so I will miss another four days of school after the last three days I missed last week. Better be good. I have no more sick leave left now. I threw grades together for the trimester. Wrote plans twice, because the computer ate the first batch of plans I had on it. Wrote four IEPs, not completely. Forgot to put goals in one and left things blank and threw them at another teacher. I had a crazy two hours today at work until I left for the preop at 1:15. And guess who was an hour late to dialysis today, thanks to Kaiser and their system of wait and see? Oh well.
Just wanted to let the IHD.com family know what is going on, so if I am off line for a week, no worries. My sister will update you when she can.
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Well it finally happened the doctor noticed the rising PTH levels and fairly uncontrolled phosphorous levels and decided to refer me to a surgeon. Oh Geez. Please tell me this is simple and uncomplicated???And it is a quick recovery time with little pain??? Anyway whatever the truth lay it on me.
Katherine
Update Update Update
Tomorrow, October 24 will be my parathyroidectomy at 8a.m. I had a phone call at 10:30 this morning from the doctors nurse , that said, even though we forgot about you and your surgery for November, how about doing it tomorrow? I went into frantic mode to get all the work I had to do at school done. Brought a ton of it home with me. We go on break on Friday, so I will miss another four days of school after the last three days I missed last week. Better be good. I have no more sick leave left now. I threw grades together for the trimester. Wrote plans twice, because the computer ate the first batch of plans I had on it. Wrote four IEPs, not completely. Forgot to put goals in one and left things blank and threw them at another teacher. I had a crazy two hours today at work until I left for the preop at 1:15. And guess who was an hour late to dialysis today, thanks to Kaiser and their system of wait and see? Oh well.
Just wanted to let the IHD.com family know what is going on, so if I am off line for a week, no worries. My sister will update you when she can.
Just so you know if the surgery is a success, your PTH will drop immeadiately after surgery. I say if it is a success because you may have more "para's" then they know about. It took TWO surgerys to find all of my "para's" and the second surgery is when they cut my left vocal cord by digging around trying to find them all. Most people have 4 parathyroids, but you can have 5, 6, or more. If you are lucky they will TEST your PTH level to see if it is dropping (there is a special machine they have) WHILE they have you cut open and on the table to see if they got them all.
Also sometimes they take out all the "para's" and they will make a small incision and place a small amount in an area that is easily accessible like your arm, because we need some parathyroid function to live. In my case they did not need to put any back in, they just left a small piece in and FROZE the rest.
Good luck on your surgery and I hope all goes well for you. My PTH used to be 3,500+, then it was 600-900 after the surgery now that I am on NxStage it is down to 350 which I am very happy about. unfortunately it was already to late for me and I am in a wheelchair because of it, all my surgery did was stop any future bone loss or at least slow it down.
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Kit, go get'em Sister, we are all with you and for you :thumbup;... :grouphug;
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Best of luck for a speedy recovery, Kit, will be thinking of you tomorrow, especially! :thumbup;
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Hope the surgery goes well! Mine did when I had it! :thumbup;
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Wow, that happened fast.
Thinking of you and hoping all goes well and you have a speedy recovery.
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Good luck, Kit. Hope it all goes well. :2thumbsup;
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Good Luck Kit, thinking of you and hoping for a speedy recovery. Hope you get compassionate, caring nurses!!!
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So our superheroine goes off to yet another challenge. Our caring thoughts are with you all the way.
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They sent me home today Thursday. I arrived home around 8p.m. Seems t have been a success. I am sore and on Vicodin for pain and the docs changed all my meds around so now I have to try to get a handle on it all. But I am through it now. More later when I am up to it.
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Glad you're home :2thumbsup; keep us posted :cuddle;
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Okay folks. The Vicodin hit, so I do not want to hear about the typos here tonight! ;D Here is my poor little hospital story for this week.
Monday: Got a call from Dr nurse about them having a cancellation on their books and would I like to have my surgery on Tuesday instead on in midDecember. Well seeing as I have a month off from school starting on Friday, I said okay, but let me see if I can get a sub teacher in today. So off into panic mode at school. I had two hours to get grades in for the trimester, write plans for four days for my classes, and write four IEP, plus cancel parent teacher conferences. I worked like a crazy teacher until 1 oclock, then took off for Kaiser for preop stuff. I told them I had dialysis at three, but I do not think they believed me at Kaiser. One nurse said: "You know they know how long preop takes...." I did not have time for her so I slammed her pen down and left for the lab and an EKG. Anyway I made it from Fontana to RAI in San Bernardino by 4:30 to start 3 hours of dialysis before surgery.
