Woo hooo! Radioactive iodine tomorrow!!! Dr. just called to tell me (at 3:45 pm) that my TSH was at 26.3 last Saturday, and she'll be happy with it at 30 or above. And here I am thinking that not much is going on....this is just one big series of surprises. I have to have my TSH checked again tonight, and she figured it's well above 30 by now. She asked if I could come in tomorrow once she explained all the precautions, so I'm scheduled for 10 am. I was getting kind of depressed today, figuring it would take another week. I can stop the LID once I've swallowed the pill, but a lot of people were told to stay on it for another 24-48 hours just to be safe. I can restart my levoxyl after 48 hours (thyroid hormone that will let me feel human again). When I looked in the mirror this morning, the first thing I saw were the really large purple bags under my eyes, and then what looks like jowls. Can a woman have jowls? I want my face back please! Even though I look horrendous, my weight hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated--only 3 lbs over so far...it could still go up in the next couple of weeks while I try to get back on track, but that' s not too bad. 
This is what it looks like to me when I look in the mirror. Jowls.
As for the dose, it's not as high as Dr. N originally told me it would be. I'm hoping that means minimal negative reactions/side effects! That would be sooooo good.
The other precautions she told me mirror what I've been reading about--basic isolation for 72 hours. Cats are going to my sister's for a mini-vacation! Dr. said most if not all of the radioactive stuff will be out of my system after 72 hours. Follow up is a whole body scan in 4-5 days to see where the uptake was, and to establish a baseline for the next 5 yearly scans I'll need.
I'm so excited. Isn't that scary?? Radioactivity is bad, and here I am, ready willing and able to swallow a horse pill that will alert Homeland Security.
One more LID meal tonight, and one more tomorrow! And then I pray I can taste and eat some dairy products.
Then, hopefully we'll be back to your regularly scheduled program! I have tix to a Red Sox game in a couple of weeks and would really like to be there.
Shine little glow worm, glimmer, glimmer.....
Update @ 10:15 pm: Good to go! Dr. N called me as I was walking around the supermarket picking up all kinds of sour goodies for the next few days (more about that in another post) and was happy to hear that I have to go tomorrow. She's laughing that I keep telling her I don't feel as bad as she told me I would. It was about 9:20 when she called. Plan is to start Friday back on the Levothyroxl (come to Mama please!), and use the cytomel for a boost for a few days if I feel I really need it. She said I might feel worse once the adrenaline has worn off from looking forward to this for so long...we'll see. Her big panic was that while I had a standing order to check the TSH, I had no order for a pregnancy test. Apparently, a pregnancy test is mandatory before all RAI treatment. Do not pass Go, and you cannot collect your $200 without the pregnancy test. Luckily she was able to call it in, and we didn't have to go back to the lab. It does make me chuckle--after 4 very intense years of desperately trying to get pregnant and failing repeatedly, we now have to be very conscious of doing everything we can to prevent a pregnancy. I don't think we have to do much since I think my ovaries are pretty much fried, and will probably be finished after this experience. Makes me wonder--the thyroid was probably a major player in my inability to maintain a pregnancy all along in spite of being treated and stable, and the hell we went through was for naught. Well, not entirely--I can give myself a needle in a moving car, in a restaurant bathroom, sitting, standing.....I'll stop there, because that should have been a different blog altogether!
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