"Grandma got run over by a reindeer. walking home from our house, Christmas eve. you can say there's no such thing as santa, but as for me and grandpa, we believe. she'd been drinking too much eggnog, and we'd begged her not to go. but she forgot her medication, so she staggered out the door into the snow........now the goose is on the table, and the pudding made of fig. and a blue and silver candle , that would just have matched the hair in grandma's wig." Grandma got run over by a reindeer, by elmo and patsy

after you have thyroid cancer, and lose your butterfly, your body goes into full blown  hypothyroidism. before i found out that i had thyroid cancer, and before my surgery, i had some of the classic hypothyroid symptoms, but not all. now, i find that i have every single one of them. so, along with dealing with the challenges of have had( hopefully) cancer- both physical and mental changes, i find that my body is on turbo-hypothyroid mode. this has presented challenges for me- i am still trying to adjust to  and deal with some of the changes. 

since i am now a proud, first time grandmother, i feel that i can use the lyrics of this humorous holiday song to illustrate some of my problems.i honestly think that it the grandmother in this song had thyroid disease- maybe she was distracted ( another symptom) and that is why the reindeer got her.

first example: the title, or "grandma got run over by a reindeer". i feel like that reindeer ran over me,too. i get so tired, well sometimes, beyond tired. i know this is a busy time of the year- so many things to do, even if they are fun things. but these holiday errands or chores( hate to use that word) are just added onto work duties, house cleaning,etc, and all the other things that we all have to do everyday. i have been trying to go to bed earlier, but i find that this time of year i tell myself, well, i will do  just one more thing before bed...... and of course i end up getting less sleep.being tired is probably the number one hypothyroid "problem" for me.

next, she'd been drinking too much eggnog. well, i do like to have a glass of organic wine now and again. but i read in one of my thyroid books, that the "hypothyroid liver", to quote the author, metabolizes alcohol in a different way than a normal person's liver does. guess i will have to pass on the eggnog this year.

"she forgot her medication". oh the horrors of that! that is truly a disastrous event for me, or any other hypothyroid patient. i forgot my thyroid supplement the other day, and i just had to drag myself through work. amazing how much thyroid patients depend on that one little tablet in the morning to get us through the day! and of course, it must be taken on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning, to get the full effect. i had that fuzzy( but not warm) feeling the day i forgot to make my medication.

about hair loss ( grandma's wig). i lost quite a bit of hair, actually, after my surgery and I-131 treatment. it has mostly grown back in, but some days i feel that i could use a wig! the texture seems to have changed also. this is an important issue! you only have to glance at the magazines in the store to realize how much hair matters to women( and i secretly think to men,too. even if they are not going to admit it) 

so grandma had an untreated thyroid problem, and as a result, got run over by a reindeer. hopefully this grandma can make it through the holidays without incident. and by the way, i have ALWAYS believed in santa.