Tuesday: Slept through my alarm or else it did not go off. Woke up to my sister's wake up call. Aren't I picking you up now for surgery? I let her into the house threw clothes onto my body and packed a little case with essentials. Was out of the house by 5:30 after getting up at 5:15. Yes i can move when I have to!
Got to Kaiser at around 6a.m. Went up to Same Day Admittance and was put into a gown and bed. Then the nurse tried to get an IV started. She tried twice and gave up. She was able to hit a small vein in my hand for blood work. They needed a potassium level before surgery. Then the anesthetist's assistant had a go at starting an IV on me. He stuck me once and lost the vein, then found on odd spot near the elbow and practically stood on his head putting the IV into my arm. Weird spot. I could not see it at all. At least it worked and it was small torture.
They took me into surgery and tied me down like Christ on the cross. Arms out, feet weighed down. I was just beginning to get claustrophobic about the arms being tied down, when the anesthetist said, okay the meds going to sting. It did. Then he said think of a happy place. I went cloud surfing in my mind and out I went. I woke up to to someone telling me to take a deep breath. I had a beautiful bandage around my neck. and a drain in my neck. Did not expect the drain, but it did not bother me too much. I was given Vicodin as painkiller all three days in the hospital. My blood pressure decided to play go low and stay low after surgery. Now I am on four different blood pressure meds. Dr. G took me off all but two now. I was in the 90s over 50s for awhile there. They made me breathe and all the cute stuff after surgery and sent me to my room to recover. Took awhile since Kaiser never has beds ready when you need them.
Turns out my sister who brought me to the hospital, had gone to work, then turned around and came back to Kaiser to wait for me. She met me outsdie the recovery room and handed me my glasses. My glasses had been the first thing I wanted when I woke up in the recovery room. The nurses told me they had no idea who had my glasses. So when Christy just asked me out of the blue if I wanted them I was stunned. I was also stunned to have her there. The doctor had called my house to talk to Victor about how the surgery went. I did not expect anyone to be there at the hospital when I came to my room. it was nice to have my sister there sitting with me. She read her books and worked on needle point/canvas stuff while I dozed in and out.
They fed me ice chips and jello in the afternoon and then asked if I wanted a liquid meal or real food. Real food wins out with me. My poor sore throat ate what they brought me. Carrots and meatloaf for dinner. Not bad. Hubby came to see me and had a good laugh over the carrots on the plate.
I sort of slept the night with people barging in and out of the room checking on me constantly. I had pain, but it was not really bad. Vicodin could hit most of it away.
I am tired now and cannot see the screen to type anymore. I will finish this saga, tomorrow morning. There is more...like when I really get mad...
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Glad you are home Kitkatz! Glad you are doing well!
Then the anesthetist's assistant had a go at starting an IV on me. He stuck me once and lost the vein, then found on odd spot near the elbow and practically stood on his head putting the IV into my arm. Weird spot. I could not see it at all. At least it worked and it was small torture.
Sounds like the same spot they put mine lol
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Great story. Please continue........
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So onward with this saga...
Tuesday is sort of a blur for me after surgery. Wednesday, they brought me an early breakfast at seven thinking I would be a dialysis in the hospital early, but they waited till 2 in the afternoon to take me finally. They fed me at seven then at 12:30 they tell me they were not going to give me lunch because dialysis is going to call for you. I said. No way in heck are you going to give me breakfast at seven, then wait till after dialysis at six in the evening to feed me again. My blood pressure will crash and so will my attitude. So they changed their minds and let me eat my lunch. Geez! Thanks.
So they take me to dialysis where my blood pressure decides to play hide and seek with them. Low pressure, do not take fluid, but I have fluid on me, take it off, no, no. The argument went around and around. I told them to take 3 to 4 kilos because I had it on me, but who knows what I weigh today Friday. We will see this afternoon. They gave me Benadryl paired with the Vicdin in the system already and I pretty much slept through dialysis. Then I am awake and everything is done,Kaiser transportation promptly forgets to come get me and take me to my room. I was off dialysis at 6:15 and did not get to my room until 8p.m. Needless to say I was in tears and just wanted my dinner and to go to bed so I could recover. The Vicodin makes me slightly emotional. By the time they had me in my bed in my room it was 8 p.m. and I was pissed. (Not that I could do anything but holler about it).
