Happy Mayo-versary!

Happy 2013 and happy Mayo-versary!

Yes friends, it has officially been one year since the start of this blog and the rapid increase in my frequent flier miles.

Now, imagine my shock today, when there was not a personalized red carpet leading into the clinic and no one showered me with sparkly confetti upon entering the elevator. I mean, I wasn't even offered free frozen yogurt for a year!

Sigh.

Maybe they are waiting until the end of this stay? This Friday I'm sure there will be the "big reveal" of a life-size sculpture and "Best Patient Ever" plaque. I better make sure my yoga pants and fleece are ironed...the paparazzi is sure to be there.

In any event, I am back in lovely Rochester, MN, where the high today is 16 degrees Fahrenheit (this is actually a major plus, when I was here in December, it was a high of 1...). Tomorrow I have appointments with allergy, neurology and neuro-opthalmology and Thursday I have a follow-up with my internist (sidenote-my Dad calls her my "quarterback." The poor woman is in charge of coordinating all of my care. I owe her a lot of cookies). Obviously Friday is free of appointments due to the massive celebration for my Mayo-versary. Duh.

In other news, this past Friday, I saw an ENT (ear, nose and throat, or otolaryngologist for you fancy pants out there) in Philadelphia who specializes in all things relating to the thyroid. I will admit, I was very hesitant (read: crabby) about going, as I must admit to being a little doctored-out. That being said, the appointment was set up by a very dear friend, so I decided to give it a shot (read: stop being a wimp) and boy am I relieved that I did! The doctor was incredible and was able to look at the situation in a way that no one has been able to thus far. In a matter of minutes and with a very brief examination, he looked at me and said, "So your larynx is tethered."

Oh. Right.

Can we, um, un-tether it?

If you look at yourself in the mirror when you swallow, you'll notice that your larynx goes up and down. Likewise, if you continue to gaze at your neck while projecting your voice, singing, speaking, etc. you will notice even more movement of the little box of wonder. Suffice it to say, these things cannot happen if my larynx cannot move.

Apparently a larynx can become tethered with severe Grave's Disease. When your thyroid is inflamed, it pushes down on the larynx and all of the surrounding muscles. Over time, your body slowly adapts to those changes and the muscles tighten up to try and protect the vital organs (reason #2304982039840 why our bodies are absolutely brilliant). When I had my thyroid removed, the stress of the surgery and the massive amounts of scar tissue clamped everything down further, and now my larynx is frozen.

There are a few options for treatment, but really only two worth mentioning (ridiculously vigorous massage doesn't really apply when the scar tissue is over your windpipe...). Option #1 is another surgery and option #2 is injections of steroids every 4-6 week to try and release the muscles and break down the scar tissue.

I think the choice is rather obvious.

Unless there are any objections from my doctors here at Mayo or my endocrinologist at home, I will start the injections on the 18th and go from there. They are supposedly super painful, but the doctor is very confident that they will enable me to swallow again. He can't promise that the injections will allow me to sing again, as he thinks there may also be some further nerve damage, but it should certainly make the situation a bit less severe.

The most common side effect of the injections, other than the obvious pain and bruising, is that they tend to make the scar bright white. Luckily for me, as the doctor so kindly pointed out, that won't really matter with my skin tone....

Hey, being Casper can have its advantages.