Part 1 of this post is here.
I mentioned in the previous post where I started with noticing issues and what happened to me. I split the post into two parts because I didn't want the monster post to be a book and because there really are two parts to it. There was a bit of time where I didn't do anything about it. Too many other things going on and the ENT pretty much told me he didn't want to deal with it unless something new developed. I left off with the ENT visit in mid-late April...
My fiance immigrated over the beginning of September, we married the end of September, went on a honeymoon the first week of October, and started adjusting to life as a married couple that had spent more of our relationship on opposite sides of the world. We'd been through a minor holiday, a major one (Thanksgiving), and were getting to celebrate our first Christmas together. Fast forward to mid-December. And I was fed up with the thyroid and nodule. Not sure when the inflammation started to never change or when the hoarseness really started to stay more than go, when I started to get tired and never regain my energy, but somewhere along the line it took hold and didn't go away. It was worse. I couldn't sleep well because I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep at night because it felt like I was being choked. I always felt like I was in that pre-cold/flu stage where I wasn't actually sick with something, but felt like I was coming down with something. I had no energy, heck a lot of times I was coming home and would nap on the couch, then sleep the whole night through, and wake up still feeling tired. I knew my neck was more swollen and it always looked (to me) like I'd swallowed a rat and it got stuck. I decided screw it. I'd met my deductible with insurance for the year and we were still on the same plan (not an ACA compliant one, but with the extension we could keep it for a little longer), so I decided to heck with it. I'm going to see what I can get done.
I made an appointment mid-December with another of the PAs and my hubby and I went in. He didn't have his Employment Authorization Document yet, so he couldn't work and wanted to be there. I'm so grateful he was. Anyway, we explained what was going on to the PA she agreed that the thyroid was definitely enlarged. She asked if I'd been to see an Endocrinologist. I'd told her no and that was the end of it. Another ultrasound and another TSH and Free T4 test later we determines that my thyroid levels were normal and the nodule was unchanged (although, now I was hearing 3 cm, so I'm not sure what was up with that). She conferred with the ENT and he told her that since my levels were normal, that it wasn't an issue and he personally wouldn't do anything about it. Uh, yay? That still didn't explain a few things though. So I requested a copy of my blood tests because I wanted to see the numbers. Turns out back in March, my TSH was way on the high end of normal and their range was .34-4.82 and I was at a 4.49. my Free T4 was a bit high, but not out of range as well. It was .94 and the range was .59-1.17. In December my TSH was better at 2.56 (same range) and my Free T4 was up to .99. Apparently something got my TSH back down to a better part of the range, but it still didn't explain why I felt like crap. I was a bit desperate at that point.
Well, Christmas came and went, so did the new year. I still felt like crap and wasn't getting any better, so almost a month after the appointment in December, I was making another. By that time I was kind of a wreck. Work has been a bit stressful, I felt like crap, I wasn't getting any help outside of "Well, wait and see if it goes away. These things take time, sometimes up to a couple of years." By this time The Fella had gotten his EAD and applied at a place and we were waiting to hear back, but hadn't. I was starting to get depressed. I had a headache that was there fairly frequently and just really wasn't doing well, both physically and mentally. I made one appointment, we went over to the clinic to check in and the doctor I was seeing was called out on an emergency and I would have to reschedule with him or someone else. Rescheduled the next day for a different doctor. Thankfully, this time we were able to keep the appointment and no one was called out. We told her what was going on and got the recurring question of "Have you been to see an Endocrinologist?" and told her no, no one had referred me. She decided that that might be a good place to start. She didn't know what was up, but it didn't seem like a thyroid problem, so she thought the crazy expensive bloodwork he'd do would give us an answer. About 10-15 minutes in the office. I'm seeing a trend with the docs around here I think. You spend a lot of time waiting and then see them for 10-15 minutes, then you're gone. Oi. Anyway, she set me up for an appointment with one nearby for the following week.
We made it up to the clinic for the appointment and met with the Endocrinologist. I guess he hasn't been in the area long, the doc pointed out that they had a new one at that particular facility, but after meeting with him, it was a breath of fresh air. First thing he asked me was why I thought it was my thyroid. Pretty blunt, to the point, and kinda surprising when you aren't expecting that. I told him what I'd been going through, how I was feeling, etc. His next response was that he didn't think that was my thyroid because the changes in being too cold and too warm and a few other things were too quick. He explained that they thyroid is an organ that slowly changes stuff. It'd be stuff that happened over the coarse of several weeks, not every other week or so. He said he had an ultrasound machine in another room and asked if I was ok with him taking a look at my thyroid himself so he could see what might be going on. I was totally ok with that (someone was actually listening and considering what I said and not immediately dismissing me, WOOHOO). I'm laying on the little bed while he's doing the ultrasound and he doesn't say anything. Not one word. He lets me know he's done, grabs some tissues so I can wipe the goo off my neck, and asks if anyone has ever told me I have a very unusual thyroid. I told him I hadn't been told that and made a comment about this not being in my head then? He chuckled and said maybe not all of it. We went back to the first room we were in and he explained that there were some things he didn't have and answer for, so he did want to do some bloodwork. What he could tell me was that I had some very strong visual indicators of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and that the nodule was a good size and near my collarbone, hence why it was bothering me. It was just in a bad spot and it was big. He couldn't believe it was still functioning, actually. It looked that bad. He didn't think it'd continue functioning for too many years though. He said while it was enlarged, he didn't see the type of swelling I was talking about, so next time it happened I needed to call and he'd get me in to look at it. The Fella and I were both just happy that someone was taking me seriously and actually acted like they were interested in helping. This was HUGE for us!
Got a call about a week later with the results--normal! I was confused. Nothing was mentioned about the 2 thyroid antibody tests, so I was doubly confused. This seemed promising. Well, later in the day it felt like my neck was swelling again, so we called to see if he could get us in. He was as good as his word and got me in that afternoon. I left work early and headed up there with The Fella in tow. Earlier that morning he got a call from the place he applied at and they wanted him to come in for an interview that Friday! Anyway, the endocrinologist ultrasounded my thyroid again and didn't see any noticeable change and wasn't really sure why my neck was swelling like that. One theory was the change in fluid levels since the nodule is cystic with some solid components. He said that given how I felt and with the discomfort I was obviously having, he definitely recommended having the right side removed, possibly the whole thyroid if I was ok with that. Fella and I were both totally ok with that and then he brought up how he generally refers people to the ENT. Yes, that ENT. The one that travels down to the clinic I go to and had seen in April and the PA consulted with in December. Fella and I were polite about him, but stated we'd already dealt with him before and were told he personally do anything about it and asked if there were other options (part of why I'm so grateful for the Fella is that he is more than happy to speak up for me about stuff and support me when I'm worried about burning bridges). The endo stopped a moment and said there are other people. There's a general surgeon that's a lady if I was more comfortable with her and thankfully didn't push the issue. He said it's my neck and I definitely have a say in what goes on there. He wasn't so sure that the inflammation would ever go down. If I was this uncomfortable right now, having some or most of it removed would be a good idea. He thought that with only have removed that it might help, but thought there was still a good chance I'd be on meds anyway given how the thyroid looked and that it'd most likely quit working in the next few years anyway. So, he called the general surgeon's office and said we'd hear from them within the next few days. It wasn't an hour later and we got a call from them saying that she only does consults on Fridays and wanting to know which Friday worked for us. They had an appointment open for 9:30 which gave us time to meet with her, then head back home so Fella could make his interview. Finally some progress!
