~ MCJ's photos with the keyword: hyperthyroidism

She starts to do well and I lower her diuretics, but then the problems with the toxic fumes from the neighbours will get us and I'm too slow to get her inside. And she deteriorates immediately. I was on the phone when it happened about 4 days ago. She is back on maximum dose diuretics as a result. I have now relocated all the cats to a temporary home until I can find us a home to move to. I sleep there and feed them but I don't have internet access. I only moved them last night. I had Josie's blood tested on Saturday. They were good. Her thyroid is 35. Over 60 is hyperthyroid. Her T4 in march was 87. She still needs her heart medication. I'm hoping that in the new environment, her heart thickening may reverse. (It is unlikely) Ideally her T4 should be under 30. There is a chance that over 30 is pre hyperthyroid.

She starts to do well and I lower her diuretics, but then the problems with the toxic fumes from the neighbours will get us and I'm too slow to get her inside. And she deteriorates immediately. I was on the phone when it happened about 4 days ago. She is back on maximum dose diuretics as a result. I have now relocated all the cats to a temporary home until I can find us a home to move to. I sleep there and feed them but I don't have internet access. I only moved them last night. I had Josie's blood tested on Saturday. They were good. Her thyroid is 35. Over 60 is hyperthyroid. Her T4 in march was 87. But she still needs her heart medication. I'm hoping that in the new environment, her heart thickening may reverse.

Josie is much calmer and very happy to be home. She coped with the car trip very well and she was not car sick. She was happy and affectionate at home when I let her out of the carrier. She was so happy to eat and drink straight away. She is not supposed to be on the bed. I found her there. She doesn't normally get on my bed but she is now. It's a problem, she keeps going back there. I have to wear disposable gloves when I touch her. Her radiation levels are 92, which are just inside safe levels the vet said. She can stay 2minutes on my lap at a time but she's not a lap cat so that's ok. I can't pick her up and put my cheek against her. For 2 weeks I can only touch Josie with disposable gloves. I am very happy to have her home. I will test her thyroid levels in 3-4weeks, and the vet also wants me to do another urinalysis, that is a dip stick test on her urine, to make sure there is still no glucose present just as a precaution. Josie has been drinking a lot since being home, and this does worry me. I won't relax until I see her blood tests and urine tests. I'm hoping the drinking is her just catching up. She's been drinking a lot even late tonight. Hopefully tomorrow she will calm down. At the moment I must dispose of her kitty litter daily bagged and using gloves. That was important. The idea is not to give myself unnecessary radiation exposure due to the fact they don't know how it might affect humans even at these lower levels. I sincerely thank everyone for your encouraging words and understanding, for your support in any and every way, it has been very helpful to me.

JOSIE UPDATE 8TH JULY 2016 The vet ran me 8.30am this morning. Josie is very distressed and not eating. When he opens her box up, she is vocal, i.e. she is crying, but not vocal when no-one is there. She is not eating, he said this is due to stress and this is what they worry about. He has given her an appetite stimulant under the skin and he won't be in over the weekend. there will be another vet there. He said he will scan her on Monday to see the levels of her radiation, and hopefully she will be able come home. He said she might be like she was the first time on coming home, (she was aggressive and didn't want to be handled). The clothing I had worn and asked them to put in there for her so she has my smell does not seem to be giving her any comfort at all he said. It's a bit heartbreaking, but she has to be there now till Monday hopefully her radioactive levels will be down enough for her to come home. This is the hardest part of the treatment. Not all cats react this way.

Tuesday morning. She was car sick, badly, on the trip. We've just arrived in this photo, and she's settled a bit. She sat like this the whole way there, threw up, and was crying and when we stopped at lights, she stopped crying, but she was hanging her head in despair, and moving it side to side. She looked woeful. This morning (Wednesday) 9.30am, they gave her the Radioactive Iodine Tablet. The vet rang a few hours later, He was pleased she didn't vomit it, which happens sometimes. She's in isolation for 5 days minimum. I feel confident she will be cured, and she will benefit greatly. After agonising over the decision to treat her, I had to just listen to my inner sense of things, and I felt it was going to be ok even though my mind was frantic about it all.

