Carpenter Bee

Every Spring carpenter bees hover around our deck. Well actually bee, singular.  They are very territorial and will ward off any other bees, wasps, flies...  I got this cool picture of this bee which I named Albert.  Added a few other bee pics.  Enjoy and if you click on it they enlarge and look even cooler.

                                                 Albert in flight

                                                     Color fun with Albert

                                               This was a bee war

                                              This particular bee was named Guido

Lavender Farm

I went with a friend to a lavender farm.  It smelled heavenly.  There were a number of different kinds of lavender and we each cut some to make a little bouquet.  Bees loved it to!

There's a Fungus Among US!

We had a number of different kinds of mushrooms growing in our yard after a rather long rainy spell.  some were pretty, some were weird and some were rather lewd.  You will figure out which is which without me telling you, trust me. I also wanted to mention that if you click on the pictures they will enlarge to regular size.

Boris the Spiderrrrrrrr

Web weaver spider took up residence in the doorway leading from our kitchen to our deck.  I took advantage and took some photos.  I must tell you I got very very close and it was hard to get a good shot while shaking like a leaf.  Boris was big and ate lots of things.  So very much reminded me of the giant spider in the Harry Potter series!

 Note warning of Boris

 Wrapping dinner

 Spinning

 Taking a rest

Night spinning

The Temple of Mirth

This is what happens when you send my children to the Temple of Mirth!!!

Photography

One of my hobbies is photography.  I am not taught, I don't have a real clue how to use all the bells and whistles on my camera but I love it.  Some day I will have lessons but for now I will share a few that I like.  Knowing full well that they are not "technically" correct whatever that is.

Williamsburg, Virginia December 29, 2011  "lighting of the taverns"

First two weeks on mystery medicine

It has been about 2 weeks since I started the first thyroid medicine.  I am pretty sure it is the natural thyroid medicine Armour or something similar.  I noticed the second day on the medicine that my hands were warm.  Really really warm!  Warm hands and feet is a new experience for me.  Never in my life have I had my hands and feet the same temperature as the rest of me.  The veins in my hands/arms etc. are really sticking out from the increased blood flow.  I think I had a virus so I don't know what of my other symptoms were from that or from the new medicine.  The warm hands are definitely from the medicine and it is new. 

Medical research study on Thyroid meds

Well, I thought I would document my journey on a medical research study.  The study is to determine if people who are hypothyroid do better on synthetic or natural thyroid medication.  The synthetic, Synthroid is the usual medication given to those of us with a low functioning thyroid.  Natural thyroid is made from desiccated pig thyroid.  Synthroid has only thyroid hormone 4 or T4 in it.  Natural desiccated thyroid has the other thyroid hormones in it including T3.  There are also other thyroid hormones up until now have been ignored and their purpose is virtually unknown. 

To date there have been no study conducted for the sole purpose of determining if people taking the synthetic drug or the natural drug feel better and have stable labs.

For the record my thyroid is low functioning because of an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's.  Basically my autoimmune system kills off my own thyroid for no good reason.  Autoimmune problems run in my family.  My son was recently tested for the antibodies for Hashimoto's and he was positive.  My brother has it, my mother and a great number of cousins. 

Getting diagnosed is not all that easy because they symptoms start out slowly and could indicate so many other things.  The symptoms for my Hashimoto's are as follows:
Tired; sleeping really does little good, I wake up bone tired
dry skin
hair falling out way more than normal
my finger and toe nails grow really really slow, no need for a manicure.  Although pedicures last months because the nails don't grow
brain fog; sort of feels like when you first wake up from an afternoon nap but almost all the time.
Slow digestion, I will leave it at that. 
weight gain; mine hit fast, I gained 30 lbs in 6 months and I was barely eating because I felt horrible all the time.
Unable to lose weight, to go with the gaining weight.  It doesn't come off.
Depression, mostly physical because the metabolism is so slow but thinking and dealing with all the other symptoms does drag on your mind to.  Don't like to admit it but it does.
Girls get crazy periods.  Clotting, long, cramping, hormonal crazy, bloating hell.
cholesterol goes INSANE.  I am on two medications to help keep it lower.  I am on Lopid and Lipitor (which also makes my brain additionally foggy).
My blood sugar also increases and so far I am not diabetic but when the thyroid goes South I get borderline and it really concerns me.
I have also noticed that the pressure in my eyes increases and my eye dr has requested I come in often and get it checked because if it increases anymore I will be considered to have glaucoma and need to start medicating for it.
There are other indicators in my blood work but right now I ignore them because it is just too much.  When my thyroid is functioning better and or my medication is all in sync  everything is in normal range.

Back to the research study:

I finally was giving a referral to an endocrinologist by my general practitioner.  The endocrinologist just happened to be doing research on the meds.  Since the Synthroid I was currently on was not adequately dealing with my symptoms nor was it keeping my TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) down and stable.  I was going to have to change medications anyway and if I can help progress endocrinology in anyway I am in!