prepairing for RI treatment

nasher

this is my first post here so I will give my background


Summary so far

I was diagnosed with a large thyroid mass Dec 2009 Bremerton Naval Hospital in Jan 2010 they determined the mass was follicular cells but could not determine by fine needle aspiration if it was cancerous or not but since it was making it hard to breath they decided to operate to remove my right side thyroid this happened on Feb 22 2010.

On March 2nd I was told I had several small foci of papillary carcinoma in the tissue of the right thyroid that was removed and that the entire mass was being sent to another hospital for further research but it looks benign the doctors recommended a complete thyroidectomy that was completed on Mar 09 2010. the initial screening showed no cancer on that side once removed.

On April 19th I started on the low iodine diet and stopped taking Cytomel in preparation for Radioactive Iodine treatment

On April 20th I was informed that the results from Armed Forces institute of Pathology Washington DC and the summary was that the large mass of follicular cells were also cancer.

follicular carcinoma minimally invasive (7.1 cm) and 6mm papillary carcinoma w/ adjacent 2-3mm papillary carcinoma another section 6mm papillary carcinoma and right parathyroid lymph node with thyroid carcinoma 8mm. I was told that all areas of cancer look like stage one but definitive results wont be received till after my visit to Madigan Army Medical Center Tacoma.

I was also informed when they removed my thyroid there was a parathyroid gland in each of the thyroid sections removed (so I have 2 of 4 parathyroid glands removed as well).

Currently I am scheduled for

An uptake dose of radioactive iodine on Monday May 03 2010 at Madigan Army Medical Center Tacoma On May 4th I am scheduled for 24 hr uptake followed by a whole body dose of radioactive iodine @ Madigan On May 5th they are doing a whole body scan and depending on the results they will administer the treatment dose on eithor the 5th or 6th of May

Also I have not seen or heard back results from the thyroid completion surgery the initial reading by Bremerton Naval hospital was clean but have not received a review from the lab they sent it off to.

it is amazing how fast everything is going around me and how much life i have missed in the past few months. I am looking forward and scared over the idea of the Radioactive iodine.

I am prepairing for or trying to make sure I have everything ready for the treatment and everything after it has all happened so fast that it fully hasn't set in i dont think.

Buffalo13

Good luck on your RAI
Hi, I wanted to let you know that someone out here in the land of computers is wishing you good results on your body scan and any other treatment that you need. I will be having a body scan but I am not sure when. I see my endo tomorrow so I will hopefully find out more. I had my TT on April 12 for papillary carcinoma thyroid cancer. Before surgery I had so much stuff to get ready. For me, it really helped to have 'to do lists' and to write down what day I needed to have each task done. I was diagnosed about 2 months ago and it all hasn't quite hit me yet. It all feels so unreal. I wish I could cry sometimes but I fear I would lose it. My coping mechanism has been trying to control my outer world by keeping things orderly, and looking at things from a intellectual standpoint. I was wondering if you had any problems with your calcium levels? Other than the cancer, I hope things are going well. Keep us posted Buffalo13

weberdns

Don't be scared! I'm doing it now!!
Got my scan dose of 4 mci's on Monday and was in isolation for 2 days as I have a teenage daughter. I am still feeling good through being hypo and also the first few days of the scan dose. Body scan done yesterday. See my post under today is the day...... If you have more questions, please post them, or e-mail me at weberdns@zoominternet.net