Graveslady...need your eyeballs \0-0/

[borninquisitive]

Sorry to keep you "hanging" so long. I trust you had a good Christmas? Get all the lovely work done? I don't know about you but I do find it hard to enjoy...when doing all the "foot work" to get it done. Though, when I am in rest mode, do enjoy looking at the tree and seeing the kids open their presents with big smiles.

My Christmas was going along fine, until Christmas evening...oh, developed a stomach bug and up went all that dinner and twice into the morning thereafter. Spent the whole next day sleeping, save for about 1 1/2 hours divided by 3.  

Then on the 27th, developed thrush (beautiful!):
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/KateInAlaska/thrush.jpg

I am awaiting some Nistatin and BC Pills (hoping it'll sort hormones?).

As we speak, am trying your Iodine theory;-) On my inner arm.
Jacked up the heat (T-shirt on account of Iodine) and drinking some hot Chamomile tea.

I finally downloaded some photos. I was here lastnight but my husband came home from work early. So figured I would wait for tonight while all was quiet in the home.



This is my throat, relaxed:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/KateInAlaska/thy1.jpg

And one while holding a swallow:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/KateInAlaska/thy2.jpg

The right side does seem a little bigger and in feeling it too (sometimes feeling mushy, today it feels more firm.)
In watching the swallow, my throat doesn't look like it is perfectly lined up. The Adams apple seems to move slightly to the left. I just don't know if it's an illusion (shadows, skin creases etc.) Cont...

[borninquisitive]

Thank you and sorry to hear about your dog, graveslady. Is she still sick?

I am feeling better, it was short lived but atrocious.
Yes, my thyroid does move when I swallow. I simply assumed that everyone else's does too. Perhaps I will have to post, asking...out of curiosity.

Yes, I did read that nodules are rather common and usually mean nothing. I wouldn't be so much bothered, if it were not for some of the tenderness and achy right side of my neck. Too, my voice really bugs me. I could tolerate the sound and assumed it might sound different after tonsil removal but I feel it, when I talk. Kind of a strangulation feeling, especially when using vowel sounds: a(ahh)& o.  

As for thyroid location, I have seen two diagrams. One where it appears just under the Adam's apple and another, showing a little space between it and the Adam's apple. I wonder if neck length has anything to do with it?

I didn't realize the thyroid is that large...geez, however do we manage...considering everything else in our necks! lol

I will check out the images later, when everybody is in bed. Don't need to traumatize the kids! lol

Graveslady, I thank you for all that you do and hope you have a wonderful New Year!
Will talk to you soon.

~Kate

[GravesLady]

Hey, sorry you were sick for the Christmas Holidays.  I hope you are all well by now, if just feeling better.  My Christmas was not much better.  It wasn't me but rather my dog.  So I stayed home Christmas Eve and Day. Family did come over for an hour to exchange gifts.  Bummer because I don't see then that often due to living 8 hour drive apart.  My sister and her husband is here though.  Can't get into Vets until the 9th. They are so independent!

Well, from your pictures your neck looks a little swollen in the center.  But the issue is whether the bump goes up and down while swallowing.  The thyroid is just under the Adam's apple lower down the neck.  

Occasionally a thyroid nodule can be found through a CT and MRI. However an important and widely used initial screening test for thyroid nodules/goiters is the thyroid scan, ultrasound .
In euthyroid patients with a nodule, a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) should be done first . According to guidelines from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, it is "believed to be the most effective method available for distinguishing between benign and malignant thyroid nodules," with an accuracy approaching 95 percent, depending on the experience of the person performing the biopsy and the skill of the cytopathologist interpreting the slides. However, palpable thyroid nodules occur in 4 to 7 percent of the population (10 to 18 million persons),  , but nodules found incidentally on ultrasonography suggest a prevalence of 19 to 67 percent. The majority of thyroid nodules are asymptomatic.


Warning: Very Graphic!
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/8966.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19148.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17126.htm
http://images.google.com/images?q=thyroid+pictures&hl=en&lr=&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/thyroid.html
Thyroid Gland is shaped like a butterfly:  The wings correspond to the lobes and
The body to the isthmus of the thyroid.
The thyroid gland is the biggest gland in the neck. Measuring about 2 inches. It is situated in the anterior (front) neck below the skin and muscle layers. The thyroid is situated just below your "Adams apple" or larynx. It wrap around the trachea and lies along the windpipe (trachea)
And are joined together by a narrow band of thyroid tissue, known as the isthmus.
The sole function of the thyroid is to make thyroid hormone. This hormone has an effect on nearly all tissues of the body where it increases cellular  activity. The function of the thyroid therefore is to regulate the body's metabolism.


http://www.ghorayeb.com/ThyroidPics.html
Warning: Very graphic site with pictures of a thyroidectomy, lingual thyroid,
substernal goiter, recurrent laryngeal nerve, thyroglossal duct cyst and more

http://www.gfmer.ch/selected_images_v2/detail_list.php?cat1=16&cat3=295&stype=d
Warning: graphic pictures of a thyroid from a case of nodular goiter

http://familydoctor.org/514.xml
Any swelling on the neck causes concern. Yet most such swellings aren't cancerous. Check this chart if you have any swelling or lumps on your neck


Hope you have a better New Year!

[borninquisitive]

My doctor checked my neck quickly but never requested me to swallow or tilt my head back.

The ENT comes here in February and will address it with him. He's been at his job for quite a number of years and think his senses are more in "tune."

It was his anesthesiologist who shouted out to me to have my thyroid checked as I was being wheeled away after my tonsillectomy.

During a follow-up, my ENT commented that he wanted another CT scan done. I wonder how well these pick up an abnormal appearing thyroid?

I do have my old scan but am not sure where the thyroid is located. Assuming it's located above the top of the lungs. From what I can tell (if I am right) it looks like it wraps a little around my right side.

I would just love to wake up one day and say, boy do I feel great and be back to my old self!

Well, I hope your Christmas went along better than mine! lol I look forward to the new year, it means Spring is coming around the corner. ;-D