Radioactive Iodine Treatment! Day 1 Isolation!

     So today I started my RAI treatment for thyroid cancer. I will be in 3-5 days but I am hoping for just 3 days. I am already bored out of my mind, but at least I have a lot of activities.I received my nuclear dose around 2:30 today. They brought me the pills in a metal container and then opened that container and then pulled a plastic tube out with the dose in it and then I took it. It is kind of crazy knowing you just ingested what everyone around you has to stay away from, but you gotta do whatcha gotta do!
     Luckily there's a laptop in the room. locked to a desk. So I can stay in contact with my friends and family. I was not allowed to have any of my electronics in the room with me. Everything that came in the room with me cannot leave. I cant seem to get onto Netflix or Hulu because it doesn't have the proper software. I tried downloading it but I need an admin password which I do not have. I will find other means of entertainment. My boyfriend and his aunt bought me coloring books and a lot of crayons, markers, colored pencils. My aunt bought me some magazines and she is also going to bring me more activities tomorrow. I can have visitors, but they have to talk on the phone to you through a window. Everything in the room that i would be touching has plastic wrap even my glasses. the bed of course doesn't. I am chugging water and working out and keeping the heat cranked because the more you sweat the quicker your radioactivity levels will go down. There is a phone in the room so I can order dinner from the cafe which by the way is still low iodine. I will be on this diet till I leave isolation. I can also call my friends and family which is nice. But right now I am just messaging everyone on Facebook. Television is awful here, at least at night. I am not complaining though. The programs on during the day are great. Plus there are a bunch of movies on the Tv.
      I will be blogging about my experience in isolation every evening while here. If you have any questions feel free to ask me!

Thyroidectomy/ Thyroid cancer.

June 24th, 2015, I had a complete thyroidectomy. My pre-op was at 5:30 am. The nurses prepped me for surgery and and asked me a million questions, but all I could think about was hoping my family would not cry in front of me because I am a sympathetic crier and really didn't feel like crying. I was in a good mood to be honest. I was ready for surgery; ready to have the nodule removed. My surgery was planned as only a partial lobectomy: they were only going to remove the left lobe with the nodule, but they were also going to have pathologist on site to test it and make sure if it was cancerous or not, so that I wouldn't have to have more than one surgery if possible. At 7am, I was wheeled back into the operating room and moved onto the operating table. The anesthesiologist was so friendly and seemed very familiar to me for some reason. He talked me through everything and talked to me until I fell asleep. It didn't even seem like five minutes before I started waking up. The first thing I heard was the nurse on the phone with someone who was prepping my room and she said, "she had total thyroidectomy." That's when I knew I had cancer. My first thought was "yep" and then my throat started hurting really bad, because of the tube they had down it during surgery. I was in and out of sleep on the way up to my room and as soon as I was in the room I needed to use the restroom. when I came out, all of my family was there. As soon as everyone cleared except my parents and my boyfriend I said " it was cancer?" My mom said "yeah, the Dr. said he knew it was just by feeling it." After that, I focused on completely waking myself up and begging for liquid because my throat hurt so bad and it was parched. The incision and the drainage tube didn't even bother me, just my throat. the drain tube had to stay in over night which was kind of annoying, but I couldn't do anything about it. I wasn't allowed to have anything but clear liquids at first, but soon was allowed to have other liquids such as chicken broth and ice cream; I wasn't allowed to have solid food the first night. My dietitian also gave me a diet to follow after surgery to help with healing. I had to have my blood drawn every six hours throughout the rest of the day and night to check my calcium levels, which were all good. The next morning I was able to eat solid foods which was nice and I was also being discharged since I was doing so well. The nurse took my drainage tube out and that really hurt as it slid out because it was larger than the opening that they had put it through. They checked my calcium once again and I was able to leave with my follow up appointment scheduled on July 10th to discuss the treatment plan.

