What You Need To Know About Doing Thyroid Blood Tests

I took my cytomel 5 about 6 hours before my test. how bad will results be messed up?

I retired from the military on 1 January 1997 after over 20 years of faithful service to my country during 3 war periods (2 at the same time), several skirmishes and 2 deployments to hostile territories starting with the Viet Nam War. Just prior to retirement, the last 6 months, a person is authorized to take advantage of a benefit to ensure a whole person, in good shape – as close to original enlistment shape as possible, is released back onto the ‘economy’. The benefit is to go to the hospital and get an aggressive physical to ensure all health issues are resolved before departure back into the civilian world. It is also known as the ‘exit physical’. I received dental work, lab tests, EKG and the like. In late January I also went to the Optometry clinic for a current evaluation of my sight. When interviewed by the doctor initially he asked, “Have there been any changes in your sight since your last exam?” I stated, “Yes, I am having extreme difficulty seeing out of my right eye and my left one doesn’t seem very useful either.” He examined me and discovered that I was nearly legally blind.

A normal appointment in the eye clinic was for 20 minutes. Mine lasted one hour due to the doctor not being able to adjust my vision with machinery. He performed a color vision test and I failed miserably. The circles with hidden numbers looked like grey circles to me. He then grabbed the little bottle of medicated eye drops with the red cap on it and asked me to cover my right eye and he showed me it and asked how red it was on a scale from one to ten with my left eye. I said, “I guess 10”. He then asked me to cover my left eye and asked the same for the right eye and I said, “1”. He asked me to sit outside his office in the hallway while he made a phone call. I overheard him (not eves dropping because he was yelling) talking with Fitzsimons Army Medical Center’s Neuro-Ophthalmology Clinic. He said, “You don’t understand. This is an emergency. This gentleman is retiring in less than 6 months and needs to be seen tomorrow. I don’t care if he has to be seen after-hours! Yes, 5:30 pm is excellent.” He then called me back into his office and gave me my appointment for the next day with an understanding that I was to keep him informed and ‘in the loop’. I thanked him and went on my way somewhat shocked.

At the Neuro-Ophthalmology clinic the next evening at the Fitzsimons Army Post in Aurora, CO I was put through a grueling series of tests for 3 hours. She finally stated, “I have exhausted all known tests available at this time so I am requesting an MRI be done of your whole head to determine if you may have something going on inside that we cannot see.” She told me that she had requested it ‘stat’ so it must be done A.S.A.P. and what to expect from the MRI lab. I departed homeward (From Denver to Cheyenne, WY where I was stationed at F.E. Warren AFB).

I received a phone call, at work, the following day asking that I report on the following Wednesday (5 days away) for an exam at the Fitzsimons Army Post MRI lab. My appointment was for 10:30 am but was pushed back to 1 pm due to emergencies. The MRI took 2 hours because the doctor requested extremely thin slices so as to be able to see the smallest tumor possibly on/in my optic nerve. Exhausted, I went to a fancy restaurant to enjoy a great Mexican meal at Garcia’s Mexican Restaurante in Denver, Colorado. I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ where this franchise originated and I had met the original start-up adult owners – immigrants – when I was a kid. When I returned home my wife said that they had been trying to reach me so I attempted to call but, due to the late hour, they were closed.

At my workplace the next day I received a phone call from my Neuro-Ophthalmologist and she stated, “I don’t like to do this on the phone but, you have a very large tumor growing in your Pituitary Gland and it is crushing your optic nerve.” She warned me to be careful while driving and so forth. She also asked that I see her the next day so she could “go over the details”. She showed me the ‘slides’ of my MRI and explained as best she could. Then she said that I needed to have neuro-surgery “to get it out”. She said she had contacted a neuro-surgeon and he wanted to see me right away.

At the neuro-surgeon appointment with Major Dr. James Ecklund he told me that I needed to have an extensive exam before the surgery so that its’ success was surer. I asked how long before this procedure and he stated that it was an “emergency” and that it must be done, “As soon as possible.” I asked a multitude of questions including details of the surgery and the ‘what ifs’. I asked, “What if it wasn’t found.” He stated, “We may have found you slumped at your desk…dead from a massive stroke, before your retirement in 5 months…that soon.” He told me the surgery would be about 4 hours long maybe a little longer. I asked if I could harvest my own blood for the surgery but he explained that he did not want me depleted prior to the surgery. He referred me to an Endocrinologist for hormone evaluation due to the tumor growing out of my pituitary gland and that it might be affecting my hormone system. They did an extensive survey of my hormone system before surgery. He also sent me to the ‘Ear, Nose and Throat’ clinic because they had to start the surgery to give the neuro-surgeon access to perform his surgery. They also closed me up after the neuro-surgeon was finished and fixed my severely deviated septum during the process. I jokingly asked them if they could give me a “Burt Reynolds Nose’ on the way out and they all laughed and jokingly stated that I did not have enough rank for that.

