but 20 years to find a doctor who thinks it is rational to test thyroid function by testing thyroid function.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I thought the standard test for thyroid function is to test TSH. Often when you test the thyroid directly you get results in the normal range when in fact TSH is working way too hard to keep the thyroid functioning.

Andi will explain it more fully, but she has had a string of doctors who have dismissed her attempts to get them to actually diagnose her.

I am not a violent man, but I wouldn't mind slugging them all. At least twice, each.

Apparently, it is against district policy to give out homework in advance.

This is pretty standard in most schools now. It is a policy aimed at discouraging families to take their kids out who think doing homework replaces the experience of being in the classroom. Sigh.

I know she meant well, but I'm a little disappointed in her answer (although I know Joe well enough to imagine what sort of email he sent in the first place).

Yeah, don’t be too hard on the teacher. Ultimately there’s not really a lot that a teacher can say in a situation like that.

His insistence that Ellie go on this trip really caught me off guard because missing so much school when there is no special reason just seems so wrong to me

Me too, but I admit I’m very biased.

I work in a district where I have students who take off 2-4 weeks to visit family in other countries. I can't tell you how many kids won't be at school for the whole month of January. Which is, of course, the end of 1st semester and the beginning of 2nd. It's a pain in the ass. Parents will request homework but there are 3 problems with it:

1) I can't always have a plan for 4 weeks away. Stuff happens. Things change. Also? They typically ask for the work the day before they leave. Really? You want me to get my lessons planned for the next month, make all the necessary copies, and write out specific instructions because you won't be there to hear the oral ones? In just an hour during my plan time? Ummmmm....really?

2) Most of the work for my class is done IN CLASS. It's a performance-based class. It's not like there's a test you can take later. You need need to be in class to rehearse with your partner(s) and to perform with them.

3) I don't have a text. The lessons are in class and hands-on. You're not there? You will NEVER be able to make it up and you will miss out and you will be lost. There's no getting around it.

As a teacher, I hate it when kids miss class.

I thought the standard test for thyroid function is to test TSH. Often when you test the thyroid directly you get results in the normal range when in fact TSH is working way too hard to keep the thyroid functioning.

Yes, the TSH has long been the routine test. Mine generally runs high, but within the clinical range. The problem with checking out what the pituitary gland thinks the thyroid gland is doing without actually checking out what the thyroid is actually, in fact, doing is... well... how do you know if the pituitary gland in question knows what the hell it is about. Some pituitary glands, mine for example, let their associated thyroid glands get by with slacking off. Latest round of testing (after taking a month's worth of T3 replacement hormone rather than synthroid) has my TSH smack in the middle of the normal range, while T3 and T4 are right on the lower border of their ranges. In the relatively short time I've been taking the new med, there have been some observable changes in my metabolic processes (not observable weight loss, but other stuff). To contrast, the low(ish) dose of synthroid some doctors in the past were willing to prescribe for me based on the high(ish) TSH numbers, well, I pretty much felt no difference at all. Well, I do have the suspicion that my fingernails flaked apart slightly less, enabling me to grow them out to lengths of 1 mm past the quick.

I wonder if my eyelashes will grow back.

I wonder if my eyelashes will grow back.

Mine did. Eyebrows are slowly filling back in, too.

Nowadays I think they recommend that they run T3 and T4 in addition to TSH to get a better picture than TSH alone, but I don't know that all doctors are on board with that yet.

I get all three done too, but I'm diagnosed hypothyroid. But like you WS I had trouble talking my original doctor into giving me the tests in the first place. She didn't buy my assessment of my symptoms. But she was wrong.

Mine did. Eyebrows are slowly filling back in, too.

That'll be nice.

Morning observation:

My gel toothpaste and my shaving gel are the same color.

Shaving gel lathers better.

IJS...

DCJ, LOL!

Andi, FYI, minoxidil works on eyebrows too. Don't get it in your eyes, of course! I wouldn't try it on lashes... The best thing I found for growing back hair is a "snake oil" combination of minoxidil and Retin-A sold by a Dr. Adam Lewenberg. Apparently the guy figured he'd make more money selling it himself than, I dunno, selling the formula to L'Oreal or something.

Oh, dear. At least you didn't find out that toothpaste tastes better.