WGN’s Nancy Loo ‘back on track’

Nancy Loo (WGN, April 28, 2016)

Nancy Loo (WGN, April 28, 2016)

Nancy Loo was back on the air Thursday one week after the WGN-Channel 9 reporter and fill-in news anchor was hospitalized for a mysterious medical condition.

Loo, 51, disclosed Wednesday that she had been absent from the Tribune Media station since April 21 for treatment of hypothyroidism, which she said had “zapped my metabolism, caused swelling from head to toe, made my voice raspy and my thinking a bit foggy.”

“For months, I had ignored my fatigue and weight gain, chalking it up to aging,” she told friends on Facebook and Instagram. “On April 9th, the swelling got so bad, my husband insisted we go to an emergency room. An ER doctor diagnosed a pretty severe case of hypothyroidism. My metabolism had essentially shut down, and for weeks I made it worse by doubling down on workouts and dieting.”

Once tests showed the correct diagnosis, she said, a more aggressive combination of medications put her “back on track and eager to return” to work. She appeared on “WGN Morning News” Thursday.

“Thankfully, my doctors say I can maintain my usual, fairly healthy diet,” she added. “And I don't have to give up eating gummy bears!”

Loo, who was born in Hong Kong and graduated from the University of Oregon, joined WGN in 2010 after nine years at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32.