Wings of Hope for Adolescent Thyroid Awareness, Inc.: April 2012

Monday, April 9, 2012

Just some changes

So today I cancelled the Wings of Hope official website of adolescentthyroid.com. It was kind of sad, it's been up and running for quite some time now, but it was becoming a bit much to run. That and I had just linked the blog to automatically load for the main page, so there really wasn't much of a point anymore. I will keep the Facebook page going, and I will try and maintain the blog.

On a side note, I did have the shoulder surgery in November - it's much better now! Still gets stiff, ended up having a bone spur in my shoulder and in my collar bone - way more painful then I thought it would be! I see a new endo in June since my last one no longer is practing :( he was awesome!! And the most exciting thing - the reason I haven't being doing much recently - is that I got a teaching job, my dream teaching job! I love it! But let me tell you, being a first year teacher is tough! I couldn't be luckier though to have gotten the job I have.

Ok that's all for now, sorry I haven't been around much - hope you all understand.

A Little About Us

A little about Wings of Hope: I started Wings of Hope in October of 2006. Around that time I was beginning to have problems with my thyroid again, and realized that there was just so little out there. I was complaining about this at work on day and it was suggested I start a myspace page and see how things went. I started a myspace page and with in a few weeks we had over 100 people, and I knew then that I needed to officially form Wings of Hope for Adolescent Thyroid Awareness - that it was time I turn something positive out of what was something negative.

A little about me: My name is Maggie, I am now 26 and I was given Radioactive Iodine the day of my 18th birthday to treat my Grave's disease. My primary doctor diagnosed me with Graves disease in 2002 after I began having these dizzy spells if I didn't eat the minute I got hungry and I was having heart palpitations. Unfortunately for me, my primary didn't take it seriously enough so that by the time I knew how bad it was I was being taken to the hospital because my heart had been racing nonstop for two days and I was having chest pains - at 17 years old. Within two weeks I saw two different endocrinologists - one scared the crap out of me - the other one was nice and took his time explaining things to me. He helped us make the decision for me to move forward with RAI, and for me it was the best choice.

Not having anyone else I could talk to my age about this was the hardest thing, especially since I was to old for children's doctors but still really to young for adult doctors. Graves disease changed my outlook on life. I was a freshman in college when I was first diagnosed, and spent most of my second semester on bed rest, in the hospital, or at the doctors. During that time my school wanted me to stop taking classes, but I refused. After 8 years I now have my Bachelors in Interior Design and my Masters in Historic Preservation. Gaves disease taught me to not give up, that if you want something bad enough you need to fight for it - because life isn't always easy.

I have learned who my friends are, how wonderful my family is, how supportive my now fiance is for sticking by my side through all of this, and how much my wonderful dogs can put a smile on my face no matter how sick, tired, sad, or angry I feel.

I hope this helps you some too - and that you can find the little things in life that can still make you smile.