We met with the general surgeon Friday and discussed what was going on. She agreed that this definitely needed to be taken care of. What got me is that at one point she looked at me and said, "I don't think you're scared of the surgery. You seem ok with that and have mentally prepared yourself for it. You just want someone to help you and you don't feel that you're getting that. Am I right?" Boom. Dead on observation. After emotionally choking out that yeah, that was indeed the case, she explained what she'd do, what the complications could be, recovery, etc. She was confident with the surgery, but wanted to do the right lobe first to make sure nothing was damaged and then do the left lobe later. Sounded pretty reasonable to me. We set up a time 2 weeks later for surgery and were good to go! And while I wasn't excited about the ENT assisting, I was willing to bury the hatchet and move on.
Tuesday, the day before surgery-- We're at the office I work at, Fella got his job ans was supposed to start the beginning of March, and prepped to head up to the city a couple hours away since surgery was early the next morning. It's mid-morning, I'd gotten a lot done before I needed to leave and was finishing up a few things when I got a call from the surgeon. She said that she'd really been thinking about this a lot lately and the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable with the surgery she was. She said due to the particulars of my case, she was worried that she might damage something and that was the last thing she wanted to do to me. And while she hated to tell me that and make me feel like I was being passed around, she felt it was the right thing and wanted to know if I was ok with being referred to someone that does this far more frequently than she does and specializes in it. While extremely frustrating, I did (and still do) agree that that was a good idea. I like her, but if she isn't comfortable with it, then referring me is a good idea. She asked which direction I wanted to go-- Rapid City, South Dakota, Omaha, Nebraska (figured that was a bit far), or somewhere else. I asked her to see what was in Denver, Colorado since that's about 3 hours from where I'm at and it's big enough to have a number of doctors that might handle this. Got a call a little later saying they found a lady in Denver and that they were faxing stuff over there. Her office would call within the next few days.
Well, a few days later, there was still no call. So I called the surgeon's office making the referral. Turns out the fax didn't go through, so they had to resend it. LOL. A little delay, but not bad. Heard back the next day and the office in Denver set up an appointment and wanted me to get copies of the bloodwork from the endo and fax it over. Got that taken care of and lo! while reading looking at the tests, it turns out that the antibody tests showed positive for Hashimoto's. I guess the endo figured that since he told me I had Hashimoto's before the test, that part didn't really need to be revisited. Not sure. Either way I knew and had copies of stuff. LOL. I got a copy of the ultrasound images from March 2013 and December 2013 for them and the general surgeon sent me the stuff from the biopsy to take to Denver. Whee! In this time, the Fella started work the last week in February and since he was working nights could come with to the appointment. His workplace was awesome about letting him take time off for the surgery since we let them know we had medical stuff for me when he interviewed.
March 5th and it's the day of my appointment in Denver! We found the office pretty easily (had more trouble finding where to park) and waited a bit before heading in since we were a bit early and they were on lunch. After killing a little bit of time, we went to the office and checked in. I forgot to mail the discs down, so the doc checked those out while we did paperwork, then went and sat in one of the rooms while she glanced over a few more things. The vast majority of the office was introduced (it's not very big), so we got to know most of them and could ask any of them anything we needed to. The doc came in and we discussed what she saw with all the stuff she looked over. She said it was obvious I had Hashimoto's. You could see it in the ultrasounds and didn't really need to do the antibody tests unless you wanted to have that confirmation as well. Then we discussed options--Partial or whole thyroidectomy, the pros, the cons, the maybes, the treatment options, recovery, and what she thought. A lot of what she said matched the endo, so it was good to have confirmation that one or both knew their stuff and were in agreement on it. Apparently, my nodule was tucked under my collarbone a bit which is why I was rather aware of it. It was stuck and had no way to really move with my neck when I'd turn my head. Heh. No wonder I was having troubles turning my head to the right comfortably! I opted to have the whole thyroid removed. Due to how ratty the left lobe looked, she said it was very likely I'd still have to take meds anyway and they'd still have to monitor the left lobe almost yearly to make sure it was still working, there were no nodules, etc., but then they wouldn't have to worry about damaging all the parathyroids. I only need one that works, but the more of the 4 that work, the merrier. I was sick of dealing with the whole thing, so I said to take it all. We set up a time for March 11th, then got my blood drawn for Vit D and went home.
I was originally going to add the surgery in this post, but for the sake of how long it already is I think I'll do one that's dedicated to the surgery and recovery.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Not Another Horror Story! Part 1
One thing I've come to realize is that most everything I've found online regarding thyroidectomies is that most of the stories are horror stories. I'm not saying there isn't good reason for that-- I'm pretty sure there's a perfectly good reason for this--but not everyone that goes through this has a terrible story to tell about it. I think the access to people familiar with these issues are surgeries is a big part of why there are a vast amount of not so good stories online and with living in the panhandle of Nebraska and after what it took to get to where I am now from where I was last year, well, I can see why people run to google and hope for the best with their own surgery after reading stuff online.
My own story started the end of February 2012. I made some pretty awesome calzones out of some homemade bread dough for dinner that night. Mmmm. Toward the end of dinner I was taking a bite of the calzone and some chicken hit the floor...so, I leaned over to pick up the food on the floor. While leaning over, I swallowed the bite I had in my mouth. Nothing unusual with that, except for the fact that I suddenly felt something move on the right side of my neck near my collarbone. I'll admit I freaked out quite a bit about it. Stuff moving in your neck is *not* normal. It's creepy as heck actually. Once I calmed down a bit, I texted a friend whose husband had been through EMT training for the local volunteer EMS service and asked if they'd be willing to come over and make sure it wasn't something that required an ER visit and could wait until morning. (Hey, you feel something move in your neck and tell me how well level headed and clear minded you are after that. lol) They came over with another friend that was an EMT as well and checked my vitals, poked what was definitely a small lump, and asked some questions. We decided the spendy ER visit wasn't necessary, friend hung out for a couple of hours to make sure I was definitely ok, then I headed for bed. Didn't really sleep well that night, but I gave it a good go.
