On January 3rd I started on a 2-week low-iodine diet to prep for my radioactive iodine treatment. I could not eat anything with iodized salt, dairy, egg yolks, seafood, sea salt, or carrageenan. This made any remaining thyroid cells (including cancer cells) in my body “thirsty” for iodine.
On January 15 and 16 I got Thyrogen injections, which raised my thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level sky high, to stimulate the thyroid cells to get ready to soak up some yummy radioactive iodine. They also made me feel terrible — tired, achy all over, nauseous, and major brain fog.
On Friday, January 17 I checked in to the nuclear medicine department at Centennial Hospital. A guy took me into a little room and went over all of the safety instructions.
Then he brought in a lead container and a cup of water. He opened the container and then stepped way back. He told me to take out the little glass cup inside, which contained a big white pill containing 30mci of RAI, dump the pill into my mouth and swallow it with some water. As soon as I did, he escorted me the heck out of there because I was now radioactive.
James insisted on going to the hospital with me and driving me home. I sat way in the back in the 3rd row of our SUV so that I was 6 feet away from him, and he got us home fast. I immediately headed upstairs to my bedroom where I was quarantined until Monday.
He bought a Geiger counter on Amazon and took readings all over the house once I got home. That first day I was setting it off when it was in the room below me downstairs, so he and the kids slept in the bonus room on the other side of the house. Each day my radiation level went down some, as did the size of my “bubble”.
On Saturday (which was my 42nd birthday!) I woke up with a sore and swollen salivary gland next to my ear. I took ibuprofen, massaged it, put heat on it, and ate sour things to try to clear it out, which helped. Other than that I watched Netflix, talked to friends and family on the phone/Facetime, worked on our taxes, and wiped down everything I touched. James dropped food off at my bedroom door, and I kept all of my trash and laundry contained.
On Monday I cleaned some more, took out my trash (which I have to store in the backyard for a few weeks before I can put it into the can) and washed my dishes and laundry. I was also able to come off the low-iodine diet and celebrated with Starbucks and a cauliflower crust pizza from Prince Street.
I kept my distance from everyone for several more days because I was still radioactive within a few feet and especially near my neck. James worked from home this week and drove the kids to their various places. I started back to work on Tuesday since I work from home. Everything caught up with me yesterday and I was exhausted.
Today I went back to Centennial for a whole body scan, which took about an hour. I’ll get the results of that next week to see if this all worked, and I also have to get more blood drawn for labs.
I am fascinated!