Then I picked up the dinner tray which my hubby says they tried to take away three times, and I find carrots and zucchini squash all mixed together with some kind of mystery meat. I HATE zucchini and to find it in my meal that was cold and congealing already, put me over the edge. I damn near threw the tray across the room and burst into tears, the nurse grabbed the dinner and said let me take it. And took it before I really threw it. My sister asked the nurse if she could go get me something to eat off grounds and the nurse said feed the woman. I sent Christy to Arbys for a turkey bacon sandwhich. It took me an hour and a half to eat the sandwhich and it tasted good! And on one told me I could not have it.
A friend of mine showed up to see me and we talked. Hurt to talk so a lot of silence from me. Then I tried to sleep and found out I could not sleep in the hopsital. Vitals being taken and cart racing up and down the hallway. oh well, read a book and watched TV. Then the air conditioning kicked on and it was noisy, so oh well, little or no sleep. They had stopped giving me calcium at dialysis and sometime in the night my IV went bad. The nurse pulled off the tubing and stopped giving me fluid and said she would call the doctor. The on- call bozo (doctor) decided I needed the IV and was going to make the nurse redo it. Well, after all of this time, I told the nurse I refuse to have it. After all, all they were doing with the IV was giving me fluid and God knew I needed that like I needed a hole in my head. So when the nurse heard me say No, she wrote it down and left it alone.
Thursday:
They decided my day should start at 5:30a.m., not that it was to be exciting in any way. They tried to send me down for a chest Xray that was not for me. My nurse caught the transport guy and said where you going? Not with her. She took me back to my room. At least the nurse was not an idiot. She listened to me and let me talk to her. All I wanted was regular Vicodin and leave me alone. However everytime I tried to sleep someone would walk in wanting something. I saw the doctor, the social worker, the nurse, the PCA-nurses assistant, then two friends from work showed up to see me. It was a nice surprise, but hurt to talk to them. My mom arrived around 11 oclock to visit. I was not good entertainment for her and she left round 2. My sister showed up to wait until they were going to let me go. She had rearranged her schedule so she could be there when they let me go. At two oclock they drew the calcium blood draw for the last time. The nurse came in and took the useless IV out finally. It was beginning to really bother me.They finally made decision around 5 that I would go home today. The doctor came and took the drain out of the neck and removed the staples. He butterfly taped everything together.
Christy was there and took me in the wheelchair to the pharmacy, which promptly had no prescriptions ready for me yet. So an hour wait in the pharmacy for prescriptions. And they forgot to get a pharmacist to come and tell me about the meds at the counter. How convenient they are!
Finally in the car on the way home...
Notes:
They changed my meds all around. now I take less. No sensipar or hectoral, taking calcium tablets, TUMS four times a day now. Added Rocitrol (Sp) to the list. Changed my BP meds all around to lower doses. We shall see how this all works out. Took me off cozaar and minoxidil, and left the plendil and atenolol. Took me an hour this morning to sort it all out and get a week's worth of pills into the container. Woo hoo!
Friday: I feel okay. No pain pill yet, but the throat is sore and I am a little grumpy. Going to have the hubby's CNA see if she can help me wash my hair today. Pretty much hurts a little to move.
Well there it is the long saga of a parathyroidectomy. I survived it They seemed to think I recovered pretty quickly afterwords.
Thanks for your prayers and thoughts.
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Whew! Glad you made it through all that, kitkatz!
bajanne, I've got my lab targets from the Kidney School site posted here in front of me. It says PTH levels are supposed to be 150-300 pg/mL for a target range for people on dialysis. 10 to 65 is normal for healthy people.
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Glad you're home and it sounds like you're doing well. We're thinking of you!! :grouphug;
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I hate hospitals. The food the treatment....no one listens to me. I'm glad you made it out.
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Heya Kit, I am so glad all that is over and you are doing well, sorry for all that you had to go through though, take it easy these next couple of days :2thumbsup;
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Wow-I just read your ordeal-i hope things are going okay for you. :2thumbsup;
Is this surgery something all dialysis people will have eventually? How many years into dialysis does this occur 1 or 2,5 or 10?
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Wow-I just read your ordeal-i hope things are going okay for you. :2thumbsup;
Is this surgery something all dialysis people will have eventually? How many years into dialysis does this occur 1 or 2,5 or 10?