Next morning I told the bosses what was up, made a doctor appointment, and was in the local clinic mid-morning. Great way to start off the month of March. Sitting in a clinic with a PA (Physician's Assistant) and telling her what happened the night before. After a bit of discussion and some neck poking, she determined there was definitely something not right and my thyroid seemed a little enlarged. I wasn't feeling any pain though, which puzzled her. She checked the schedule for the ultrasound and asked what worked for me to have it done. My bosses are pretty lenient about letting us employees take care of health issues as long as we let them know we're doing it, so I told her the first available opening she could get me in-- that afternoon. After having the ultrasound done and getting the results back on it later (gotta love the URGENT note on there), she had me come back to get my TSH and free T4 checked. There was a good sized nodule on the right lobe, about 2.7 cm or so and my thyroid was inflamed. She told me to take Aleve (Naproxen Sodium) a couple times a day for a week and ice it if I thought I needed to so we can see about bringing down some of the inflammation and she'd get back to me Monday or Tuesday when she got the blood results back.
One thing to note-- try to get copies of your tests. You might not understand them, but it's always good to be informed as to what your levels are and what the outcome of something was. That being said, I didn't get the numbers for my TSH and Free T4. I was told they were "normal" so I trusted that and went with it. They were technically in the normal range...but on the higher end. I'll get to that bit later though. At some point during that time, we set up an appointment to have a fine needle biopsy done on the nodule the 14th at a hospital a couple of hours away.
March 14th, 2013-- morning of the biopsy! I don't have issues with needles. As long as I don't watch them go in, I'm perfectly fine. I have a tattoo and several piercings. I was never bothered by needles then either. I loathed that biopsy though. The actual procedure itself wasn't bad. I just really had issues with being able to feel the needles move through the tissue. Not cool. Not cool at all. They do numb you with a local anesthetic, but you are pretty dang sore after that. My neck hurt until the next morning. Ouch. And turning my head? Not good. I'm glad I thought ahead and asked a friend to come with to drive in case I couldn't. I totally needed her help on the way home and it was nice to have some support.
A few days later I got the results back from the biopsy-- benign (YAY!). PA asked if the Aleve helped with the inflammation. Not really. So, she prescribed me some steroids to see if that helped. I'd never taken steroids before, so I'll hit on that briefly--it made me ravenous. Now, I generally have a pretty good appetite which just befuddles people because I'm pretty tiny. I don't look like the kind of person that can eat a whole lot. I can...and I definitely did while on the steroids. And while on them, I was pretty willing to eat stuff that I later decided really didn't taste very good. While on the steroids those frozen Del Mex tamales tasted like heaven! After the steroids? Jeebies. Please tell me I did not eat those willingly. ROFL. Hot flashes? I totally had those. Restlessness and needing to be constantly doing something? Oh yeah. Lack of concentration? I had that in spades. Not fun. Worst thing was the morning I almost passed out in the shower though. Not sure what brought that on, but I started noticing that my hands were tingling and I was getting a rushing waterfall sound in my ears that wasn't from the shower. Started to see a few spots and the lightbulb went off that I better get down before I fall down. So, I sat down took some slow deep breathes and soon enough the feeling went away. I guess I know that steroids and I don't really mesh well. After a week of those, I called the PA and let her know that while they did help some, there was still inflammation...or so it seemed to me. She set up an appointment with the ENT for one of the next times he was down (about a month later).
About a month later-- ENT appointment! It's mid-April. Since the initial diagnoses of thyroiditis and a nodule, I'd been keeping a mental list of what I had noticed. Issues turning my head, feeling like stuff was caught in my throat a lot of the time, etc. Met with the ENT that morning. I was told to show up about 30 minutes early to fill out paperwork since he's a visiting physician. Filled out a crap-ton of stuff, went back to a room, talked with the nurse. She was having a bit of trouble with the computer and couldn't seem to get the ultrasound to pull up in there. She went and conferred with the ENT and about 5 minutes later he came it. Let's just say that appointment didn't go well in my opinion. I have no idea to this day if he ever saw the ultrasound. Not sure if it'd have made a difference one way or the other if he had or hadn't. I was in the office no more than 10 minutes. He asked about my symptoms. I told him what I had going on. He felt the nodule and this is part of where I have an issue with him. I'm pretty petite. At 5 ft 4 in and at the time about 115 lbs, you do *NOT* need to press hard enough on that nodule that it feels like you're trying to pop it out the back of my neck. It hurt when he did that. I'm not normally quick to cry, but that was almost enough to make me cry. Then he sat down and basically told me that I didn't need surgery, he didn't see any swelling, just come back in a year and have the bloodwork done and an ultrasound done. If the nodule has grown significantly, they'll biopsy it again. If it started to hurt, then come back in ASAP. Then asked if I had any questions. I asked him several times-- what do I do about the swelling? His response, "What swelling? I don't see any swelling." I told him that the PA recommended taking NSAIDs and icing it. "Oh, I suppose you can do that if you think you need to. But I don't see any swelling. Someone *thought* they saw swelling on the ultrasound, but there's no swelling." I was pissed. My appointment was at 9:50am. I was out of the doc's office about 10:10am. 20 minutes in the room and most of that spent with the nurse or waiting just to be told, "I don't see any issues. You have a bit of a big lump there, but it's nothing." While I get that surgery isn't and definitely shouldn't be first resort, I'd like to hear a lot more than "Ignore it and come back in a year." I was having some issues with feeling like there was something caught in my throat and had trouble turning my head to the right because I could feel the nodule or muscles catch. I was starting to experience hoarseness at that time as well. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with that appointment and really didn't get off to a good start with the ENT.
After that, I kinda got caught up in some other stuff involving work, planning the wedding, messing with immigration stuff (keep in mind, my fiance was still in Germany during all of this), and a bunch of other stuff. So with being told to wait for a year and having other stuff to deal with, I just sat the medical issues on the back burner for awhile. It doesn't mean they were gone, just not top priority.
My own story started the end of February 2012. I made some pretty awesome calzones out of some homemade bread dough for dinner that night. Mmmm. Toward the end of dinner I was taking a bite of the calzone and some chicken hit the floor...so, I leaned over to pick up the food on the floor. While leaning over, I swallowed the bite I had in my mouth. Nothing unusual with that, except for the fact that I suddenly felt something move on the right side of my neck near my collarbone. I'll admit I freaked out quite a bit about it. Stuff moving in your neck is *not* normal. It's creepy as heck actually. Once I calmed down a bit, I texted a friend whose husband had been through EMT training for the local volunteer EMS service and asked if they'd be willing to come over and make sure it wasn't something that required an ER visit and could wait until morning. (Hey, you feel something move in your neck and tell me how well level headed and clear minded you are after that. lol) They came over with another friend that was an EMT as well and checked my vitals, poked what was definitely a small lump, and asked some questions. We decided the spendy ER visit wasn't necessary, friend hung out for a couple of hours to make sure I was definitely ok, then I headed for bed. Didn't really sleep well that night, but I gave it a good go.