The surgery was on Friday March 15, 1996 and lasted 7 1/2 hours due to complications. They went through my nose to get the tumor. The wound was all the way to the center of my head.

In recovery the neuro-surgeon said the reason it took so long was that they had to stop and “save your life for 45 minutes” because I had started bleeding profusely during the procedure and needed 2 ½ pints of whole blood. That and that the tumor was not of the normal consistency so was more difficult to excise. It was harder than expected and had to be ‘whittled’ out small pieces at a time. They couldn’t get it all due to the tumor having broken through the left wall of the sphenoid sella and was surrounding the left side carotid artery and nearly squeezing it off. They did not want to accidentally cut that artery because I could bleed to death and they would not be able to stop it.

Good news and bad news. “The surgery was a success!” The bad news, “We couldn’t get it all so you must have Radiation treatments to eradicate the residual tumor.” Great news was I had regained my vision. Now I know what it is like to nearly go blind and get my sight back.

I was placed on permanent Convalescent Leave status until all avenues of care had been exhausted. I traveled the country by means of the ‘Red Cross Bird’ (Medical travel by Air Force plane to other medical facilities in California and Texas picking up and dropping off passengers in several states to include Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico – basically, the western states) to be screened for possible radiation treatments and Endocrinology evaluation due to the closure of Fitzsimons AMC on June 1st, 1996.

I was told by the oncologists at Travis AFB that they could do it. I asked how it would be done and he explained, “We hold a ray gun to your head and zap you for about 4 weeks daily.” I questioned results and damage. He stated, “We will destroy anything in the ray gun’s path including memory, optic nerve, ear organs and anything else in the way. You will be a blind vegetable when we are finished but you will be alive and no guarantee of eradicating the residual tumor.” I declined their help respectfully and requested a second opinion.

I was flown to San Antonio, TX to be seen at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, TX by the Oncology Clinic. They told me they had the most ‘up-to-date’ equipment and that they would try to miss all the important stuff and “Just get the tumor.” They scheduled me for an MRI and CT and a ‘set-up’ appointment. At this appointment 2 weeks later I was measured and a mouth piece form was taken along with the MRI and CT scan and an appointment for a 6 week course of radiation treatments in August and September.

I became very ill from the treatment. My head swelled up due to the bombardment of the radiation particles. I suffered pain throughout my whole body especially my head, neck and back. I have a video of a treatment session if you are interested that would make things a lot clearer of what I went through during those treatments.

At Travis AFB, CA I was put on 175mcg of Synthroid and also testosterone shots every 2 weeks for replacement treatment of deficient hormones by the Endocrinology Clinic doctor (a full bird navy Colonel/Captain) due to damage to the pituitary gland. This was before the radiation treatments began in August of 1996 for 6 weeks. I was warned by the endocrinologist that my medical care was going to be very critical and stressed that I needed to be followed by a credible endocrinologist for the rest of my life. He said that my labs were never going to be normal again and that any doctor(s) I see must be keen to recognize physical symptoms to effectively treat me. He said that I had the constitution of a 90 year old man and that a severe imbalance would be very detrimental to my survival. He also said that I needed to be reevaluated periodically for changes to my hormone medication.

I retired as an E-6 and could not make E-7 due to the blindness making it impossible to see the questions on the promotion test.

My future was shattered by severe medical problems and I could no longer be employed. It was very depressing. The military didn’t want me anymore because I was too high maintenance and not deploy-able. I couldn’t even be stationed overseas.

I came out of the military with a severe head wound (very painful) and complications related to severe hypopituitarism. I do not have a functioning pituitary gland so it is as if I have no endocrine glands because the feedback mechanism is broken and cannot be fixed. Proper levels of replacement hormones are a must for a good quality of life and a comfortable one at that.
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(C) 2017

I hope this helps some of you people.

My hero was the optometrist. If it weren’t for his knowledge of his job I would have died before retirement at age 40. I am 63 now and very high maintenance. Life is very difficult for me . . . due to ignorant and incompetent doctors.

I hope this is published. I do not mean to intrude and definitely do not want to demean anyone.
Let’s live life more comfortably is what I say.

Keep up the good fight Ms Rachel Hill. Do you know of Mary Shomon in the USA? She is a thyroid activist in the USA.