NO, not all people will have this surgery, as long as you maintain a good PTH level which is about under 300 is acceptable, that number is still above normal but it is accepted by many as an acceptable number. I had mine taken out after I had broken both my hips within a one week period and had a PTH of 3,500+ which is VERY, VERY bad. By the time I broke my hips I was already suffering from very bad calcium deposits all over my body. I sometimes had to use crutches to even walk. I used to get steroid shots to get rid of the deposits, until I finally met a very wise doctor who told me to just take Motrin 800mg 4 times a day until the pain went away, and you know what it WORKED. The pain went away by the second pill. When you get a calcium deposit in your joints it's like someone is STABBING you and it is VERY painful. Motrin was my miracle drug for a while. Now a days I don't get calcium deposits anymore becasuse my PTH is stable at about 350. It was 700 before I started NxStage. Read my BIO in the introductions sections to hear more about my story.
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My PTH has been as high as 1800 or higher. I did not track it, just kept an eye on it through the once a month levels I get back from the center. Everything is a balancing act when you are on dialysis. My bones were stating to hurt, shoulders and neck area especially on a regular basis. The dentist told me there had been a lot bone loss in the mouth area. It was time to take care of it, or face possible repercussions later on. After reading Epoman's story I knew I wanted to take care of it sooner than later. So thank you to him for good advice.
Feel like I have had my throat slit. What fun!
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My PTH has been as high as 1800 or higher. I did not track it, just kept an eye on it through the once a month levels I get back from the center. Everything is a balancing act when you are on dialysis. My bones were stating to hurt, shoulders and neck area especially on a regular basis. The dentist told me there had been a lot bone loss in the mouth area. It was time to take care of it, or face possible repercussions later on. After reading Epoman's story I knew I wanted to take care of it sooner than later. So thank you to him for good advice.
Feel like I have had my throat slit. What fun!
Kitkatz, did I miss it or did you not state what your NEW PTH levels are. Please don't tell you don't know, they should have TOLD you right after surgery, since that is the only way to know if the surgery was a success.
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I really do not know. I did not ask. They were more worried about the calcium level than anything else. I assumed it went down.
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I really do not know. I did not ask. They were more worried about the calcium level than anything else. I assumed it went down.
Well if your calcium dropped that is a good sign but not always. But I am surprised they did not tell you. :o I mean that was the GOAL of the surgery, to lower your PTH. I just hope they got them all, I needed a second surgery and I lost my left vocal cord because of it. When they cut you open the first time, the risk of them damaging your vocal cords is LOW, but the second time they have to cut you open, the risk increases a lot more.
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I really do not know. I did not ask. They were more worried about the calcium level than anything else. I assumed it went down.
Well if your calcium dropped that is a good sign but not always. But I am surprised they did not tell you. :o I mean that was the GOAL of the surgery, to lower your PTH. I just hope they got them all, I needed a second surgery and I lost my left vocal cord because of it. When they cut you open the first time, the risk of them damaging your vocal cords is LOW, but the second time they have to cut you open, the risk increases a lot more.
Wow I didn't know the 2nd time is what increases that risk :(
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He whomped up a lymph node that was running around where it was not supposed to be in there. Took it out too. So we shall see. He said he got three and a half out of the four he found there. They were swollen as he expected. He left half of the one that looked the most normal, less swelling. We shall see how it goes from here. The scar itches today more than hurts. Plus I have a headache and am watching the blood pressure. I have been from 184/90 down to 158/93. Added another Plendil to my routine at night. Keeping and eye on it then call the doctor on Monday and ask some silly questions about it.
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He whomped up a lymph node that was running around where it was not supposed to be in there. Took it out too. So we shall see. He said he got three and a half out of the four he found there. They were swollen as he expected. He left half of the one that looked the most normal, less swelling. We shall see how it goes from here. The scar itches today more than hurts. Plus I have a headache and am watching the blood pressure. I have been from 184/90 down to 158/93. Added another Plendil to my routine at night. Keeping and eye on it then call the doctor on Monday and ask some silly questions about it.
I had read a study once that said that it is advisable to NOT take out ALL .. so leaving 1/2 in is common amonst some of the surgeons. Wait and see and hope all is well! Good luck! :2thumbsup;
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He whomped up a lymph node that was running around where it was not supposed to be in there. Took it out too. So we shall see. He said he got three and a half out of the four he found there. They were swollen as he expected. He left half of the one that looked the most normal, less swelling. We shall see how it goes from here. The scar itches today more than hurts. Plus I have a headache and am watching the blood pressure. I have been from 184/90 down to 158/93. Added another Plendil to my routine at night. Keeping and eye on it then call the doctor on Monday and ask some silly questions about it.
