2022-01-26
What a start to 2022. Got hit by Covid at the very start of the year, probably from my pickleball group as 3 other people whom I played with also got sick. Fortunately, it was very mild with only a couple of days of a sore throat and body aches. Unfortunately, I probably didn’t take it easy as much as I should have and was back to playing pickleball a week later, and I developed a dry cough. Well, that turned into a little bit of congestion and ultimately diagnosed as pneumonia, discovered during my annual physical. That was probably lucky for me as I would have typically ignored something so minor. This whole episode also resulted in a loss of 8 lbs alone this month (low of 158, now back up a bit at 161, looking to stay around 165).
Due to that weight loss, I did make a decision to go from my super low 2.5 mg of methimazole every other day to 2.5 mg daily. My thyroid levels showed improvements for serum T3 at 152 v 217; free T3 at 3.6 v 6.8; free T4 at 2.03 v 2.49; and TSH constant at <0.005 from last time. The T3 levels are actually now in the “normal” range (55-170 and 2.0-4.4, respectively). T4 is getting closer (0.82-1.77) and don’t know if I will ever see TSH within 0.45-4.5. Strange that the reference interval for serum T3 changed from 71-180 to 55-170, which is also a point of contention of what is normal for me v the population at large. Lastly, my vitals were BP of 128/73, pulse 58, temp 98F and cholesterol at 122 (how is that possible with all the smoked meat I eat?!).
In any case, I have one more day of antibiotics for the pneumonia to get through and am looking forward to resume playing pickleball. I have to work out a balance of that plus golfing and bicycling, both of which have been relegated to occasional activities since I have gotten more serious with pickleball. I’m playing 5 days a week, with most days of at least 4 hrs of play, one day of 6 or more, plus I’ve joined a league. Crazy but I’m having fun.
Stay well, everyone!
johnnykongblog 