Next morning I told the bosses what was up, made a doctor appointment, and was in the local clinic mid-morning. Great way to start off the month of March. Sitting in a clinic with a PA (Physician's Assistant) and telling her what happened the night before. After a bit of discussion and some neck poking, she determined there was definitely something not right and my thyroid seemed a little enlarged. I wasn't feeling any pain though, which puzzled her. She checked the schedule for the ultrasound and asked what worked for me to have it done. My bosses are pretty lenient about letting us employees take care of health issues as long as we let them know we're doing it, so I told her the first available opening she could get me in-- that afternoon. After having the ultrasound done and getting the results back on it later (gotta love the URGENT note on there), she had me come back to get my TSH and free T4 checked. There was a good sized nodule on the right lobe, about 2.7 cm or so and my thyroid was inflamed. She told me to take Aleve (Naproxen Sodium) a couple times a day for a week and ice it if I thought I needed to so we can see about bringing down some of the inflammation and she'd get back to me Monday or Tuesday when she got the blood results back.
One thing to note-- try to get copies of your tests. You might not understand them, but it's always good to be informed as to what your levels are and what the outcome of something was. That being said, I didn't get the numbers for my TSH and Free T4. I was told they were "normal" so I trusted that and went with it. They were technically in the normal range...but on the higher end. I'll get to that bit later though. At some point during that time, we set up an appointment to have a fine needle biopsy done on the nodule the 14th at a hospital a couple of hours away.
March 14th, 2013-- morning of the biopsy! I don't have issues with needles. As long as I don't watch them go in, I'm perfectly fine. I have a tattoo and several piercings. I was never bothered by needles then either. I loathed that biopsy though. The actual procedure itself wasn't bad. I just really had issues with being able to feel the needles move through the tissue. Not cool. Not cool at all. They do numb you with a local anesthetic, but you are pretty dang sore after that. My neck hurt until the next morning. Ouch. And turning my head? Not good. I'm glad I thought ahead and asked a friend to come with to drive in case I couldn't. I totally needed her help on the way home and it was nice to have some support.
A few days later I got the results back from the biopsy-- benign (YAY!). PA asked if the Aleve helped with the inflammation. Not really. So, she prescribed me some steroids to see if that helped. I'd never taken steroids before, so I'll hit on that briefly--it made me ravenous. Now, I generally have a pretty good appetite which just befuddles people because I'm pretty tiny. I don't look like the kind of person that can eat a whole lot. I can...and I definitely did while on the steroids. And while on them, I was pretty willing to eat stuff that I later decided really didn't taste very good. While on the steroids those frozen Del Mex tamales tasted like heaven! After the steroids? Jeebies. Please tell me I did not eat those willingly. ROFL. Hot flashes? I totally had those. Restlessness and needing to be constantly doing something? Oh yeah. Lack of concentration? I had that in spades. Not fun. Worst thing was the morning I almost passed out in the shower though. Not sure what brought that on, but I started noticing that my hands were tingling and I was getting a rushing waterfall sound in my ears that wasn't from the shower. Started to see a few spots and the lightbulb went off that I better get down before I fall down. So, I sat down took some slow deep breathes and soon enough the feeling went away. I guess I know that steroids and I don't really mesh well. After a week of those, I called the PA and let her know that while they did help some, there was still inflammation...or so it seemed to me. She set up an appointment with the ENT for one of the next times he was down (about a month later).
About a month later-- ENT appointment! It's mid-April. Since the initial diagnoses of thyroiditis and a nodule, I'd been keeping a mental list of what I had noticed. Issues turning my head, feeling like stuff was caught in my throat a lot of the time, etc. Met with the ENT that morning. I was told to show up about 30 minutes early to fill out paperwork since he's a visiting physician. Filled out a crap-ton of stuff, went back to a room, talked with the nurse. She was having a bit of trouble with the computer and couldn't seem to get the ultrasound to pull up in there. She went and conferred with the ENT and about 5 minutes later he came it. Let's just say that appointment didn't go well in my opinion. I have no idea to this day if he ever saw the ultrasound. Not sure if it'd have made a difference one way or the other if he had or hadn't. I was in the office no more than 10 minutes. He asked about my symptoms. I told him what I had going on. He felt the nodule and this is part of where I have an issue with him. I'm pretty petite. At 5 ft 4 in and at the time about 115 lbs, you do *NOT* need to press hard enough on that nodule that it feels like you're trying to pop it out the back of my neck. It hurt when he did that. I'm not normally quick to cry, but that was almost enough to make me cry. Then he sat down and basically told me that I didn't need surgery, he didn't see any swelling, just come back in a year and have the bloodwork done and an ultrasound done. If the nodule has grown significantly, they'll biopsy it again. If it started to hurt, then come back in ASAP. Then asked if I had any questions. I asked him several times-- what do I do about the swelling? His response, "What swelling? I don't see any swelling." I told him that the PA recommended taking NSAIDs and icing it. "Oh, I suppose you can do that if you think you need to. But I don't see any swelling. Someone *thought* they saw swelling on the ultrasound, but there's no swelling." I was pissed. My appointment was at 9:50am. I was out of the doc's office about 10:10am. 20 minutes in the room and most of that spent with the nurse or waiting just to be told, "I don't see any issues. You have a bit of a big lump there, but it's nothing." While I get that surgery isn't and definitely shouldn't be first resort, I'd like to hear a lot more than "Ignore it and come back in a year." I was having some issues with feeling like there was something caught in my throat and had trouble turning my head to the right because I could feel the nodule or muscles catch. I was starting to experience hoarseness at that time as well. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with that appointment and really didn't get off to a good start with the ENT.
After that, I kinda got caught up in some other stuff involving work, planning the wedding, messing with immigration stuff (keep in mind, my fiance was still in Germany during all of this), and a bunch of other stuff. So with being told to wait for a year and having other stuff to deal with, I just sat the medical issues on the back burner for awhile. It doesn't mean they were gone, just not top priority.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Rather Delayed Update
Well, it's been awhile. In that time, The Fella got his employment authorization document (Early January 2014), got a job, then got his green card! Whee! It's been quite a ride lately. And best part-- he's eligible for health insurance and other benefits at the end of this month. YAY!
The other major thing that's come up is having my thyroid removed. Not sure if I mentioned it in a past post, but I found out in March of 2013 that I had a nodule on the right lobe of my thyroid and was told "possible thyroiditis". I was prescribed steroids for a week, then told to take Aleve for a week. I had a fine needle biopsy done on the nodule shortly after stopping the Aleve and found out it was benign. Still had some troubles, but with all the immigration stuff and wedding planning (amongst other things), the thyroid thing took a back seat until a couple months after the wedding. Then, I just couldn't handle it anymore. I was tired, my neck was uncomfortable. I was having difficulty breathing (always felt like something was stuck in there and made it difficult to get comfortable at night to sleep). Stuff like that. Yet on the other hand, I wasn't experiencing many of the symptoms of being hypo- or hyper-thyroid. I was really cold a lot of the times (not totally out of character for me) and I started always feeling like I had a cold or the beginning of a really bad cold. I finally decided to go in in December. They ultrasounded they thyroid and nodule again and checked my bloodwork again. All of my stuff came back normal. No idea why.