I had read a study once that said that it is advisable to NOT take out ALL .. so leaving 1/2 in is common amonst some of the surgeons. Wait and see and hope all is well! Good luck! :2thumbsup;
Yes it is definately NOT advisable to remove every last bit, as you would not be able to function, as they control our nervous and muscular systems by regulating the calcium in our bodies.
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He whomped up a lymph node that was running around where it was not supposed to be in there. Took it out too. So we shall see. He said he got three and a half out of the four he found there. They were swollen as he expected. He left half of the one that looked the most normal, less swelling. We shall see how it goes from here. The scar itches today more than hurts. Plus I have a headache and am watching the blood pressure. I have been from 184/90 down to 158/93. Added another Plendil to my routine at night. Keeping and eye on it then call the doctor on Monday and ask some silly questions about it.
I had read a study once that said that it is advisable to NOT take out ALL .. so leaving 1/2 in is common amonst some of the surgeons. Wait and see and hope all is well! Good luck! :2thumbsup;
Yes it is definately NOT advisable to remove every last bit, as you would not be able to function, as they control our nervous and muscular systems by regulating the calcium in our bodies.
Are you SURE about that? I mean they removed all 4 of mine. They sit on the Thyroid. I was told they took ALL mine out that sit there.
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when I had my parathyroidectomy they took all of them out and implanted one in my arm and then when my calcium was not coming back up they went and implanted another in my arm (two really nice scars!). I was told that you still need them to control calcium too.
Geoff
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when I had my parathyroidectomy they took all of them out and implanted one in my arm and then when my calcium was not coming back up they went and implanted another in my arm (two really nice scars!). I was told that you still need them to control calcium too.
Geoff
They never implanted any in my arms :(
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He whomped up a lymph node that was running around where it was not supposed to be in there. Took it out too. So we shall see. He said he got three and a half out of the four he found there. They were swollen as he expected. He left half of the one that looked the most normal, less swelling. We shall see how it goes from here. The scar itches today more than hurts. Plus I have a headache and am watching the blood pressure. I have been from 184/90 down to 158/93. Added another Plendil to my routine at night. Keeping and eye on it then call the doctor on Monday and ask some silly questions about it.
I had read a study once that said that it is advisable to NOT take out ALL .. so leaving 1/2 in is common amonst some of the surgeons. Wait and see and hope all is well! Good luck! :2thumbsup;
Yes it is definately NOT advisable to remove every last bit, as you would not be able to function, as they control our nervous and muscular systems by regulating the calcium in our bodies.
Are you SURE about that? I mean they removed all 4 of mine. They sit on the Thyroid. I was told they took ALL mine out that sit there.
Yes, they may have took 4 out but that doesn't mean you don't have anymore. Some people can have up to 8. The left side parathyroids can drop down into your chest. Or Maybe they took out 4 but left a little piece of one them still inside. I thought you and I already discussed this in another thread (or was it this one) If you don't believe me, feel free to ask your doctor the next time you see him/her. :thumbup;
(http://www.ihatedialysis.com/images/PTH2.gif)
Also about the "implant" in the arm thing, yes that is done sometimes, but not always, if they know you have "extra" parathyroids. They know which parathyroids are causing the problems because they are abnormal in size. They should be the size of a grain of rice. One of mine was the size of a golfball. When they remove your parathyroids they "FREEZE" them because they may need to put some back in, that is the reason they usually put a piece back in your arm so they do not have to go back in your throat which is associated with more surgical risks.
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You guys scare me sometimes! Everything you have been through! Geez! Plus all of the medical information you know. *Ducks head*
I am feeling okay today. The throat is still sore but bearable and the neck is itching like crazy. Took a shower this morning and finally got most of the hospital gunk off of me finally. I am trying to stay off of the Vicodin now and use Tylenol. The Vicodin gives me very weirded out dreams and I am grouchy on it. I am trying to get back to usual sparkling self. :chillpill; :lol;
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I am feeling better. Everyone seems surprised I am up and at 'em so quickly. I feel fine. The taste of food finally went from grey colored to full colored Thursday night. I could taste things, but it was like ah, just food. The carne asada tacos I had Thursday night tasted soooo good! I had not realized I had even had a taste problem until it all came back. I have lost about four pounds over the last two weeks from not wanting to eat. The tummy seems to say no more, that is it. And I have learned to stop eating when it says to. Otherwise I am in misery all day long. I am at 89 kilos down from 91. I have to remember to challenge the dry wight other wise I will go home heavy. What a way to lose weight.
