What can I do to help?

tidabida
tidabida Member Posts: 1
in Thyroid Cancer #1

Hello all,

 

My mom was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Cancer and had her thyroid removed 2 weeks ago Tuesday. She got the news today that the cells were indeed cancerous, and is going to have to do the radioactive iodine treatment. I'm just curious as to what i can do to help her through this frightening time in her life. I no longer live with my parents, though I am close by, and have 2 small children.  Please let me know how I can help?

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply. 

Comments

  • alapah
    alapah Member Posts: 287
    #2
    Helping out

    Sorry to hear  about your mother's diagnosis but it's great that you're wondering how to help. I found it extremely beneficial to have someone accompany me to doctor appointments because it is all new, all a bit of a shock, etc. they remembered things i didn'tand they sometimes asked questions that i hadn't thought of.

    As she is destined for radioactive iodine treatment, maybe you can find out if her doctor directed her to follow the low iodine diet. Perhaps you could help by preparing some meals and/or snacks for her. There is a very handy free downloadable low iodine cookbook on the thyca.org website. That site also has a section for patients about what to ask. There is an abundance of extremely informative info there actually. I found it to be a great all around resource.

    Before the RAI she will probably be without levothyroxine(thyroid hormone) which leads to high TSH and pretty good fatigue levels so helping around with daily chores might be appreciated. sometimes patients are offered a drug called thyrogen prior to RAI - that drug increases TSH without having to abstain from levothyroxine.  

    Those are the things that come to mind at the moment. you don't say what type of thyroid cancer she has but keep in mind that the most common form, papillary, is typically quite treatable and most patients have very good prognoses.

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