Radioactive Girl

My transformation is complete...I've always wanted to be a super hero and now you can call me Radioactive Girl... you can call me ROG (pronounced rouge with a hard G as in Rogue Leader from Star Wars not as in rouge that girls put on their cheeks for color).

So ROG it is! The procedure was embarrasingly simple. It started out like an episodes of The Simpson's with Homer removing a nuclear vile from a container with long tweezer-like utensils. The technician put a big metal container on the counter, put some tap water in a suringe and inserted the water into a really small vile. All I did was drink, threw a straw, a tiny amount of liquid. He added a little water each time and I had to be sure and slurp a lot because, apparently, the radioiodine can adhere to the glass and I had to be sure to slurp it allllll up. That was it. I am radioactive! I now have to be careful and not "be with" anyone for 2 days. I can't sleep in the same bed as my hubby or my kids, can't watch a movie or read a book with them.

Okay! Here's the best part of the procedure! Michael Vartan was at the doctor's office and wasn't afraid of taking a picture with me, even though I was aglow! You know I always carry my camera and playboy bunny outfit!

Zane or Lucas?

Is he a cutie? The newest Baby Beach was born at 6:29 am on January 26, 2006, weighing in at 6 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long.

Last I heard he will either be named Lucas or Zane... I'm hoping for Zane. His middle name will be Gary (that's the deceased grandfather) What a wonderful tribute. Besides Zane being a cool name, Zane Gray was one of Gary Beach's favorite authors. It may be too late for a vote, but you can vote anyway in your comment.


Parker and Dexter are excited for their 8th new cousin!... They are pretty lucky because I only have 3 cousins! Yes, Three! That's it and none of them live anywhere near Utah!

I'll upload some more pictures later! Lata! Aunt-T (Auntie)

Grave's Update

I saw Dr. Hales again on Thursday. He says, Yes, the Grave's is definitely real. I don't have anything else wrong with me, no cancer or infections. My sedrate was 12... cancer or illness shows at around 100. I pretty healthy. My cholesterol was only 165, the nurse said Excellent.

We schedule my radioiodineablation for Monday. This will be the radiation they do to my thyroid. In the past 2 weeks my symptoms have gotten worse, so I am excited to start getting better.

Dr. Hales said that I have my normal "threshold". When I was banded this raised my threshold tolerance a little bit and then the Grave's pushed me over the edge. He is hoping that once the Grave's is "taken care of" all my digestion problems with get lots better. If not we may talk about removing my band... yes, that's how bad things have gotten. Once I started taking the Reglan, things have gotten 85% better and the Ambien is heaven sent! It's so awesome to feel tired and feel like you could go to sleep if you wanted to!

Wish me luck! and you can call me Radioactive Girl. I'll be radiating for 2 days so I can't spend long periods of time with anyone, especially my kids. I'd love to spend 2 days in a hot tub at some hotel, but the doctor said it would be fine to stay at home and carry on as normal... DANG IT!

Your Own Blackhole

Why is it when you need a pair of scissors you can never find them? I remember growing up we never had scissors and now this horrible legacy as followed me to my own home.

Do you also have trouble finding fingernail clippers and that one sock? Where do you eventually find it? Where is your blackhole?

Do you think when we die we will find all our lost items in a neat little pile in heaven?...will we be able to find the pile of all our lost junk? will we care anymore?

My Favorite Pic of Me

This is my favorite picture from Christmas. It freaks me out to see myself so skinny, and with only one chin, and a neck! Everyday, my brain tells me I'm still a fatty, so I don't remember that I have lost weight until I see myself! This is the chocolate melter that Kristen gave me for Christmas.

And this is my least favorite picture, I looked like a big giant grape. (I did like the dress, Jess!) I just love seeing the comparison! This is at my sister, Jessica's wedding in 2000. That's my Dad, I'm pinning a boutinerre on, isn't he handsome?

Feeling Better Already!

Monday was a crappy day! I felt like crap, looked like crap and acted like crap! My esophogitis was really acting up and my Grave's wasn't helping. I wasn't able to eat anything, I'd throw up. And when I threw up, it was dark brown, like the food had been just sitting in my stomach, rotting, for days! I threw up in the morning and felt yucky the rest of the day. It wasn't a sick yucky it was a burning and tightness from my neck down. I had a bite of Dex's apple at 8:30 pm and was still burping it up and tasting it the next morning at 8:30! and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't call anyone cause it was a holiday. So I was determined to call one of my doctors first thing Tuesday morning. I decided to start with the gastro doctor. The soonest he could get me in was March 15! (Hello? 2 months away?) I felt like I would be dead by then and was completely at a loss of what to do!