If you have any questions feel free to ask! I would be happy to answer them!
email me at: theglitterchic365@gmail.com
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My Thyroid Journey part 3: The Results.

On April 27th, my ENT told me that my biopsy came back suspicious for cancer, and that I would be fine, but that I'd need surgery to remove the left half of the thyroid and then they would test the lobe they removed. If it came back as cancerous, they would remove the other half and I would need radioactive iodine treatment to ensure there would be no trace of the cancer in my body. So she scheduled me for surgery on June 9th with her, which was concerning to have something like this pushed out so far from the diagnosis date. This doctor was very vague in her explanation and not helpful at all. She seemed rude to be honest, like she was trying to get through my appointment so quickly even though my family and I had so many questions. My parents felt uncomfortable and suggested I get a second opinion, so I did.

The new doctors I began seeing were very efficient and thorough. They told me my biopsy was suspicious for papillary cancer, which my last doctor failed to mention, and they performed their own tests on the samples from my biopsy, so I didn't have to go through another one. Their result came back suspicious for papillary carcinoma, with a 65-85% chance of malignancy. The surgeon weighed my options with me and we decided to go through with a lobectomy instead of a total thyroidectomy. During surgery, they will remove the left side of my thyroid containing the nodule and a sample of my lymph nodes, then have a pathologist test on the spot right away, so that I may not have to have a second surgery to remove the other half of my thyroid and my lymph nodes if the cancer has spread; that way they can remove everything in one shot. In the meantime, I will be going through some standard tests like blood work, a chest x ray, and an EKG. My surgery is scheduled for the 24th of June and let me tell you, I am so ready to get this over with.

My thyroid Journey Part 2: My thyroid Biopsy.

Having hypothyroidism means going to the doctor regularly and blood work, so in one of my regular checkups, my doctor told me it was time for me to get some more blood work done. When the results came back she told me I had high TPO ab levels, but not the highest she's seen. So we made sure everything was going okay with my medicine and made sure I had the right dosage. Then she told me that in about 6 months, I should go in for a sonogram of my thyroid; six months later I scheduled that appointment. The sonogram was really quick and I had my results a few days later. The doctors found a 1.8 cm nodule on the left lobe of my thyroid. The next step in the process was having a biopsy to determine if the nodule was benign or malignant. I am not going to lie, this biopsy was painful. The process included numbing my skin and then 3 rounds of the doctor jiggling a needle around into my thyroid and the doctor telling me my nodule was really deep. I felt everything, and I was in pain for days. Being stressed out for weeks I was finally going to get my results a week after my biopsy on Monday April 27th 2015.  

My thyroid Journey Part 1: Finding out I was Hypothyroid

Finding out I was Hypothyroid.

Prior to August 2014, I had been trying to lose weight. I wanted to feel good about myself and be the healthiest person I could be; I wanted to take care of my body. I had been working out religiously. Doing things like swimming, walking, jogging, running, weights, Pilates. I had was also eating very healthy. I was watching my calorie intake, sugar intake, and I completely cut out all preservatives from my diet. I followed the Blogilates diet and exercise plan, which to this day I still love. I wasn't seeing any results. I was even gaining weight. Granted my body felt good but I was doing this for months upon months and nothing. I decided it was time to see my doctor. Maybe I was doing something wrong, maybe she had some suggestions. So I went to the doctor told her what'd been going on and she said she wanted me to get some blood work done to check out some things, such as my thyroid. Hesitantly, I did it. I had always heard that blaming your thyroid is just a lazy persons excuse not to do anything. Well, a few short days later, my results were in and I was diagnosed as hypothyroid. My doctor immediately started me on Levothyroxine to get my hormones in check.  I was still keeping up with my workouts and healthy eating and yet I ballooned up 30 more pounds. I wasn't happy about this, but I didn't let it discourage me  I kept up with my school work and a job. Even though I felt like I had no energy, I had to keep on pushing.