No, the thyroid didn't leave. It even invited a friend over.

My birthday was nice.  I did my mourning the day before so I could make the best of the day.  Had a good day at the holiday party with my coworkers, had a good day at home with my family, had a good (sarcasm) time finishing up my performance assessment.  I turned that in the following day and found out yesterday that I passed.  So I am officially done with my first term.  Coming soon:  a post on WGU survival tips and must-haves.

The day after my birthday, I went to my PCP for the follow-up on my blood pressure medication and the investigation into my weight gain.  The new blood pressure medication is working fine.  As far as the weight gain...she agreed to check my thyroid, but she believes that 1700 calories a day may be too much for me.

"Even with being on my feet at work and exercising five days a week?" I ask.

Apparently so.  But she wants me stay at 1500 calories a week for at least two weeks.  If I don't lose some weight in that time (I'm not counting the water weight I'm bound to lose within the next couple of days, thanks to all the Chinese food I had on my birthday), she wants me to go down to 1200.  If that doesn't do it, then 1000.  Even 800 if I had to.

Of course, if I ever had to go below 1200, I'd ask for a referral to a nutritionist first.  No offense, doc, but let's talk to someone who specializes in this.

Labs were done.  My TSH is normal.  But my chloride is 10 points high.  Total protein is a bit low.  Everything else is normal.

Chloride, high?  Odd.

She said she's not worried about it, but I do need to make sure I'm eating enough protein.  Should I do the Atkins diet?

As far as the chloride...I looked it up.  Causes of high chloride include:

• Dehydration (possible)
• Hypernatremia (high blood sodium) (nope, that was normal)
• Cushing syndrome (not likely)
• Kidney disease (kidney-related labs were just fine)
• Metabolic acidosis (nope, those levels were normal)
• Respiratory alkalosis (ditto)

So my best guess is that I need to drink more water.

I'm disappointed yet relieved that my thyroid test came back normal.  Disappointed because hypothyroidism would have explained a hell of a lot of what's been going on with me besides just the weight gain.   Relieved because it's better to have the working thyroid in the long run.

It's going to be tough to keep track of the calories when my mom is here...mostly because I don't want her to know I'm trying to lose weight.  She's always been critical of my weight all my life, even when I wasn't overweight to begin with.  Yeah, I know.  And she tends to believe she knows best about everything...she'll be there, giving me all the diet and exercise advice she has.  Meanwhile, she very overweight, doesn't exercise, and her diet is anything but balanced.  Or she is trying the latest fad diet or quick fix, such as drinking apple cider vinegar in water and expecting it take off 35 lbs. 

Spoiler alert:  it didn't work.

*sigh*