In September of 1998, my father approached me outside of our home and told me that he believed that I had a thyroid disorder. "Something's wrong with my thigh?" is one of the first things I asked him.
             He answered no to the question and explained why he thought I had a thyroid disorder. I thought that having a thyroid disorder wasn't going to be that bad and that I would be a little different from everyone else, but I was very wrong.
             When my dad told me about Graves Disease, I was terrified of what is involved. He said that one of his close friend's daughters had the disorder, and he knew for sure that is what I had. My parents took me to my pediatrician the following morning and told him why they thought I had a thyroid disorder. He then sent me down the hall to a lab, where Penny Moore drew blood. One week later, after my parents found out I had high 'TH' levels, they took me to an endocrinologist in Shreveport, Louisiana. When we got there, he took me into a room by myself and explained what was wrong with me. He said, "Kimberly, the reason why you have been so sick lately is that you have a condition that involves hyper-thyroids. This explains why you constantly eat and don't gain any weight. Why your eyes have protruded and bulged, and you've gained bad vision. It also tells us why your grades have worsened in school and why you are constantly tired. You also have an extremely high heart rate." I looked up at Dr. McVie and was about to cry. "Am I going to die?" I asked him. He assured me that I wouldn't if I took the medicine he would prescribe me correctly and followed all of his directions. He later told me that if we had spotted it any later, I could have had a heart attack at thirteen. He prescribed the medicine Synthroid to me and said that I would need to have my thyroid removed by radioactive iodine or surgery. That's when we were faced with the challenges. When I returned to school the following week, my doctor had ...