In January, I was *really* fed up, not feeling great, and was sick of dealing with it. Went back to the doctor and she referred me to an endocrinologist. In the end, that was one of the best things that could happen. Talked to the Endocrinologist the end of January and he did some more blood tests and did a quick ultrasound at his office. Consensus-- I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and the recommendation was that due to that and the fact that the thyroid was rather enlarged and inflamed (because of they thyroiditis) and wasn't going down and that I had a 3 cm nodule; it was recommended that I have the right side of the thyroid removed...at the very least. A total thyroidectomy was recommended if I was willing to go that route. Got a referral to a general surgeon and saw her a few days later.
Well, we saw the surgeon beginning of February and set a surgery date for the 19th. The plan was to remove the right side, make sure the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve and my vocal cords were undamaged, then do the left side at a later day. Whee! Well, that was until I got a call from the surgeon the day before surgery saying that the more she thought about the particulars of my surgery, the more uncomfortable she was with it and wanted to see if I was ok with a referral to a person that does this surgery all the time. So, they found a person in Denver that does this and referred me down there.
So, at the beginning of March, The Fella and I found ourselves in Denver consulting with the surgeon. And much to our joy, she was friendly, informative, listened, and was totally ok with doing this surgery. It was brought up again that I could have half the thyroid removed or all of it. She discussed the pros, cons, and maybes of what both entailed and what I had to look forward to as far as surgery and complications and what options I had for medicines and treatments. By that time, I was totally fed up with the thyroid, how crappy I felt, and was ready to be done with the whole thing. So, after a bit of discussion the plan was made to remove all the thyroid...the next week.
March 11th was the big day! Went to Denver the night before, met up the next morning with one of my aunts that lives in the area to check out the Museum the next morning before surgery, then headed to the hospital to get checked in. Surgery went splendid! There were a few surprises, like the fact that my thyroid was more scarred, enlarged, and otherwise in rattier shape than they thought. My lymph nodes were really inflamed since my body was attacking (and had been for quite some time) the thyroid and trying to kill it off, and there was a small amount of damage done to the cartilage of my trachea. Not much, just a bit of thinning on a couple of the rings, but enough to weaken that spot some. The surgeon said she was really glad I decided to have it all removed at the same time because of that. They managed to save 3 of the parathyroids for sure (not sure what happened to one of them) which is awesome! You only really need to have one functioning one, but as she said, the more she can save, the better off I'll probably be. The parathyroids control your calcium levels. So if you don't have any, you're on calcium supplements the rest of your life. Not exactly and ideal thing. Anyway, after I got out of recovery (vaguely remember some stuff from when in there, but not much) and got to my room and kinda rejoined the world on the same mental plane of existence, I was doing pretty ok. Sore and in pain, but not doing too bad. Spent the night in the hospital and was released the next afternoon. The first few hours out of the hospital and some of the next day were CRAP. I didn't keep up on my pain meds when we were getting the discharge time worked out, so I was in some serious pain when we finally got to the motel room. Popped 2 Norco, then snuggled with my favored ice pack and a couple of heat packs. Ice for the surgery site, heat for the back of my neck and shoulders because holy crapola did they hurt! Some of that is from how they have your head positioned during surgery, some is from hunching after surgery as a form of comfort and protection for your neck. Heat packs are your friend. Oh, and definitely sleep as upright as you can handle. Trying to get up from laying on your back hurts and if you're like me and have sinus issues anyway, laying down after they've aggravated your throat with that breathing tube is a bad idea. Gunk will drain and collect near the back of your throat which is not fun. Especially since you're coughing up gunk anyway.
Fast forward to Friday-- post-op check up with the surgeon that morning because she wanted to take out the thin suture she used and steri-strip the incision. She did that so that I'd heal up with a less noticeable scar since I apparently have very fair, light, delicate skin and no wrinkles to hide a scar in. I'm just so happy to have the thyroid gone, that honestly, as long as it didn't look like someone did a botched job of cutting my throat then I was good with the dissolvable stitches or a suture like what she did. LOL.
As of tomorrow (Tuesday, March 25), it's been 2 weeks since surgery. And I feel *GREAT*. I'm sure I'll come off of that as my natural thyroid hormones fade out of my system and I'm totally dependent on the synthetic hormones. But honestly, the fact that I can breathe normally again, swallow without hindrance, and move my head to the right comfortably without feeling a nodule catch, those alone are worth this. I've seen some pretty horrific post-op horror stories about this, but I didn't run into that with mine. It pays to have a good surgeon, I'll grant that. I honestly think if the first surgeon did it, I might not have had as good a recovery as I did. It took almost a full week after surgery to completely regain my range of motion with my neck, but with a bit of stretching and gently moving my head around I got the full movement of my head with no trouble at all. I still have to keep the steri-strip on until Friday, but from what I've seen of the incision site so far, it looks like it's healing up really well! YAY!
And that really long post is pretty much what's going on around here so far. LOL.
The other major thing that's come up is having my thyroid removed. Not sure if I mentioned it in a past post, but I found out in March of 2013 that I had a nodule on the right lobe of my thyroid and was told "possible thyroiditis". I was prescribed steroids for a week, then told to take Aleve for a week. I had a fine needle biopsy done on the nodule shortly after stopping the Aleve and found out it was benign. Still had some troubles, but with all the immigration stuff and wedding planning (amongst other things), the thyroid thing took a back seat until a couple months after the wedding. Then, I just couldn't handle it anymore. I was tired, my neck was uncomfortable. I was having difficulty breathing (always felt like something was stuck in there and made it difficult to get comfortable at night to sleep). Stuff like that. Yet on the other hand, I wasn't experiencing many of the symptoms of being hypo- or hyper-thyroid. I was really cold a lot of the times (not totally out of character for me) and I started always feeling like I had a cold or the beginning of a really bad cold. I finally decided to go in in December. They ultrasounded they thyroid and nodule again and checked my bloodwork again. All of my stuff came back normal. No idea why.
In January, I was *really* fed up, not feeling great, and was sick of dealing with it. Went back to the doctor and she referred me to an endocrinologist. In the end, that was one of the best things that could happen. Talked to the Endocrinologist the end of January and he did some more blood tests and did a quick ultrasound at his office. Consensus-- I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and the recommendation was that due to that and the fact that the thyroid was rather enlarged and inflamed (because of they thyroiditis) and wasn't going down and that I had a 3 cm nodule; it was recommended that I have the right side of the thyroid removed...at the very least. A total thyroidectomy was recommended if I was willing to go that route. Got a referral to a general surgeon and saw her a few days later.
Well, we saw the surgeon beginning of February and set a surgery date for the 19th. The plan was to remove the right side, make sure the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve and my vocal cords were undamaged, then do the left side at a later day. Whee! Well, that was until I got a call from the surgeon the day before surgery saying that the more she thought about the particulars of my surgery, the more uncomfortable she was with it and wanted to see if I was ok with a referral to a person that does this surgery all the time. So, they found a person in Denver that does this and referred me down there.