Josie goes to hospital.

I admitted Josie into hospital today. They ran tests and said she is in very good health. They will administer the radioactive iodine tablet on Friday morning. The dose they choose depends on her TT4 level and also when they feel her thyroid, how large the goiter is. They rang me today and said she is eating well, so she is not distressed. But it's Friday morning they give her the tablet, and the night before they give her an injection to stop her vomiting the tablet. There are two risks, one is she still may vomit the tablet (the tablet costs $650), and the other risk is her thyroid might go too low and stay too low, i.e. she might end up with HYPO thyroidism which would require medication for the rest of her life. Only about 1% suffer that. I asked the vet is it because they got the dose wrong, and he said yes. Josie's TT4 level will go too low in the beginning and then it normalises after about a month. The radioactive Iodine kills the abnormal cells in the thyroid. For the last week I put an old sheet on my pillow and slept on it every night. Then I cut it up into 7 pieces and placed them in a bag for them to put in a piece every day while she's in isolation. The vet said he'll make sure they put a piece in every day. Josie was 10 years old on the 3rd of June. It's a guess of her birthday.

I've booked Josie in for her Hyperthyroid treatment on the 29th June, 2016 at the Sydney University Vet Hospital. I've stopped her medication now, as she has to be off it for 2 weeks prior to her treatment. Her treatment will be a tablet of Radioactive Iodine. She will stay isolated in the hospital for 5-7 days while she's radioactive and they will feed her and change her bedding etc. Everything she comes into contact with in that week in hospital is destroyed. They know when she can come home when she stops giving off high levels of radiation. I've raised just over half her costs, thanks to everyone who has supported her treatment, which is enough for the deposit when I admit her. If anyone would like to contribute to her costs through paypal, for when I have to bring her home. www.facebook.com/helpcurejosie/

You can see the blue hue on her fur here. This is exactly how she looks in real life. A real life painting. Josie has hyperthyroidism. People wanted to help with her treatment, so I set up a facebook page for her. If you would like to support her treatment, I thank you so much. Details can be found here. She needs expensive Radioactive Iodine Treatment to cure her. www.facebook.com/helpcurejosie/

She's worried I will bring her inside. I have to bring them inside when I can't supervise them in the yard to keep them safe from the neighbours. When I view these photos larger, they get grainy. My brother said it's because I've got the Iso on the highest setting. So now I have to try and get good photos with a lower iso. (after discovering that the highest Iso was getting good pictures). I don't understand cameras, the physics, and I would love to learn the physics one day and understand it in my mind what I'm doing. I'm always guessing at the moment.

Josie has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and some flickr contacts offered to support her to get treatment that will cure her. I made a facebook page to allow anyone who wants to help Josie. www.facebook.com/helpcurejosie/ I'm working out this camera slowly. I discovered if I took it off auto and set the iso to the highest setting and used the macro when I moved in close, I can get some really good photos.

She was rolling around in the sun attacked the table leg. She's been on the thyroid medication for 25days. It really helps. She's due for more tests to see her levels and to see if her kidney function is ok. She looks unhappy, as do all my cats at the moment.

Josie has hyperthyroidism. Her kidneys are fine, in fact her Urea was a touch low. Also her potassium was a touch low. Everything else was fine. It is caused by a tumour on the thyroid. That's why she steals food and breaks into the oven. But the mystery is she is overweight...she should be very thin with hyperthyroidism. (She did drop suddenly a bit of weight a few weeks ago) Her TT4 measured 87. It should be betweem 10-60. This is the reason she drinks so much. My poor little girl. The local vet recommends a treatment called "RADIOACTIVE IODINE THERAPY". One treatment cures 95% of cases. It is very expensive. I have to ring tomorrow to find out how much it costs. Another option is surgery but it is very close to the parathyroid gland, and if he damages that, she will die, so he is reluctant to remove the tumour. And this operation would be expensive too. And the final option of treatment is tablets, for life. It does not cure the problem and you will always be giving her blood tests to get the levels right and she will be on medication for life. Her blood pressure will always have to be watched monthly. I'm not in a position to easily give her what she needs. And I have to make a decision soon.