I took the tape off of the neck yesterday. It was driving me nuts. I will try to get a picture of the scar to show you all. The neck is still a little swollen. I see the surgeon in another month.
I have no results on calcium, PTH, or phosphorus yet. It is strange noone wants to monitor it. I may have to kick up fuss and have dialysis do it next week.
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Have a few pics of my new scar on my neck from the surgery eleven days ago!!!
Yes, I had my throat slit and resewn. Isn't it lovely. I should tattoo diamonds to it so I always have a necklace ready to go. LOl!
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Looks pretty good for just 11 days. Either they were really neat, or you heal fast. My thyroid scar was much worse -- but it has faded now to where it's hard to find. Of course, maybe it's because I'm older now and it just looks like another wrinkle :lol;
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I overdid it Saturday and rested yesterday, however here it is three in the morning and I am aching. I had a cup of chamomile tea to help the sore throat and have my hot pack- microwave- thingy on my neck and shoulders. I think my shoulders are a ball of muscle from me shrinking into my neck to protect the area. Also the stop the pain from being too bad after surgery. I am around thirteen days post op now.
Also I cleaned my house Saturday. Got up with a headache and took two Excedrin (yes, I know a no, no, but the only pain killer that will work the migraine I was about to have.), layed down for an hour, then got up and went on a whirlwind cleaning spree. Cleaned the kitchen counters, did some dishes, vacuumed and mopped the floor. Then dusted the livingroom, moved some boxes, got rid of some stuff, reorganized the paintings/prints on the fireplace, had help moving the coffee table;e (sister actually moved it for me). Then I moved a very icky cat box and found (you do not want to know what I found!). Cleaned that mess up swearing at my cats the entire time. Put vinegar down on the area, then mopped the hell out of the living room floor. Then down the hallway I went with clean mop and water with simple green. I would vacuum, then mop. I cleaned out part of the mess in my office,too.
I know I overdid it! I even called my Mom and told her I was overdoing it. A cry for help. She told me there is always tomorrow and to stop. Hahahaha! Not the way my brain works. My sister came to get me out of the house for lunch. I went with the hubby and sister to lunch, then finished dealing with what I had started: the vacuuming and mopping.
So anyway the house is clean, but I am worn out. I rested yesterday. I now have aches and pains I know are from the house cleaning work I did. Stupid, stupid STUPID! I am crazy! :banghead; :banghead; :banghead;
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Poor Kit, great to have the house clean, but at what expense??? :yahoo; Sure hope the aches and pains >:( subside quickly and you are back to your ole' happy self! ;D Hope you don't cause extra scar tissue, so you better rest now and thank your family for trying to keep you out of harm's way... :grouphug; Sometime we just don't do what we know is best for ourselves, do we? :angel; I am also guilty. :-[ Best of luck for quick healing and full recovery! :thumbup; (the housework ALWAYS waits for us---don't know why those gremlins don't take care of it!-huuumpf! >:D) Next month at this time this will all be a vague memory...or maybe not... ??? Take care, Anja
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Okay folks I have my blood work back- 1st one after surgery. Hot damn looks pretty good!
Albumin 4.5
Calcium 9.2
Phosphorous 3.8
Parathyroid hormone 24.6
Potassium 4.4
Hemoglobin 11.7
Iron saturation 23
KT/V 1.73
Look at the phosphorous! It has never been that low! Over the last two years it has been between 6 and 7 regularly!
I eat pretty much what I want to eat and watch the high potassium and phosphorous things.
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nice labs kit.
Had my parathyroidectomy aug. 1st of 01. It sucked I tell ya. I was in the hospital 10 days afterwards. I had continuous I.V. drips and numerous I.V.'s. They had to change my I.V. just about everyday. My veins kept blowing out. It was a very painful experience. I dont ever want to go through that again. Except my nurse told me a few months ago my levels were rising again. *sigh* But I havent heard anything since then. *keeping my fingers crossed*
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Okay folks I have my blood work back- 1st one after surgery. Hot damn looks pretty good!
Albumin 4.5
Calcium 9.2
Phosphorous 3.8
Parathyroid hormone 24.6
Potassium 4.4
Hemoglobin 11.7
Iron saturation 23
KT/V 1.73
Look at the phosphorous! It has never been that low! Over the last two years it has been between 6 and 7 regularly!
I eat pretty much what I want to eat and watch the high potassium and phosphorous things.
Congrats on all those numbers!!!
:beer1;
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:thumbup;
Our superheroine leaps those tests in one jump!!!
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Okay folks I have my blood work back- 1st one after surgery. Hot damn looks pretty good!
