Blood tests are back

On Wednesday of last week I went to see my endocrinologist to find out about what the next steps for my cancer treatment would be. I was super anxious to go to this appointment because I wanted to know what I was going to have to do next, and how it was all going to happen. The first thing he said to me when he walked in the room was "So, you have the big C!" He wasn't excited, more surprised...like all the doctor's have been thus far. It made me laugh, so I tried to make a joke of it by saying "Yes! And it's everywhere!". James and I just laughed, but the doctor looked like he was experiencing a heart attack. His eyes bugged out fiercely, he started frantically shaking his hands, and I think he got a little pale. "No, no!" he said, "It's not everywhere!" Then he noticed we were laughing and so he squeaked out a little nervous giggle himself. Note to self: still too early for cancer jokes with the doctors.

At any rate, he told me that I was going to take the radioactive iodine, and as it turns out the process is much more reasonable as opposed to what it used to be. Before, they would have you quarantined in a hospital room for two to three days before sending you home to be isolated for another week after that. They would send you home with a list of instructions on what you can and can't do during the time you were radioactive. They would have you stop taking the thyroid hormone for two weeks before the treatment and put you on a strict no-iodine diet during that time as well. So, basically, it was about a month of feeling, looking, and going through crap just to kill off the cancer!

Today, instead of taking me off the thyroid hormone (Synthroid) I get to stay on it. Instead of being on a no-iodine diet, I get to eat normally. And instead of being quarantined for a week or two, I'll be isolated in my own home for about three days. No harm done, right? Right! The reason they took people off of Synthroid before was so they could get their thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels high so the radioactive iodine would be absorbed fully and be more effective. Now they can give synthetic TSH in the form of shots called thyrogen. The shots need to be ordered and take two weeks to come in. When they arrive, I'll get one shot on one day, another shot on the second day, and on the third day I go to the hospital where they will give me the liquid form of the radioactive iodine and then I go straight home and avoid contact with people for three days. And yes, those shots will be in my butt. That's always fun. I'll take the first shot on a Wednesday (whenever the shots come in), the second on a Thursday, and the radioactive iodine on a Friday and then avoid everyone for the weekend before going back to work on Monday (or Tuesday if the shots come in the week leading up to Memorial day).

After the radioactive iodine treatment I will then go in for a full body scan to make sure there isn't any iodine being taken up in other places of my body. If there is, it could mean the cancer wasn't thoroughly killed, and that it has spread to other places. If that happens I imagine I would do another round of the radioactive iodine treatment, but the doctor said we would cross that bridge when we got there. I am not too concerned about it.

Then they took my blood to test it and see where all my levels were at. My thyroglobulin levels were at 103.0 on a scale of 2.0-35.0. Yes, they are high, but that's why we are doing the radioactive iodine treatment. This should kill the remaining cancer cells and bring that back down to normal. This is also what they will be testing periodically after the treatment to ensure the cancer isn't coming back. If after the treatment my levels are down between 2.0 and 35.0 then we are good. If they start climbing after that it could mean the cancer has come back.

My TSH level is 39.78 out of 0.40-4.50. Yes, that's high too, but that's because I just had my thyroid removed. I was taking 0.100 micrograms of Synthroid, and the doctor increased it to 0.125. This will also help in reducing the TSH level to a more normal range, though he said he wanted me to be slightly hyperthyroid - meaning my TSH level will be higher than normal. This is so that my body can get a nice good supply of this hormone and make me feel better, since it has obviously been absent for quite some time.

My calcium levels were perfectly normal, so I no longer have to take 3000 mg of calcium each day. That's always a good thing! And everything else looked great. The note on the report said there was no change in our plans, so once those shots come in I'll take them and then have the radioactive iodine treatment and hopefully everything will go smoothly. There are not any side effects for the radioactive iodine, and no, I will not take any pictures of myself in the dark to see if I am glowing. I pretty much know the radioactive stuff will be coursing its way through my body, and attaching to the bad cancer cells that need to be destroyed. However, radioactive people don't glow. I even checked with James on that. :)

Ok, I'm freezing now (that happens a lot lately. I'll be bringing a sweater to work when I return so I don't get chilled) and I'm finally getting tired (that's happens a lot lately too. Curse you insomnia!) so I better go. Thanks for sticking around and reading this far. I've tried to keep my posts small but there's just too much information, so I figure it's probably better to get it all out at once instead of posting several small entries. So, thanks for hanging in there through all this stuff. One day I am bound to have a small post! :)