A Note from my Endo

Hi Kathy,

Good news. Looks like what they saw in the lungs was an artifact. When they switched you to a different camera, the uptake in the lung disappeared. They are confident there is no metastatic disease. And certainly with your stimulated thyroglobulin being <0.5, that would support there being no spread of cancer as well.

JW


Translation: NO MORE CANCER!!!!!!!!

Bad News Today

Today I went to the hospital for my post treatment scan. They repeated all the scans that they did the morning I was admitted. They do a whole body scan, a scan of the neck, and of the chest. They sent me back to the waiting room to prepare the films and make sure that they had everything they needed. The technician came out and told me that they needed to repeat the chest films. So we repeated the chest films and I went back to waiting.

The technician came out again, sat down next to me, and told me in a hushed voice that there was a "spot" on the chest scan and that I would need to come back again tomorrow for another scan. They want to be able to compare the scans from last week to the scans from today to the scans from tomorrow and determine what the spot is.

I don't really know what that means. I just know that I'm scared. I'm scared that tomorrow I will find out that the spot is more cancer. J is still out of town so I will be going to the scan alone. I hope I won't have to get more bad news while I'm there alone.

How I will spend the next year.

I've been making a mental list of things I'd like to accomplish in the next year. Might as well use my time wisely, right?

1. Take golf lessons
2. Learn to knit
3. Read a book a week
4, Drop at least one dress size
5. Spend at least 2 full days at a spa
6. Visit Texas
7. Go on vacation with my husband
8. See my niece and nephew at least once a month
9. Decorate my house- mostly look for things to put on the walls
10. Have 2 yard sales
11. Plant a vegetable garden
12. Have a girls weekend with my online friends

What else can I add to this list?? Any ideas??

Idaho

JC left this morning for Idaho. His grandmother passed away and her funeral is Monday. It's a very odd situation. J has never spoken kindly of his grandmother- in fact no one in his family has. I've never met her and since I've known J- he's only seen her once. I think he's really going out because his mom needs help getting things squared away.

So I'm on my own. It's a double edged sword. It's nice cause without J here, I'm not confined to the guest room- I have the run of the house. But at the same time, there's not even anyone here to talk to anymore. True isolation.

Tomorrow will be better. At least I'll be working. Almost over.

So.Freakin.Bored.

That's right. I have reached the end the internet. There is nothing left to see. I have been watching the worst television ever. I even watched a show called Crime Scene Cleaners. Gross. I guess I could read? Or do some work?

If you were on lock down, blog readers, what would you do to pass the time??

363 days

Until we can try to have a baby.

Wednesday it was confirmed by the Endo and the Nuclear Med peeps that we have to wait a full year until we can safely have a baby. And honestly, after seeing all the precautions and how seriously this is taken by the hospital staff, I'm not sure I would feel ok with anything less.

So I'm back on birth control. How did I get all the way back here??

I'm *GLOWING*

Not too much, but still glowy :)

I survived radiation iodine. And it's all finished. I wish I could have written stuff down while I was in there, but I couldn't take anything out with me cause of the contamination so that was a no go.

But let me describe a bit. I had my I-123 full body scan Wednesday morning. They gave me a small dose of radiation on Tuesday and then I returned to see where the "uptake" occurred. This would essentially determine if the cancer had spread anywhere else and help them determine the treatment dose for Wednesday afternoon. I got the results immediately after the scan and everything looked clear- especially the lungs and neck which was great news! No more cancer!

So I waited around for them to get the dose of I-131 (treatment dose) in house. I was admitted around 1:30pm and taken to my room. It was a pretty standard hospital room except EVERYTHING was covered in plastic or some disposable coverings. The phone, the door handles, the remote control, the ENTIRE floor- everything covered. Gloves taped to the walls everywhere in case I would need to touch anything that was not covered. The radiation safety guy came in to quiz me and make sure I understood all the rules and safety precautions. Lots of rules. I thought they were a bit of overkill before, but seeing all the paperwork and how seriously they take everything at the hospital, I guess I realized it wasn't anything to mess around with. So I signed my life away and pinkie swore that I won't make out with anyone or serve anyone food for 7 days (14 for kids). They came up with the pill in a lead box. I took it and they left me alone.

I fasted for two hours and then they brought me dinner. I ate and the showering started. In order for the radiation to leave your body- it comes out of your pours, your bladder, any bodily fluids. So all night long- starting at about 6pm- I showered every two hours. You drink, you eat lemon flavored candy (to produce extra saliva), and you shower. My hair is like straw. Sleeping with wet hair is not fun. Plus the air conditioning was making it FREEZING in my room. So I'm pretty tired today.

So when I took the pill, they measured my radiation levels and I was at a 25. I have no idea what that means, they just told me that before I could leave- I had to be at a 14. The more you drink (and pee, really...) the faster you get ride of the bad stuff. This morning when they checked me, I was at a 4.5. I was cleared to go home!

So now I'm at home, tucked away in my upstairs nook. I've already had some cheese and have enjoyed every.single.bite. Nothing left to do now, but wait it out. Lockdown ends in 7 days and I finally get my life back.

PS- if you read all that, you get a delish snack full of iodine.