Albumin 4.5
Calcium 9.2
Phosphorous 3.8
Parathyroid hormone 24.6
Potassium 4.4
Hemoglobin 11.7
Iron saturation 23
KT/V 1.73
Look at the phosphorous! It has never been that low! Over the last two years it has been between 6 and 7 regularly!
I eat pretty much what I want to eat and watch the high potassium and phosphorous things.
Very nice numbers. Your albumin number looks great.. i'm jealous. :lol; Ever since starting dialysis in 4/2004, I have been tired/weak 24/7 and the doctor's tell me it's beause low protien levels and sometimes low iron and hemoglobin.. right now my iron and hemoglobin levsl are stable, but th whole 2 years I been doin dialysis I cannot seem to get my albumin above 3.4, thats high for me, as its usually even lower than that... >:( I eat as much protein as my little body can take in at a time, still no help. I tried boost, but annot keep it down the taste is horrible, and I tried ensure... same thing, blahhh... i'm waiting for my dietician to get bak to me about a taste-less protein powder b/c so far the protein powders I have tried have horrible taste and I puke as first sip.
Anyways, great numbers hun... :2thumbsup;
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Kitkatz, your incision looks great! Healing quite well! Labs are great too! What are you taking now for calcium replacement, if any? As far as cleaning, take the MONTH off - you did way too much already...what a woman! Just please take it easy for awhile.
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Going to get this place whipped into shape before I go back to work on the 27th! Muhuhhahahahaha! *Evil laugh, dirt is running from me!* The wind is blowing my leaf pile back all over the yard this morning, darn it! I am going to clean out my closet today. It is almost the last area that has to be done in the house. The cleaning supply cupboard needs a good toss, too. Just going to putz around when these are done. It is nice to relax in a clean house. The back yard is going to get whacked when I am up to it.
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QUESTION: Please get back to me ASAP.
I am having tingling in my hands and feet. I have called the doctor and left a message with Kaiser, but God knows when I will be called back. Is this something I need to worry about immediately? Is it normal? Is my calcium low?
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Okay folks, I IMed the boss man Epoman with my question about tingling. Here is his reply:
"Oh that is easy, your calicum is LOW! Take about 8-10 tums RIGHT NOW and you will notice it go away. I had to take Calcium pills for quite a few months after my surgery. They can prescribe calicium pills but for now to STOP the tingling eat A LOT of "Tums"."
Oka,y I have taken an extra fourTums in addtion to the two at lunch. I am now waiting for them to get to work. Thank you Epoman. This really had me concerned.
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It hasn't happened recently, but, months ago I would get that tingly feeling in my feet and hands too... I never guessed to take tums or that it was from low calcium, I will remember that for the next time it happens.. my calcium is good right now this month anyways, but GREAT info.. thanks for sharing, :2thumbsup;
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It hasn't happened recently, but, months ago I would get that tingly feeling in my feet and hands too... I never guessed to take tums or that it was from low calcium, I will remember that for the next time it happens.. my calcium is good right now this month anyways, but GREAT info.. thanks for sharing, :2thumbsup;
Ya I remember the feeling was like I was being electricuted. I don't get that anymore since I had them taken out!
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It hasn't happened recently, but, months ago I would get that tingly feeling in my feet and hands too... I never guessed to take tums or that it was from low calcium, I will remember that for the next time it happens.. my calcium is good right now this month anyways, but GREAT info.. thanks for sharing, :2thumbsup;
Yeap, since kat just had her parathyroids removed, that is the reason she is getting the tingling or vibrating feelings, her calcium is dropping. It took quite a while for my calcium to stabilize. At one point on 30+ calcium pills a day, and my calcium was barely hitting 7.0 :o That many calcium pills made me sick to my stomach, but I had no choice.
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Ya they told me I had no calcium in my bones. Is that accurate?
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Yes, it is accurate. They call it "hungry bone syndrome". The bones are getting back at me for having the PTH high and leaching out the calcium and phosphorous from the bones these past couple of years. They are taking the calcium and phosphorous back into them as fast as they can. Which means I am supposed to have the TUMS four times a day. I added extra yesterday and the tingling seemed to go away. m I am going to ask some questions at dialysis today and see what I am supposed to be doing for the tingling sensations. Probably just what Epoman said to do, add the Tums. I will let you all know.