So, at the beginning of March, The Fella and I found ourselves in Denver consulting with the surgeon. And much to our joy, she was friendly, informative, listened, and was totally ok with doing this surgery. It was brought up again that I could have half the thyroid removed or all of it. She discussed the pros, cons, and maybes of what both entailed and what I had to look forward to as far as surgery and complications and what options I had for medicines and treatments. By that time, I was totally fed up with the thyroid, how crappy I felt, and was ready to be done with the whole thing. So, after a bit of discussion the plan was made to remove all the thyroid...the next week.
March 11th was the big day! Went to Denver the night before, met up the next morning with one of my aunts that lives in the area to check out the Museum the next morning before surgery, then headed to the hospital to get checked in. Surgery went splendid! There were a few surprises, like the fact that my thyroid was more scarred, enlarged, and otherwise in rattier shape than they thought. My lymph nodes were really inflamed since my body was attacking (and had been for quite some time) the thyroid and trying to kill it off, and there was a small amount of damage done to the cartilage of my trachea. Not much, just a bit of thinning on a couple of the rings, but enough to weaken that spot some. The surgeon said she was really glad I decided to have it all removed at the same time because of that. They managed to save 3 of the parathyroids for sure (not sure what happened to one of them) which is awesome! You only really need to have one functioning one, but as she said, the more she can save, the better off I'll probably be. The parathyroids control your calcium levels. So if you don't have any, you're on calcium supplements the rest of your life. Not exactly and ideal thing. Anyway, after I got out of recovery (vaguely remember some stuff from when in there, but not much) and got to my room and kinda rejoined the world on the same mental plane of existence, I was doing pretty ok. Sore and in pain, but not doing too bad. Spent the night in the hospital and was released the next afternoon. The first few hours out of the hospital and some of the next day were CRAP. I didn't keep up on my pain meds when we were getting the discharge time worked out, so I was in some serious pain when we finally got to the motel room. Popped 2 Norco, then snuggled with my favored ice pack and a couple of heat packs. Ice for the surgery site, heat for the back of my neck and shoulders because holy crapola did they hurt! Some of that is from how they have your head positioned during surgery, some is from hunching after surgery as a form of comfort and protection for your neck. Heat packs are your friend. Oh, and definitely sleep as upright as you can handle. Trying to get up from laying on your back hurts and if you're like me and have sinus issues anyway, laying down after they've aggravated your throat with that breathing tube is a bad idea. Gunk will drain and collect near the back of your throat which is not fun. Especially since you're coughing up gunk anyway.
Fast forward to Friday-- post-op check up with the surgeon that morning because she wanted to take out the thin suture she used and steri-strip the incision. She did that so that I'd heal up with a less noticeable scar since I apparently have very fair, light, delicate skin and no wrinkles to hide a scar in. I'm just so happy to have the thyroid gone, that honestly, as long as it didn't look like someone did a botched job of cutting my throat then I was good with the dissolvable stitches or a suture like what she did. LOL.
As of tomorrow (Tuesday, March 25), it's been 2 weeks since surgery. And I feel *GREAT*. I'm sure I'll come off of that as my natural thyroid hormones fade out of my system and I'm totally dependent on the synthetic hormones. But honestly, the fact that I can breathe normally again, swallow without hindrance, and move my head to the right comfortably without feeling a nodule catch, those alone are worth this. I've seen some pretty horrific post-op horror stories about this, but I didn't run into that with mine. It pays to have a good surgeon, I'll grant that. I honestly think if the first surgeon did it, I might not have had as good a recovery as I did. It took almost a full week after surgery to completely regain my range of motion with my neck, but with a bit of stretching and gently moving my head around I got the full movement of my head with no trouble at all. I still have to keep the steri-strip on until Friday, but from what I've seen of the incision site so far, it looks like it's healing up really well! YAY!
And that really long post is pretty much what's going on around here so far. LOL.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Crafty Stuffs!
There are a few days in the year when I absolutely refuse to go to the stores or anywhere there's the potential for an extremely large mass of people....Black Friday and that entire weekend would be one of them. I generally don't really check for much in the way of deals unless there's something I know I want and want to see if there's a deal, or if I see a deal and decide I want whatever it is. LOL. I'm just not a people person (especially if it involves large groups of folks that are crazy for deals) and I usually just get what I need or want as budget permits because as I learned this weekend that you have to be super quick with the Amazon Lightning deals (well, pretty much most online deals) since there are thousands of people that want that as much, if not more, than you do!
I did manage to find something that seems like a good deal --especially since I missed out on several Amazon Lightning Deals of a smaller, but similar bundle-- was that Silhouette has several holiday bundles for their machines! So, I showed the hubby and asked his opinion...and got a good approval of it and apparently he wants to use it too. LOL.
I've always liked the concept of the Cricut (it's the only one I'd ever heard of. Who knew there were other machines?!), but wanted something that allowed me to do more than what Cricut offered. I don't want to buy the cartridge/die things all the time, especially if there's only one or two images in the pack that I want. And fonts? I have crap tons of them already, so why do I need to buy a die with them? Great concept, but I wanted more. Well, that's where Silhouette appealed to me. You can use your own stuff, they have a lot of great single images on the online store for a good price, and you can use your own fonts. That just appeals to me. A bit more expensive initially, but for me it pays off in the end.
I don't have the Cameo yet since it hasn't shipped as of now, but I'm really anxious to play with it and see what all I can do with it! Everything I've seen people do online has been amazing and it's really making me impatient to get the danged thing. Once I do though, I'll have to check back and let you all know what I think. Whee!
I did manage to find something that seems like a good deal --especially since I missed out on several Amazon Lightning Deals of a smaller, but similar bundle-- was that Silhouette has several holiday bundles for their machines! So, I showed the hubby and asked his opinion...and got a good approval of it and apparently he wants to use it too. LOL.
I've always liked the concept of the Cricut (it's the only one I'd ever heard of. Who knew there were other machines?!), but wanted something that allowed me to do more than what Cricut offered. I don't want to buy the cartridge/die things all the time, especially if there's only one or two images in the pack that I want. And fonts? I have crap tons of them already, so why do I need to buy a die with them? Great concept, but I wanted more. Well, that's where Silhouette appealed to me. You can use your own stuff, they have a lot of great single images on the online store for a good price, and you can use your own fonts. That just appeals to me. A bit more expensive initially, but for me it pays off in the end.
I don't have the Cameo yet since it hasn't shipped as of now, but I'm really anxious to play with it and see what all I can do with it! Everything I've seen people do online has been amazing and it's really making me impatient to get the danged thing. Once I do though, I'll have to check back and let you all know what I think. Whee!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
From Miss to Mrs.
Long time, no post! Lots of stuff has been going on and I think it just might have settled down...maybe. Time to play catch up.
The Fella had his interview June 11, 2013 and all went well and ended with an approval! :D It took a bit of time for him to sort through his stuff, sell some, store some, put in notice that he was quitting, notifying people, etc., but he got it done and flew over here September 4th. YAY! While he was getting his stuff in order, I was getting my stuff and some of the wedding stuff taken care of. Once he got here, there was more wedding stuff to take care of, getting his social security number, adding him to the bank account, lease, and a few other things, and some other miscellaneous stuff that I can't recall. LOL. Everything worked out and we got married September 27th...then honeymooned in Vegas for a week. Whee!
