RAI Last Day in Isolation

Today is my last full day in isolation and tonight is the last night.  I'm pretty bored.  I started cleaning up today.  When I saw the nuclear tech at the hospital yesterday she told me after I left she went back to my room to scan the radiation levels and clean the room.  What surprised her is I barely left a trace of ANY thing in the room.  She said it was the absolute cleanest ever, she was so impressed.  I guess that means I'm not a messy person? Generally I'm not but now I have proof I guess lol

So I started cleaning up today here a little altho there is very little to clean up.  I'm looking forward to jumping into my crazy schedule the next few days, playing with my dog who I haven't seen in a week and general human contact.  I stayed away from my dog and cat because they are both young and I read that they are similar to young children.  Similar in that their immune system is not built like an adult human to withstand even short periods of being in the same room as someone emitting radioactive rays and I didn't want to take any chances.  If my illness and treatment did anything to cause harm to my fur-kids (or anyone else's for that matter) I could never forgive myself.  My fur-kids are my world.

I feel fine today except for a minor headache when I woke up and I'm tired because I tossed and turned all night.  Reeaaaallllyyyy looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again with my giant snuggle bear of a dog next to me.

Honey has been preparing all my meals too so I am actually looking forward to being able to prepare food again, which is a strange thing because I never particularly cared for being the cook but have come to enjoy it more and more in the last year or two.

Basically I can't wait to rejoin everyday life...and see what craziness comes next!

~Sally

RAI Isolation at Home

So I've been home since Friday.  It is now Monday afternoon and I have 2 nights left in isolation.  MAN am I bored! LOL!!!

Today I built a wooden replica of the Seattle Space Needle for crying out loud.... hahahahahahha. The last two days I did movie marathons. I also spent most of my day today catching up on some work related emails, phone calls, etc. 

Today's bonus was I got to leave isolation and go back to the hospital for my full body scan.  Here's how it works:

They gave me a glass of water to drink down.  Then I laid on a skinny little table thing (looked like an ironing board) and attached little sides so my arms would have a place to lay.  Then they took 6 individual photos of my body, starting at my head and going all the way down to my knees.  Each photo took 10 minutes to complete so I had to stay perfectly still for 10 minute increments - no easy feat! But I did it and they didn't have to repeat any of them. 

The full body scan will show them where the radioactive iodine went in my body and also if there is any remaining thyroid tissue left in me.  I will get the results went I see my endocrinologist in 2.5 weeks.

Honey has been amazing and bringing me meals and snacks.  He pops in to visit alot and my parents have popped in alot too. 

I am REALLY looking forward to this being over and if you could see my calendar for Wednesday and Thursday this week you would appreciate how busy I'm going to be.  Basically I will be flat out for the next few weeks between work and moving.  Thank goodness we hired movers!

I'm feeling totally fine today.  I had a headache mid afternoon but Tylenol licked that pretty fast.  My throat is still a tiny bit sore to touch but nothing that is really bothering me or anything.  I'm still a little cold all the time but definitely not freezing like I've been in the past 3 weeks. I think being on the Cytomel 12.5mcg 2x a day PLUS Levothyroxine 150mcg 1x a day is really rebooting my system faster than just being on one or the other.  6 weeks like this then just the Levothyroxine after that (forever).

Thank you to everyone who has been following my blog.  I plan on continuing with the trials and tribulations of day to day and will update on my health as it comes up.  I hope I was able to give someone out there some insight on what the experience is like or could be like and for everyone else (friends and family) I'm glad I was able to keep you all informed.

~Sally

RAI and Me - My Experience

Hello again! I am back from hospital, in fact was back yesterday around noon but slept most of the day so I didn't get to blog.

I survived! I am also now radioactive! Let me tell you this whole thing has been VERY sci-fi.  We are talking next level, stuff I thought was only in movies, sci-fi crazy.

First let's talk about what happened when I went in.  I met with a very nice Dr who went over the procedure and all the ins, outs, ups, downs and maybes of receiving this treatment.  Extremely thorough and informative.

Then I went to the floor I was supposed to be on and literally "checked in" to my hospital room like it was a hotel reservation.  Strange but okay.  I was informed that it has been quite some time since they have had an IN patient receiving this treatment and that I could consider myself one of the most very special patients in the hospital this week.

My nurse showed me to my private one-bed room with private bathroom.  She checked my pulse, temp and BP 128/89...a little higher than normal but I was nervous. Then I waited for a few hours.  I basically hung out in my room and napped.

At 2pm the nuclear tech showed up and explained everything all over again in full detail.  They are not messing around.  She and her observing resident then prepared my room by removing my garbage can and taping what I call doggie training pads all over the bathroom floor (to minimize contamination) and give me a billion instructions on everything from always wearing socks or slippers to how to cut my food up, etc.  They also literally plastered the outside of my room door with large BioHazard signs and warnings and charts.

