Radioactive Iodine

lenir
lenir Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Thyroid Cancer #1
Hi,
This is my first posting. Oct 2001 I had two surgeries within one week to remove both sides of my thyroid due to papillary carcinoma. I had a cancerous nodule on the rt side and on a lymph node, so they went to the left side to make sure it had not spread. Things were clear, but nevertheless all my thyroid is now removed and I am on thyroid meds. Due to some other health issues they had to wait to do the radioactive iodine treatment. I have been off the thyroid meds for 5 weeks and on a low-iodine diet. Yesterday I had my first radioactive iodine pill in preparation for a thyroid and body scan in the morning. In addition, they will be giving me a high dose radioactive iodine pill and I have concerns about the safety of that. Maybe I am just stressing over nothing, but I live in the state of CA and the standards are different than other states. They have told me that it is safer to let me go home than stay in the hospital since I don't have young children at home to worry about, but I do have a husband and elderly mother living with me. What should I expect? Anyone tell me about their experiences? I will check back tomorrow night, thanks for listening. I probably should go to sleep now.

Comments

  • jen22
    jen22 Member Posts: 1
    #2
    hey there. my name is jennifer. i am going through the same thing. thank god there is someone else. it is safe. going for my third scan soon. just had a little boy three weeks ago. nothing to worry about. the hardest part out all of this is being off your meds for so long. bet you fell like....well you know.lol. feel like no one understands what you are going through? i try to explain to my husband, but he doesn't understand. i am also from california. right now i am stationed at ft. benning ga. well back to the scan......it's really nothing. yeah the pill taste awful and does upset your stomach alittle, but that's it. if you have to have another scan later on ask to have the injections insted of being off your meds for so long. that is what i am geting ready to have done. i will be having radation therapy within the next few months. it will be hard because my husband will be deployed and i will not be able to hold my son. just think of this...would you want to be stuck to a hospital bed wearing one of those gowns that show the whole hospital your backside, or would you like to be in the comforts of your own home? the scan itself is a piece of cake. all you do is lie on your back and catch a few zzz's. only takes about 45minutes to do.i'm sure by now you have probably already had the scan done. i just found this website. my mom told me about it.
  • rdjc
    rdjc Member Posts: 20
    #3
    jen22 said:

    hey there. my name is jennifer. i am going through the same thing. thank god there is someone else. it is safe. going for my third scan soon. just had a little boy three weeks ago. nothing to worry about. the hardest part out all of this is being off your meds for so long. bet you fell like....well you know.lol. feel like no one understands what you are going through? i try to explain to my husband, but he doesn't understand. i am also from california. right now i am stationed at ft. benning ga. well back to the scan......it's really nothing. yeah the pill taste awful and does upset your stomach alittle, but that's it. if you have to have another scan later on ask to have the injections insted of being off your meds for so long. that is what i am geting ready to have done. i will be having radation therapy within the next few months. it will be hard because my husband will be deployed and i will not be able to hold my son. just think of this...would you want to be stuck to a hospital bed wearing one of those gowns that show the whole hospital your backside, or would you like to be in the comforts of your own home? the scan itself is a piece of cake. all you do is lie on your back and catch a few zzz's. only takes about 45minutes to do.i'm sure by now you have probably already had the scan done. i just found this website. my mom told me about it.

    I just wanted to let you know that once you have been cleared- no more tumors on a scan - you might be able to get away with no more scans, and blood tests instead to check for cancer. I am from CA also, but those outside of this state might want to check what the rules are in their state. I have an awesome doctor here, and I will have yearly blood tests to monitor my cancer. This means I don't have to go off my meds at all. This is such a relief for me, and I know you all understand. We all have to be our own medical advocates, and check into what kinds of medical treatment we can get with as little discomfort as possible. Check around, and search the net for experts in your area. I learned the hard way that many doctors have no idea how to deal with thyroid cancer.
  • kathyrn
    kathyrn Member Posts: 2
    #4
    jen22 said:

    hey there. my name is jennifer. i am going through the same thing. thank god there is someone else. it is safe. going for my third scan soon. just had a little boy three weeks ago. nothing to worry about. the hardest part out all of this is being off your meds for so long. bet you fell like....well you know.lol. feel like no one understands what you are going through? i try to explain to my husband, but he doesn't understand. i am also from california. right now i am stationed at ft. benning ga. well back to the scan......it's really nothing. yeah the pill taste awful and does upset your stomach alittle, but that's it. if you have to have another scan later on ask to have the injections insted of being off your meds for so long. that is what i am geting ready to have done. i will be having radation therapy within the next few months. it will be hard because my husband will be deployed and i will not be able to hold my son. just think of this...would you want to be stuck to a hospital bed wearing one of those gowns that show the whole hospital your backside, or would you like to be in the comforts of your own home? the scan itself is a piece of cake. all you do is lie on your back and catch a few zzz's. only takes about 45minutes to do.i'm sure by now you have probably already had the scan done. i just found this website. my mom told me about it.

    Hi Jennifer--I was reading your message, and was especially interested in the note about "taking the injections" rather than going of the thyroid replacement therapy. I had Multi-focal papillary, follicular variant Cancer, diagnosed in Nov 2001. I had the total thyroid removed and had Radioactive iodine ablation in Jan. 2002. The thought of going off thyroid replacement therapy is quite frightening, can you gove me further info about the injections for the scanning to look for metastesis of thyroid cancer? Hope all is well with you. thank you Kathy
  • gacbacker
    gacbacker Member Posts: 14
    #5
    I hope everything went ok with the iodine treatment. I just had that at the end of AUgust and I was a basket case around that time. It went ok but it was a really hard decision for me to make.

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