Since then we've been working on getting my name changed on stuff which is taking a bit since the government was shutdown and I had to wait to change my name on my social security card, hence delaying some stuff. Whee? We've definitely been enjoying the married thing though. Something about it is just...wonderful. Not sure what makes it different, but it is. Huh. Anyway, we filed for the Adjustment of Status, Employment Authorization Document, and Advanced Parole last week and got the text stating they received our crap. Now we're back to the waiting game. Fun times.
Other than that, that's pretty much it. Been keeping entertained at work and such, but nothing overly exciting. Well, nothing I want to post about online anyway. LOL. As usual life happens and sometimes the stuff in life isn't fun to deal with, but you kinda have to. :)
The Fella had his interview June 11, 2013 and all went well and ended with an approval! :D It took a bit of time for him to sort through his stuff, sell some, store some, put in notice that he was quitting, notifying people, etc., but he got it done and flew over here September 4th. YAY! While he was getting his stuff in order, I was getting my stuff and some of the wedding stuff taken care of. Once he got here, there was more wedding stuff to take care of, getting his social security number, adding him to the bank account, lease, and a few other things, and some other miscellaneous stuff that I can't recall. LOL. Everything worked out and we got married September 27th...then honeymooned in Vegas for a week. Whee!
Since then we've been working on getting my name changed on stuff which is taking a bit since the government was shutdown and I had to wait to change my name on my social security card, hence delaying some stuff. Whee? We've definitely been enjoying the married thing though. Something about it is just...wonderful. Not sure what makes it different, but it is. Huh. Anyway, we filed for the Adjustment of Status, Employment Authorization Document, and Advanced Parole last week and got the text stating they received our crap. Now we're back to the waiting game. Fun times.
Other than that, that's pretty much it. Been keeping entertained at work and such, but nothing overly exciting. Well, nothing I want to post about online anyway. LOL. As usual life happens and sometimes the stuff in life isn't fun to deal with, but you kinda have to. :)
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Approval!
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I was really surprised to see this notice though. Right now, California Service Center (the center our paperwork was sent to) is horribly backlogged. So backlogged in fact, that they're still working on visas from July. Freaking. July. Very little of August and September have been touched as well. They're supposed to be doing these applications in the order they're received and while I am extremely grateful that we have our approval, there should be no reason whatsoever that a bunch of people from late November and beginning of December have gotten approvals while people from July are being told that USCIS is doing what they can and they'll just have to wait. It's bullcrap. So anyone with a K1 visa from before November, I'm sorry you're waiting. :( You should have had this long before now and I really hope you get your visas approved soon!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
E-Readers!
I'd been considering getting a dedicated e-reader for awhile. I have a 1st Generation Kindle Fire and while I really like (ok, love) the thing, the battery life is kind of crappy for plane rides, car rides, or a quiet day reading. Even while stopping to do paperwork or answer the phone on my slower days at work, I still usually end up having to plug my Fire in towards the end of the day, even though the Wi-Fi is off and I've turned the screen brightness down. When I'm near a power outlet--basically at home or work, and a few vehicles--that's not an issue. Long plane rides though, not so much. LOL. Hence, the reason for a dedicated e-reader, and not another tablet style e-reader.
After looking around a bit, I opted for a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. The price wasn't too bad ($119) and I have the option of adding more memory which really appeals to me. I also get a little built in light for when I don't have as much ambient light around, so win for me! What I didn't know though, was that the fiance is apparently part Betazoid and was thinking an e-reader (Kobo Mini) would be a *great* Valentine's Day gift. LOL. Imagine his surprise when a few days before Valentine's I'm going on about how I like my Nook...and my surprise when I get a Kobo Mini in the mail the day after Valentine's. Now I have 2 e-readers. Whee! In lieu of that, I decided to put together a post on the pros and cons of the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and the Kobo Mini. I haven't used any of the standard Kindle readers, so I'll not touch that subject.
Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight-- One of the better known (right along with Kindle) is Barnes and Noble's Nook. They have one without the GlowLight for $79, so if the $119 is a bit more on the steep side price-wise, I'd suggest just going with that one. The GlowLight is nice to have, but not totally necessary unless you have very little light nearby. It comes with a computer cable/wall charger which is great because you don't have to charge it in the computer unless you want to. I love that it has expandable memory! You stick a mini SD card in there (it doesn't tell you which way on the slot or, so be careful when loading it and don't force it). Being able to use a mini sd card also means you can unmount the card from the Nook, then load it in the card reader on a computer. Considerably more convenient in some ways, especially if you can't find a cord right off the bat. For flipping pages, you can use the touchscreen or the page turner buttons on each side of the Nook. Top button moves the page forward, bottom button moves the page back. Perfect for if you have a dog on your lap and can only use one hand (or eating, or having a cup of tea...whatever problem you have). I think that's probably my favorite feature because it never fails that when I read at home, Bear *has* to sit in my lap and demands to be petted. LOL. Another favorite feature is the fact that you can customize your screensaver for it. All you need is a grayscale 600x800 photo (there are plenty pre-made, free screensavers for the Nook online), load it onto your Nook (BN.com tells you how, just check out FAQ or Support), and change it from the Screen settings on the Nook. Boom. No more creepy dead author screensaver. LOL. Worst surprise ever was seeing that screensaver pop up the first time. Less than 30 minutes later, I had that resolved.
Kobo Mini-- While they aren't a big name like Kindle or Nook, they're still pretty good. If you want something that isn't well know and a bit more...open, for lack of a better word...they're a good option. At $79, they're comparable in price to your other e-readers as well. Multiple language options and while they have their own version of an epub file (ke-epub) and you can buy your ebooks and read them anywhere. Not sure if it wreaks havoc with certain countries that are funny about copyrights, but it at least sounds more open. The smaller size is perfect for if you want a reader that fits in a purse or pocket without being obvious. I have a good sized purse and my Fire and the Nook stick out a bit or reach close to the top of one of my pockets. I do have a lot of crap in the purse though. LOL. 2 GBs of internal memory so you can store about ebooks on there. It's a great travel sized e-reader! It's about the same height and only about 2 inches wider than my Motorola Razr phone, so not much bigger than your average smartphone. It's fairly customizable too. I can set the screensaver/sleep screen to the book cover or a sleeping Kobo design. I can also set it to shut off after a certain amount of time (YES!) so I don't drain my battery as much if I forget it's on in the case...for about a month. lol.
After looking around a bit, I opted for a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. The price wasn't too bad ($119) and I have the option of adding more memory which really appeals to me. I also get a little built in light for when I don't have as much ambient light around, so win for me! What I didn't know though, was that the fiance is apparently part Betazoid and was thinking an e-reader (Kobo Mini) would be a *great* Valentine's Day gift. LOL. Imagine his surprise when a few days before Valentine's I'm going on about how I like my Nook...and my surprise when I get a Kobo Mini in the mail the day after Valentine's. Now I have 2 e-readers. Whee! In lieu of that, I decided to put together a post on the pros and cons of the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and the Kobo Mini. I haven't used any of the standard Kindle readers, so I'll not touch that subject.
