On this date in Jen history, I went in to the urgent care because school was about to start and it felt like I had strep throat. Being a Saturday of a holiday weekend, I knew I should get in as soon as I could just in case. Instead of strep, the doctor in training asked me about my thyroid. Had I ever noticed it was enlarged? I hadn't. In fact, she admitted, the only reason she had was because of her own under-sized thyroid. After the giant q-tip gag test that is a rapid strep test, she reminded the "real" doctor to see what he thought about my thyroid. He thought that it was actually of greater concern than my sore throat. He instructed me to contact my primary care doctor in a few weeks when I started feeling better.
This was the start of a loooooong five to six months. This is where I am pointing to the change. I had been doing well to that point. I had been down some 60 pounds from the start of my weight lose journey and I had been fairly successful at maintaining that for about a year. Since then though, I have gained half of that weight back. I am a stress eater. I guess it is called comfort food for a reason, right.
After that labor day weekend, I did what most of us that grew up in the internet age would do... web md. HOLY SHIT. Never go to Web MD. A week later, I was in my primary care doctor's office. This man has been my doctor since before I can even remember. i grew up with his daughter. In fact, he is the doctor that everyone in my family uses. When he asked what brought me in, I rehashed that story for the first time. I also told him of my web md-ing and he got that shit eating grin on his face. He told me with my age (I was 32 at the time) and things, it was nothing to lose sleep over. It was probably nothing. He ordered bloodwork and an ultrasound of my neck. Oh, and he ordered me to stay off of Web Md. Good advice.
This was the start of a brand new journey for me.