Here we go.  I am given instructions and they go stand outside my wide open door on the opposite side of the hall.  I am by the window farthest into the room.  I open a large black lead shoebox sized box that has a giant BioHazard symbol on top.  There is a square lead lid with a handle, I remove that.  Inside is thermos sized lead container with a hockey puck sized lid that weighs 10-15lbs.  I lift that off.  Inside THAT is a small clear plastic container (similar to the size of a pill bottle) with no lid but a semi large red and white capsule with...you guessed it...BioHazard symbols. I pick up the container and pop the pill into my mouth and down a glass of water. 

The nuclear tech comes in and stands on her mark she has taped to the floor while I stand on mine and she picks up what LITERALLY is a geiger counter but looks like it is an original from the 50s.  It is a smallish brown metal box with a dial and a needle that moves back and forth.  There is a 1 meter long black cord coming out of it leading to a silver microphone shaped thing she points at me.

I am now radioactive.

They leave, locking the door and me in.  They have placed a table by my door allowing the meal guy to open the door and slide my food tray onto the table without entering. I'm not allowed to eat until dinner and I'm hungry so I sleep.

The rest of day 1 I slept off and on, ate dinner and called honey for a backup of low iodine snacks.  Before I took my pill the meal guy came and gave me a heads up (and two thumbs down) that the LID breakfast was lacking.  It wasn't, but I got honey to bring me a bag of LID Snacks anyways which turned out to be a good thing.  When he brought it, my nurse opened the door enough for him to slip the bag on the table for me and say "hi honey! I'll call you tonight!" before she gave him the boot and locked me in again.

I slept. I ate. I gabbed on the phone- ALOT.  To honey, my parents a bunch and one of my sisters called.  Basically ZERO side effects day 1.

Day 2 I woke up feeling like garbage.  Just groggy and gross and generally crappy.  My mouth was super dry first thing, and my face swelled like a chipmunk.  My saliva glands HURT so much.  By the end of the day, and many sour candies later, they still hurt but not as bad.  But my throat felt sore to touch like someone had punched me in the neck, and slightly swollen.  I called and had the TV service hooked up for day 2 and watched 6 hours of Property Brothers, 2 hours of the Food Network and an hour of misc.  I also talked on the phone ALOT. My best friend here in the city called a couple times to check on me as did my parents and honey. 

The nuclear tech came and checked my levels with her geiger counter again.  My endocrinologist stopped in to see how I was doing.  Said everything I was experiencing was normal. My nurses called me on the phone to check on me.

Day 3 I woke up to my breakfast being dropped off and my best friend from Alberta calling.  My mouth was dry again but my face swelling had gone waaaayyyy down and my saliva glands weren't as sore as before.  My throat still hurt to touch.  I packed up and got dressed and awaited the nuclear tech at 10am.

When she came she measured my levels and I was way down from day 2.  I was under the acceptable levels and could go home! Hooray!!

My dad came and got me and brought me home to my home hideaway for the next 5 nights.  He drove, I sat in the backseat on the opposite side of the car from him.  I got my cellphone back and started catching up everyone by text.  My other 2 sisters called and said they had tried to reach me in hospital but the line was always busy....oops!

I started my meds right away and Honey made me some wonderful food.  Literally everything I have eaten since coming home from hospital has tasted like the best thing I ever ate!!! No more LID!!!

By this morning my saliva glands don't hurt at all anymore and I'm finally not freezing any longer.  I actually got hot during the night last night! My throat still hurts to touch but the swelling has almost all gone away.  I'm mostly just tired today like if I had a cold or a long day.

For those interested, they gave me a dose of 100mcl of radioactive iodine.  The range can be anywhere from 30mcl to 200mcl.  So 100mcl is on the higher end of the scale.

I know my symptoms could have been so much worse than they were and I consider my body as either super tough and durable or my remaining thyroid cells just gobbled up the radioactive iodine and moved on without too much adversity.  Either way I am grateful, so very grateful, my symptoms weren't worse than than were.  I didn't experience any nausea, only the occasional wooziness(is that a word?) when I moved to fast or stood up too quick, and the above described face and throat pain.

I am now in my new "home away from home" temporary setup and had **THE** very best shower of my entire life.  Now it is nap time.

~Sally

Low Iodine Diet - Day 14

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
1 LID muffin

Lunch:
same as yesterday Basmati rice with chicken breast and homemade tomato sauce

Dinner:
same as lunch

Snacks:
3 chunky monkey cookies
1 LID muffin
gala apple

ooohhhh!!! I am soooo tired today.  and I typed a great big long blog then got a phone call and it erased everything! Boooo

Well I am queen of the slugs today. Here's how it went down: I got up around 9am and ate a muffin.  Went back to bed.  Answered some work related calls and texts from under 5 blankets.  My sister on the east coast called and we grabbed for an hour.  Got out of bed at noon.

Ate some lunch then crawled back to bed. More blankets.  I slept until 4pm.  By 5pm I was still in bed and crawled to the bathroom and had a shower. Then I packed my bag for the hospital.  Had a short visit with my mom and dad then flung myself over an armchair for awhile with blankets.

