Update on Autoimmunity, Selling, Reading, and Car Trouble

I wrote an update around a month ago, but then I never published it.  Here is an abbreviated summary of that post plus the relevant current information.

When school started, I had a minor thyroid flare which resolved pretty quickly.  I then had a health screening on September 5 that involved radiation.  I asked for a thyroid shield.  The technician stopped dead in her tracks and seemed like she had a problem with the request.  She then asked if I knew who Dr. Oz was and mentioned how he had convinced people to use a thyroid shield when it isn't necessary.

I told her that I have thyroid disease and that when I didn't use a thyroid shield in 2016 that it shut my thyroid down for two months and made me deathly ill.  (Deathly ill is not an exaggeration.  I was sicker than I've ever been in those two months.  It was absolutely awful.)  She put the thyroid shield on me and remarked that everyone is different.

How dare she have a problem with my request, and I should not have to explain why.  I am very nervous when I am exposed to radiation even with the thyroid shield on.  I was that sick in the fall of 2016. 

The shield does not block all of the radiation.  It does reduce the exposure by up to 50% and reduces the dose by 2.5 times.  This means that my thyroid did get exposed to radiation on September 5, just at a lower amount than it would have without the shield. 

This is why I felt a noticeable thyroid flare from September 6 through September 23.  Meanwhile, I got the new Moderna Covid vaccine on September 22.  I didn't feel that great the first couple of days.  Aside from that, I seemed to do okay, so far as I could tell.  At least I didn't have a terrible reaction like I did last year.

I then acquired a seemingly extremely mild virus on October 1.  There were no symptoms except for laryngitis.  It's now been over two weeks, and I'm still struggling to get my voice back.  I've had very light congestion, so I know that I have had something.  While I do frequently suffer from severe laryngitis caused by viruses, it was really odd to have it happen when the virus was almost nothing.  I suspect that the laryngitis might be tied to the vaccine, since the vaccine has caused inflammation.

My thyroid hormone levels have been constantly fluctuating up and down ever since I had Covid in July 2022.  I have never had this much instability.  Here's an update to what I included in my post from August 4.

August 2022 - under
September 2022 - over
October 2022 - over
November 2022 - under
December 2022 - under; medication change
January 2023 - under (even worse); dose increase
February 2023 - under
March 2023 - slightly under, felt normal for around 10 days; kept same dose
April 2023 - over
May 2023 - over (even worse); dose decrease
June 2023 - under
July 2023 - under; dose increase
August 2023 - felt normal for a few weeks
September 2023 - under
October 2023 - over

Taking thyroid medication for autoimmune thyroid disease is like chasing a moving target. 

I suspect that the Covid vaccine has caused a flare, just not as bad as what happened last year.  Flares can initially manifest with an increase in thyroid hormone which then becomes a deficit weeks later.  I have lost six pounds without trying, and I do feel mildly wired.  If it doesn't get any worse, then I will keep taking my current dose until I'm tested in late December.  I believe my continuing fluctuation in levels began because of Covid in July 2022.

I did not intend to keep my eBay and Etsy stores closed for very long when I shut them down in August.  How I've felt and certain events have caused me to be disinterested in selling books. 

I knew that fall break was when I should reopen, but I didn't know if I would be up to it.  As of two weeks ago, I was strongly against the idea of returning to selling books.  I've been slowly talking myself into it for the last two weeks.  I finally reached the point a few days ago where I felt that I could stomach selling again.

Please note that I'm still not wanting to sell; I just think that I can tolerate doing it despite my disinterest.  I also feel that getting back to a normal activity will help get me into a better place mentally.  Therefore, I reopened both of my stores this morning before I left for work.  I had the time since I woke up 2 1/2 hours early feeling wired (this after a 12-hour work day each of the last two days that should have exhausted me - yes, I must be overmedicated!).

Both stores are now open.  My current listings are the ones that I had in early August with nothing new added.  If I can motivate myself, I might add some listings in the next few days.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I continue to be extremely unmotivated to read books.  The interest just isn't there, with one exception.  This may sound pathetic, but I continue to be obsessed with the Keeper of the Lost Cities series and am now reading the set for the third time.  I have a new focus and am looking for clues about another character.

I will have another series of posts on the Keeper books once I finish up this third reading of the books.  I wrote rather enthusiastically about the books back in the spring.  The series isn't perfect; nothing is.  The main drawback is that in the later books some conversations are excessively long.  It's just too much.  That aside, I love the books and am having a blast looking for clues.

I also remain frustrated with the Keeper of the Lost Cities fan base, which is a bit toxic.  Many fans seem unhappy about everything.  I don't understand why people have such high expectations for a middle-grade children's book series.  The books aren't perfect, and I'm not sure why people expect them to be perfect.

Finally, if you have a General Motors vehicle, you really don't want to have any repairs that require parts.  The GM workers are on strike, and no new parts are being made. 

My 2018 Chevrolet Malibu displayed the check engine light on October 2 and handled differently than usual.  I took it in to be checked.  The car needed a new sensor, and they didn't have one.  They called around, found a sensor in another state, and had it shipped in.  I finally picked up the car on October 11.

On October 12, the check engine light displayed again.  I was annoyed at the car.  I felt that it probably had been repaired but that something else was also wrong that hadn't been diagnosed.  I got the car in on October 14, knowing that they wouldn't check it until October 16 since they have very few mechanics on the weekend.

Apparently it was a major undertaking to figure out why the battery wasn't receiving enough charge.  They finally found that the negative battery cable wasn't transferring a charge.  And of course they didn't have a negative battery cable.  I became a bit worried when they told me that they were about to call around the country and would call me back later.  Oh, joy.

I got lucky.  They called back 20 minutes later to tell me that they found a negative cable in California and that it would be shipped in.  They'll get it around this weekend, so I should get the car back next week.  Of course it shouldn't be this hard, but I assume that they are getting me a "General Motors certified negative battery cable."  That way they can charge more.

If you have a General Motors vehicle, try sweet-talking it.  Be kind to it.  You want it to behave until the GM strike is over.