The actual RAI experience!

 

I was too wiped out yesterday to blog about the actual experience of radioactive iodine ablation.

It wasn't too bad, and the hospital didn't make a big deal out of it. It has been frustrating, gathering info for this because there seem to be widely divergent opinions out there on every aspect of this treatment! In patient or out patient? Three days isolation or seven days? When to stop the LID? When to restart thyroid hormones? How much washing is necessary? What to do about pets, laundry, contact lenses, throwing up, fluid intake, sour candies, kissing, sex, disposable plates and utensils???? Oh sure, you can laugh about the kissing/sex question, but very few resources mention it! So confusing trying to make sense of everything. 

The Thyca forum has been invaluable (www.thyca.org) with their top ten lists and survivor suggestions, and I picked up two other books that have been a huge help:

The butterfly one is more fuzzy and the other one a little more technical. I got a ton of info from both.

Anyway, Mr. Wonderful was on serious snuggling duty Wednesday night since I can't touch or be near him for at least three days. He took me to the hospital the next morning for 10 am, and everything was pretty laid back. My TSH came back at well over 50!  I always have considered myself to be a late bloomer--why would my hormones be any different?  The doctor had already explained everything to me over the phone the day before, and I felt pretty comfortable with having all my questions answered. There was a mountain of paperwork to fill out and sign and we scheduled the Whole Body Scan (WBS) for next Monday afternoon.

111 milicuries of radioactive iodine, waiting to blast any remaining thyroid tissue and cancer into complete oblivion.  I hope.  

I didn't have to change into anything different, and the nurse appeared just wearing gloves with this tiny little container. She had a dark blue capsule in a cup, no bigger than your run of the mill antibiotic. She gave me a glass of water, dumped the pill in my hand (my first thought was, "Am I supposed to touch this?" Stupid, no? ) and both she and doctor smiled and said "Swallow!". So I did. And that was it. I drank all the water, and then the nurse held out the Geiger counter, it beeped, she said "Twenty" and the doctor said, "You're good to go."

 That's it? Hmm. They both cleared the room pretty quickly though, and we left the hospital.

I sat as far away from Mr. Wonderful as possible, and of course opened all the windows.  It was chilly back there!  Luckily we have a giant SUV, so he was a good distance from me. 

After about 10 minutes, my mouth became pretty hot. Talk about quick-acting! A few minutes later, a weird metallic taste. It stayed that way all day.

I started drinking tons of fluids and sucking on candy--here's the stash of stuff we bought.

So far, I'm loving the IceBreakers Sours and the Altoids Tangerine Sours.  

   Very tasty even though they have torn up parts of the inside of my mouth.  I've gone through a gallon and a half of water, a 1 liter bottle of tart lemony soda and almost a liter of ginger ale.

I don't know if all the sour stuff is upsetting my stomach (sour stomach!) or if it's the radioactive stuff.  

By mid afternoon I felt pretty awful and tried to sleep for a bit.  I did watch "Julie and Julia"--enjoyed it. I ate some food, but wasn't really hungry beyond toast and ginger ale.  And sour candies.  Figures--I'm thisclose to getting off the low iodine diet, and I have no appetite.  Not funny. 

Mr. Wonderful came home and slept on the couch, but unknowingly used a blanket I had used earlier in the day.  It dawned on me and I had to go wake him up and take the blanket off of him.  He wasn't too happy with me, but I didn't need to have him radioactive if he didn't have to be!  

Sleep was elusive since I had to keep peeing all night....I finally drifted off for a couple of hours at a time and never heard Mr. W leave for work.  I was woken up however by a cheering crowd (cheering for obliterated cancer cells maybe?  Am  I dreaming?) in the park across from my house--turns out there was  a crew filming something there from "The Biggest Loser".  God were they loud.  I didn't get much more sleep. 

So here I am.  Still radioactive, but it's been over 24 hours since Splashdown, and I finally had cream in my coffee this morning.  Ahhhhhhhh, pure heaven.  I still have some LID foods, but I'm going to smother them in cheese later, when I feel like eating.  Right now I'm looking for toast and more ginger ale since stomach is still sour.  Ha ha.  

My awesome sister-in-law is participating in a Relay for Life Event tonight in honor of her dear friend she lost in January to what sounded like a huge monster tumor--totally unexpected and devastating.  I wish I could be there to cheer her on and walk with her...I'll be with her in spirit I guess.  I admire her for doing this so soon  after such a horrible loss, and I hope she has good friends and memories to get her through.  We chatted last night, and it was astounding to me as we both ran through a checklist of all the people we know who have either had or died from cancer.  It really is frightening.  All these years, I've heard about events and made donations to different things, but it takes on a whole new meaning when you realize you are now part of that group, and not willingly.  Ugh--that sounds so selfish.  Maybe this will spur me on to become more active once I'm back on my feet.  In the meantime, go Lis--you rock!!  

Maybe I'll go try to nap--the filming seems to have wrapped up and the crowds are gone.  Maybe I'll watch a movie.  Maybe I'll go pee yet again, and do the other two at the same time.  

Grateful that this part is over...praying for a clean scan on Monday, and then we wait to see what develops.  Hopefully nothing since it's undetectable, remember?