My dog has been glued to my side all day.  Best dog ever! <3 He slept by me all day and now he's playing at my feet all evening with his toys. He has had a look of fear and suspicion all day that something is up...especially when I packed my bag for tomorrow.  He's turning 3 in a month but he'll always be my baby.  I baby and spoil him...all 90lbs.  And he protects and looks out for me.  Gonna be a hard few days without him.

He will be happy hanging out with his dad while I'm gone though.  And then I get forward to the excited return where I will get mauled and licked to death lol Lots of snuggles tonight!

I was the epitome of a slug today though.  I ate out of necessity mainly.  Maybe a little out of hunger.  I can't hardly hold my head up and my eyes are so very heavy.  And I'm constantly frozen.  I also had a headache that loomed at varying degrees all day.

Needless to say I'm grateful I only got this tired now and that I didn't have to do this no meds/LID diet for any longer.  Being hypothyroid is bad enough but FORCED extreme hypothyroidism on no meds and strange diet is worse.  I am also grateful that I am only *this* tired now because every person is different and apparently there can be some very extreme side effects.  Maybe my body handled it like a champ or maybe I just didn't allow myself to cave to the exhaustion because I was busy?? Who knows.  Results may vary from person to person.

Tomorrow I go to the Nuclear Medicine dept at the hospital for 10am for admitting and prep.  From what I've read I'll probably have received my RAI pills by noon-ish.  Then I will be isolated from even staff and technicians at the hospital with limited check ins to prevent spreading the radiation.   I can't have visitors and altho I was told I can bring my cell phone, I am not going to.  I use my cell ALOT, as do most people? and I thought it best to minimize exposing it to the radiation while I'm at the highest levels.  I'll be back on it Friday.

So I'll post again Friday with my experience in hospital, how I filled my days of isolation and how I reacted to the RAI treatment.

My best friend quoted this to me tonight:
"I wish I was a glow worm cause glow worms are never glum..how can you be gloomy when the sun shines out your bum?!" My new mantra. hahahaha

~Sally

Low Iodine Diet - Day 13

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
2 LID Apple cinnamon muffins

Lunch:
same as dinner last night....Rice with chicken and homemade Roma tomato sauce.

Dinner:
same as lunch

Snacks:
a couple chunky monkey cookies
a could LID muffins
green grapes
rice cakes with concord grape jelly

Well. Today was more or less a continuation of yesterday.  I got up at 7am. Went to the hospital early to try and beat the wait at the blood lab.  Got there at 8 something. Only 2 people ahead of me, I was out in 15 minutes.

Except. ***sighhhh*** I got a trainee technician. Now for anyone squeamish about getting bloodwork I'll spare you the descriptive bits. I almost said "nope! no way! no trainee for me" but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  She seemed organized like she knew what she was doing.  She didn't.

So she tried my right arm but MISSED. She didn't bruise me or hurt me or anything horrible.  She just missed when she poked me and nothing came out. Thankfully the senior nurse jumped right in, took over, fitted my right arm with a cotton ball and some tape and proceeded to do the correct method on my left arm. 

NO MORE TRAINEES!!! Ugh.

I must have looked like hell because the Sr nurse asked if I was okay.  I told her I was on a forced hypothyroidism for a treatment and was so tired I could sleep right there.  She made me sit for a few minutes before I left.  Don't worry I gave up my driving privilege 2 days ago. Honey drove me today. 

Back home we went and I bundled up in my fuzzy heavy bathrobe and a blanket and slept until noon.

After some lunch honey and I had some work business to see to on the other side of town **more sighing** and I finally got home around 6.  Some supper than pj's and fuzzy bathrobes and socks.  My feet were like ice cubes all day today.  I managed to throw a load of laundry in and spent the night bundled on the couch with my dog.

Last day tomorrow.  I made it.  I cried for pizza and declared that was vicariously eating through others today.  I dreamed of  condiments and dairy products and junk food.  Horrible, I know.  Low iodine diet isn't that horrible.  it's very healthy albeit you feel like crap from no meds so that probably didn't help.  When you feel like crap you want comfort food.  I got bland food.  Or lots and lots of veggies and fruits.  My body feels like it had a major "food detox".  And honey and I agreed I get a small pass for some pizza and chocolate then we keep on being healthy.  I am so down with that.

I even dreamed about cottage cheese in a cantaloupe for a snack because I looovvveee cottage cheese and I miss dairy.

The tomato sauce honey made is delicious.  I will probably repeat that again tomorrow with chicken and rice and maybe a side garden salad.

I'm tired.  I hope my body has agreed with diet and lack of medication so we can do this treatment.  I really thought I would feel much MUCH worse than just being so exhausted.  I haven't lost anymore weight but my belly has shrank alot. 

Prepping for the hospital tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted and thank you to everyone who has read my blog of ramblings.  I'll keep 'em coming.

~Sally