Wow, really? Like, has it really been nearly six years since I had my thyroid removed? It is hard to believe how quickly time flies and it is safe to say my life really has changed radically and for the better in so many ways.
2019 – I got divorced and bought a cute little ‘me sized’ house in Bacup and moved on with my life. That has to be the biggest change so far, one that needed to be done and one that I have never regretted not for a single second.
2023 – I have just renewed my passport for the first time in 30 years and am looking forward to planning a trip, anywhere, I really do not care, but my feet will be on foreign soil before the end of this year.
Thyroid? Well, it went into the surgical waste bucket when my TT [Total Thyroidectomy] operation saw it extracted, but it has left a legacy. Back in 2017, when I wrote my last blog, I reported that my left vocal chord had started working, well yes it does, but it never recovered fully.
I first got a hint that there was lasting damage while drinking red wine about January 2019… I choked. It felt like I couldn’t get air into my lungs, I was gasping, grasping at nothing because my airway seemed to be blocked. Very slowly it returned to normality and I found myself coughing and coughing, so much tears came down my face.
Fast forward to October of that year and very publicly, while munching on a Mini Roll, it happened again. There were hundreds of people because it happened at the end of a community parade. This time I didn’t just choke once, but twice. The first time I got my breath back and then, within seconds, it happened again – so a well-meaning friend gave me abdominal thrusts – he was not to know they can’t help… paramedics called… etc…
The paramedic said it sounded like vocal chord palsy, also known as laryngeal spasm.
I visited my doctor and was referred to the consultant at Fairfield Hospital where my operation took place. Then referred on to another speech and language therapist in January 2020. She was brilliant and provided exercises, which I still do on my neck, and vocal exercises to strengthen my voice, in the meantime I had another two attacks, this time eating soup.
Covid came and my therapist was switched to the front line, so my sessions were over. Who can forget as we all endured a surreal existence of lockdowns and restrictions. I was healthier, but my throat was still a problem.
Since then I have had another three or four attacks so I have had a special bracelet made so that no one ever gives me abdominal thrusts and I make sure everyone around me knows how to deal with it, as it will happen again. Last time, a couple of months ago, it was while I was drinking water!
In 2021, I ended up in hospital twice with what appeared to be an anaphylactic shock, puffy eyes, blocked airways, swollen face and diarrhoea, It took to 2023 to get a consultant appointment and that is when it was diagnosed with a second autoimmune disease Chronic Spontaneous Angioedema. No, I had never heard of it either. It is a severe reaction, bought on by anything, with no real trigger but it is an extreme reaction. It is not an anaphylactic shock so the treatment is not an adrenaline pen, instead I have to make sure I have a supply of antihistamines with me at all times, ready for the next time and unfortunately there have been three incidents so far.
Looking back on all this you may think I would say I wish I had never had the thyroid removed and that I should have accepted the poison chalice of radioactive iodine. No. No. No. I made my judgement after reading all the literature. And I stand by that decision. All the hiccups along the way are just the curve balls life throws at you.
So back to 2023, I am looking forward to paying a second visit to Whitby Goth Festival next month and to enjoying my first plane journey since 1995…as soon as my passport arrives.
Keep well, keep smiling x