My dearest John called me on the phone. He talked to the doctor at his work. Dr. Staker is the physician for the General Authorities... so I trust him. John sat down with him and told him my symptoms and what was going on. Dr. Staker made a call and made me an appointment to see Dr. Hales, an Internist. He said I shouldn't mess around seeing 4 different doctors. Dr. Hales know the entire body and doesn't specialize in just one part.

The next morning at 8:30 am we were sitting in the Doctors room. Dr. Hales spoke with us for one and a half hours! I couldn't believe it! He was patient and talked and asked questions and typed everything up on his computer. It was way cool cause it was connected to all my other doctors. He said, "Okay, I'm readying Dr. Brady's notes, just a minute, I've got Dr. Heiner's notes, okay." He then asked me about a barium swallow that I had forgotten about! Wow!
It was awesome. He was getting all the information immediately! I love technology!

He told me that at my June 2005 barium swallow they measured my stoma opening at 1/2 centimenter (can you even imagaine?) I freaked a little and started crying cause I thought I would have to have my band removed. As most of you know, I love my band and have said, you're going to have to rip it from my cold dead body! But the way I have been feeling lately, if it need to come out so that I could eat, not have heartburn and feel better, I'd do it. I can't live this way anymore!

Dr. Hales notices my tears and said, I'm sorry. I told him the 1/2 centimeter freaked me out. He said, don't worry Tasha, that's cause you were drinking a fluid, I'm sure when you eat food it opens up. Whew! That made me feel better.

So he typed up all his notes and said: He believes the Grave's is real. He knows that my insomnia is caused by the Graves and possibly my digestion. He sent me to have more tests and get my free T3 and free T4 levels, TSH Antibody, all the thryroid tests, lots of other blood work I don't remember, I've also had lots of headaches and backaches so he did a chest x-ray and back x-ray to check for cancer and/or lesions (he said he would be very surprised if anything showed up) and a urine sample.

He walked me over, yes, he walked me over to the lab and showed me where x-ray was and showed me the door I would need to go out to schedule my next appointment in one week. He was a very kind and caring doctor. I have such a peace of mind knowing that he is taking care of this. His office called last night and said all my x-rays came back normal. (Man! They are fast!)

Oh, he also prescribed me some Ambien to sleep and Reglan to help out my digestion! I took both yesterday and today...? Wow! Today is a new day! I didn't wake up with heartburn, choking and feeling like I was going to die! I actually had 9 1/2 hours sleep! I'm so happy and feel so good right now!

I'll keep you posted on what happens after my next doctor's appointment!

All of the Nieces & Nephews

***Disclaimer*** My Tata Tina tells each of us kids that, "You're my favorite", so I want all my nieces and nephews to know that they are each my favorite and that these pictures are in no particular order, not even in age order. It's just how I found your picture and put ya in.


This is Ella's "Happy" face. When we were babysitting her, all she wanted to do was hold and listen to this snowman music box. It has little snowbabies (that's why she loves it) that spin around on ice.















This is Miss Ashley. She is the first "Beach Girl" to be born in 40 years!!! Steve & Haley broke the curse. She also has her own little blog: http://utahbeach@blogspot.com Lil Ashley has a great personality and is quite a ham for the camera...most of my relatives are! Ashley was in a great mood on New Year's Eve and last almost the whole night!















And this is Keegers... okay, Keegan. I got 2 neices and 1 nephew all in the same year. One...the first, was born on my birthday (so I'll be 32 FOREVER..ha ha ha!), the next was born in May and then another in July! Keegan will be getting a brother very soon!















This is Lil' Miss Gracie Poo... with her Mum & Daddy after Christmas Dinner. Grace is the youngest. She is sooooo cute. She is always in a great mood! I've never seen her cry before, but Keith and Kristien don't believe me.














And next we have Ladybug, Layla. She is my clone. It took my breath away the first time I saw her after the newborn stage. She was crawling around a corner and it freaked me out! There I was crawling on the floor! Weird. This is Layla and her Dad, my brother Kevin.















Let's see, then there's Thomas, who currently loves Acceleracers by Hot Wheels. He is a master at Hot Wheels online games! That's his Dad, Nat, with him. Who, by the way, is the computer whiz of the family. I hope I'm running this blog to his standards.















Now, last but certainly not least... the one that made me an Aunt to begin with is the beautiful, intelligent, silly, and ever a princess...Annika! This is from her joint B-day party with cuz'n Dexter...they are exactly 51 weeks apart.



Well, that's everyone. I'll post the newest additions soon!

Grave's Disease

I'm putting this in my blog to hopefully find out more information. The more I bring it up, the more people I'm finding with Hyperthyroidism or Grave's Disease.