*Also as a side note-- I sideload everything via Calibre. It's free, easy to use, and you can keep all your books in one spot and have a hard copy. I found it simpler and more intuitive to work with than Kindle for PC, Nook for PC, and Kobo Desktop App. Of the 3, Kindle for PC is probably the best set up and easier to use, but does us no good with a Nook and a Kobo. LOL.
Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight-- One of the better known (right along with Kindle) is Barnes and Noble's Nook. They have one without the GlowLight for $79, so if the $119 is a bit more on the steep side price-wise, I'd suggest just going with that one. The GlowLight is nice to have, but not totally necessary unless you have very little light nearby. It comes with a computer cable/wall charger which is great because you don't have to charge it in the computer unless you want to. I love that it has expandable memory! You stick a mini SD card in there (it doesn't tell you which way on the slot or, so be careful when loading it and don't force it). Being able to use a mini sd card also means you can unmount the card from the Nook, then load it in the card reader on a computer. Considerably more convenient in some ways, especially if you can't find a cord right off the bat. For flipping pages, you can use the touchscreen or the page turner buttons on each side of the Nook. Top button moves the page forward, bottom button moves the page back. Perfect for if you have a dog on your lap and can only use one hand (or eating, or having a cup of tea...whatever problem you have). I think that's probably my favorite feature because it never fails that when I read at home, Bear *has* to sit in my lap and demands to be petted. LOL. Another favorite feature is the fact that you can customize your screensaver for it. All you need is a grayscale 600x800 photo (there are plenty pre-made, free screensavers for the Nook online), load it onto your Nook (BN.com tells you how, just check out FAQ or Support), and change it from the Screen settings on the Nook. Boom. No more creepy dead author screensaver. LOL. Worst surprise ever was seeing that screensaver pop up the first time. Less than 30 minutes later, I had that resolved.
Pros:
- Expandable memory
- Customizable
- Page Turner buttons on each side, or you can use the screen
- Great battery life
- computer cord/wall charger included, it's also the micros usb so you can use another charger in a pinch
- Lots and lots of free ebooks and you can Lend some books or rent from your local library (if the library has that option, not all do)
- All sorts of covers and accessories are available and you can get them most anywhere
- Convenient tech support if you have a store nearby
- Price. $79 is pretty reasonable for the basic Simple Touch (pretty average price for ereaders), but the GlowLight version is another $40...just for a built in light.
- It doesn't allow you to set it to shut off after a certain amount of time, you can set how long before the screen times out and goes to a screensaver, but not shut off.
- I'm listing this even though it's common to all e-readers--ebooks are DRM. I know *why* it's that way, but it's a huge pain in the butt when you buy a freaking book and can't read it on whatever device you own. I'll get more into this later.
- Can't share snippets of non-Nook for PC side-loaded books. So if you like sharing what you're reading on Facebook or Twitter, not a great option unless you buy books from B&N.
- Doesn't show percentage wise how far you are into the book, just page x of xx. I like percentages. LOL.
Kobo Mini-- While they aren't a big name like Kindle or Nook, they're still pretty good. If you want something that isn't well know and a bit more...open, for lack of a better word...they're a good option. At $79, they're comparable in price to your other e-readers as well. Multiple language options and while they have their own version of an epub file (ke-epub) and you can buy your ebooks and read them anywhere. Not sure if it wreaks havoc with certain countries that are funny about copyrights, but it at least sounds more open. The smaller size is perfect for if you want a reader that fits in a purse or pocket without being obvious. I have a good sized purse and my Fire and the Nook stick out a bit or reach close to the top of one of my pockets. I do have a lot of crap in the purse though. LOL. 2 GBs of internal memory so you can store about ebooks on there. It's a great travel sized e-reader! It's about the same height and only about 2 inches wider than my Motorola Razr phone, so not much bigger than your average smartphone. It's fairly customizable too. I can set the screensaver/sleep screen to the book cover or a sleeping Kobo design. I can also set it to shut off after a certain amount of time (YES!) so I don't drain my battery as much if I forget it's on in the case...for about a month. lol.
Pros:
- Small size
- Timed shut-off
- Computer cable, but no wall charger. Not too big of a deal since it's a micro-usb.
- Surprisingly clear text for such a small thing. You can change the font size and type too and find a more comfortable sized text.
- Great battery life. I actually have better battery life on this than the Nook.
- Can share snippets of side-loaded books to Facebook.
- Has some fun little awards for little things like "Finishing your first book on your Kobo," "read so many books," etc.
- Reading stats! They show you how long it takes you to read a book, average time per page of the book, percentage done, etc.
- Setup can be...interesting. It takes awhile. You can set it up wirelessly or via computer, so that is a nice option. Tried both and they're about the same. You do need a Kobo account, so set that up first.
- A little laggy at times. Touchscreen can be a bit more temperamental than the Nook. Not terribly bad though.
- Due to its smaller size, I really don't recommend this for people that need large print books or if you have a more difficult time with smaller printed stuff. Use a bigger e-reader. Your eyes will thank you. LOL. I wear glasses, but I don't have a problem with the text size. My corrected vision is really good though, so if in doubt, don't get the Kobo Mini, but get a Kobo Touch, Glo, Nook, Kindle, whatever. lol
- Not as many accessories for it, so if you like to accessorize your gadgets you'll have to be more creative with this
- Again, with the proprietary ebooks.
- Desktop app sucks. I'm not a fan of it as you can tell. LOL.
As for Calibre, ebooks, and DRM-- Part of why I use Calibre (and not just because it's easier for me to use), is the fact that with the proper "unofficial" Calibre plug-ins, I can strip the DRM off of my ebooks. It takes some experimenting, but it's really not hard. Now I'm *not* advocating stripping DRM off of ebooks so that you can sell or disburse ebooks to the whole internet or "stick it to the man" and upload them for anyone and everyone that wants them. That isn't fair for the authors that took the time to write those books.
However, as many others have said, I paid for the books and I want to read them on any and all of my devices. I see nothing wrong with stripping DRM for that. /rant
However, as many others have said, I paid for the books and I want to read them on any and all of my devices. I see nothing wrong with stripping DRM for that. /rant
And that's just my 2 cents worth on those two particular e-readers. :)
*Oh, and the particular ebook you see on screen is "Winter's Heart" by Robert Jordan. His Wheel of Time series is amazing! If you like epic fantasy, check it out. ;)
The screen saver on the Nook screen is one I made from a photo I took in Paris. :D
*Oh, and the particular ebook you see on screen is "Winter's Heart" by Robert Jordan. His Wheel of Time series is amazing! If you like epic fantasy, check it out. ;)
The screen saver on the Nook screen is one I made from a photo I took in Paris. :D
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