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Yes, it is accurate. They call it "hungry bone syndrome". The bones are getting back at me for having the PTH high and leaching out the calcium and phosphorous from the bones these past couple of years. They are taking the calcium and phosphorous back into them as fast as they can. Which means I am supposed to have the TUMS four times a day. I added extra yesterday and the tingling seemed to go away. m I am going to ask some questions at dialysis today and see what I am supposed to be doing for the tingling sensations. Probably just what Epoman said to do, add the Tums. I will let you all know.
Probably? HA! So little faith in me. :'( >:D If they don't prescribe calcium pills or tell you to take extra Tums, they are idiots. Even a 1st year med student would tell you that. Bottomline is ask a tech at dialysis who most likely will say "I don't know, ask a nurse", then the nurse will say "oh you better talk to your doctor" then they will page the doctor and ask him/her and he will say "Well....have her try taking more tums she should have listened to Epoman in the first place."
>:D
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Yes, it is accurate. They call it "hungry bone syndrome". The bones are getting back at me for having the PTH high and leaching out the calcium and phosphorous from the bones these past couple of years. They are taking the calcium and phosphorous back into them as fast as they can. Which means I am supposed to have the TUMS four times a day. I added extra yesterday and the tingling seemed to go away. m I am going to ask some questions at dialysis today and see what I am supposed to be doing for the tingling sensations. Probably just what Epoman said to do, add the Tums. I will let you all know.
Probably? HA! So little faith in me. :'( >:D If they don't prescribe calcium pills or tell you to take extra Tums, they are idiots. Even a 1st year med student would tell you that. Bottomline is ask a tech at dialysis who most likely will say "I don't know, ask a nurse", then the nurse will say "oh you better talk to your doctor" then they will page the doctor and ask him/her and he will say "Well....have her try taking more tums she should have listened to Epoman in the first place."
>:D
:rofl;
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Ya I will back Epoman and say you MUST take some sort of Phosphate binder and Calcium Supplement of you have no kidney function and your bloodwork shows high phosphate levels and low Calcium and you feel that "tingling/electricuting-type" feeling in your extremities!
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Oh Mighty Epoman! You were right on. The nurse sent me to the dietitian who told me to up my calcium intake. Take the Tums, a lot of Tums she said. These stupid people! Noone is checking my calcium levels. I have had one blood work test done since I left the hospital. Should they be checking it regularly and should I call my internist and holler?
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Oh Mighty Epoman! You were right on. The nurse sent me to the dietitian who told me to up my calcium intake. Take the Tums, a lot of Tums she said. These stupid people! Noone is checking my calcium levels. I have had one blood work test done since I left the hospital. Should they be checking it regularly and should I call my internist and holler?
You should be having your calcium drawn weekly. You want to keep it at the very least above 8.0, your bones will be sucking up the calcium for a while. You should be taking several calcium pills or Tums daily and maybe even a Vitamin D supplement which will help in the absorption of the Calcium. If I were you I would pick up some "Extra Strength" Tums. Regular Tums has 500mg of Calcium per tab but we are concerned with the "Elemental Calcium" per pill which is only like 300mg, so I recommend getting the Tums E-X and demanding they draw your calcium weekly.
So maybe next time you won't doubt me. ;) >:D
- Epoman
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But I did not doubt you in the least. I went and took more Tums on your orders/advice! I bow to your wisdom. Why do you think I asked you first, oh All knowing Wise Man!
I am going to hit Rite Aid for the extra strength Tums flavors I like best. I like their brand best of fruit flavored Tums.
I want to complain about how I feel, but, oh well...
Couldn't sleep tonight. I think I need to go to the chiropractor and have to neck put back into whack. May be too soon after the surgery to go to them. May try it tomorrow morning.
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I went to the chiropractor twice and do not have the thumping of my heartbeat in my left ear anymore. Funny what a neck adjustment can do. I just wish the silly shoulder pain would go away.
Anyway back t,o the topic. I was wondering if anyone else after parathyroid surgery, had a strange taste in their mouth. It is very tinny tasting and comes from the back of the mouth under the tongue. I thought maybe it was a pill reaction, but it started a few weeks ago after surgery.
I am also hungry a lot. I mean it feels like there is a big hole and it has to be filled. My new motto is becoming " I could eat." However I have lost almost six pounds over the last few weeks, too. Hmmmm. I think this is just weird!
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hmm.. I don't think I did. I mean .. I have in the past but didn't notice anything suddenly changed like taste in the mouth after my PT surgery.
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:bump;
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Thanks so much, Zach! I really needed to read through this again, now that my phosphorus/calcium/PTH levels etc. are of important interest at the moment!