I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease in December. It was something I had no idea about. I had gone to the doctor because I had horrible stomach pains. The on-call doctor thought I might have an ulcer. He ordered blood work and a GI Scope. He called me the next day and told me I have hyperthyroid...What? My stomach hurt, I didn't say or think or even know anything was going on with my thyroid. After my scope they ordered and upper GI and then I was diagnosed with esophogitis. Next I went to and endocrinologist and had more labwork done, then and iodine test where I had to take a radioactive iodine pill, leave go back in 4 hours and then again in 24 hours where I laid under this big camera and it could tell how much iodine my thyroid took in from the pill. The test told me that I definitely had Grave's Disease.

My thyroid is producing too much thyroid hormone. There are quite a few symptoms linked to this: nervousness, increased perspiration, insomnia and fatigue, frequency of bowel movements, less frequent menstruation and decreased flow, weakness, hair and weightloss, change in skin thickness, hand tremors, goiter, racing heartbeat, intolerance to heat, bulging eyes, irritability, and itching eyes and skin.

The only ways my doctor says I have 4 options: 1. Do Nothing 2. Surgery 3. Take Medication 4. Radiation

My doctor says he doesn't like the medication because it has side effects (loss of white blood cells and full-body arthritis). He prefers the radioiodineablation (I'll just call it radiation). I have a friend that had the radiation and she is doing fine. I have others tell me how dangerous this is and that years down the road you are more suseptible to other cancers. I already have numerous family members that have had cancer, and three of them have died. So I don't want to add to the already smoldering cancer fire.

At first I didn't think I had any of the symptoms, but the more I research the more I'm realizing. I lost 20 pounds in 3 months by doing nothing. I attributed this to my LapBand and thought my body was ready to lose more weight. I did have this itchy neck after my diagnosis, and have gotten a few rashes. I noticed some weakness after Christmas. I have been "up" for months, not sleeping well and waking up with heartburn acid up my throat and feeling like I was choking to death. I wish my period would decrease, and I'm freezing cold all the time. So I didn't think this Grave's was possible. I could pretty much explain my symptoms away.

I called one of my neighbors last week for a totally unrelated subject and then she told me that her husband had overheard me talking about my hyperthyroid. (See! Talking has some advantages) She told me that she has been living with hyperthyroid for quite some time now. She has been dealing with it herself. The doctor only gave her the option of surgery, due to the large goiter she had growing on her thyroid. Terri explained hyperthyroid to me (the doctor sure didn't) and Terri made sense. As she was talking I was starting to realize I did have a few more symptoms.

Hyperthyroidism usually shows up when you are stressed and haven't been eating right or enough. The pituitary gland tells the thyroid, help me out here, I starving. So the thyroid kicks into high gear making more hormone and speeds up your metabolism. Well, the body doesn't have much food to metabolize so it starts finding it's own nutrients from itself... the body and muscles. Wow! That explains why I have felt weak lately!

After talking to Terri, I figured, taking her approach of vitamins and diet wouldn't be so bad. If that doesn't work I still have other options. So, I went to Wild Oats and talked to Shari. She knew her stuff and this is who Terri met many years previous. I purchased a food-based multi-vitamin and B Vitamins and a Nutional Healing Book, that I'm finding fascinating. I also picked up some acidophilous (to help with digestion, which my Grave's probably has something to do with my esophogitis) and some Pantheonic Acid that is suppose to calm me down and prepare me for bed... of which I didn't take any of last night and that might be why I'm wide awake at 4:00 am!!!

Well, this has turned into a very long note. If you have any information about hyperthyroidism or comments I'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading this beast!

Photo Op

We had Christmas Dinner with the Worthington's and then headed off to Palm Springs.

Jedi Beware!

The Grandpas gave Dexter a Darth Vader Voice Changer... he loves it!

Dexter has a Before and After too! He's got the blondest hair around but he wants it to be black, so his Aunt helped him out a little bit. Mom doesn't like it cause it make him look grown up and too old to cuddle! Thankfully, hair does grow and the color is starting to fade.

Tasha's Before & After

Tasha had the LapBand Surgery in August 2003. She has lost 89 pounds to date and loves her skinny new self! "It's great only having one chin again!" She enjoys people saying they didn't recognize her.

Napoleon Wannabe

Parker had his hair permed early last year, and couldn't wait to grow out his hair again to get another perm. It drives Mom and Dad nuts but he loves it anyway.... At least Mom can grab him by the hair now! This is Parker being funny with some Big ol' Lady glasses.








And this is Parker sportin' his brand new guitar from his Grandpas! Grandma gave him some guitar music too.

Happy Birthday Old Man!

We went to the yummy Asian Star for the big man's 40th birthday dinner. You have to try the Walnut Shrimp, it's delicious!

Here we are in sunny Palm Springs California...one of our favorite places to be! We love it there! If the boys can spend all day in the pool and hot tub they are happy and that makes the parents happy too!