RAI-131 Known as Radioactive Iodine

I received my treatment Wednesday February 6th. A week and a half prior I had to start this god awful diet called the low iodine diet. Let me tell ya. It's basically like starving yourself. There is not one normal daily food that we eat that doesn't have salt in it. Literally everything has salt in it. It was one rough time. My favorite part of it was hearing everyone say oh how bad could it be? Well you do it and report back to me.

Thankfully Monday February 4th came around. It was one more of the several trips I've taken to Manhattan  I've gotten the commute to Sloan down pat without the GPS. It was day #1 of testing blood work and my Thyrogen shot. It was a rather long day of waiting going here and there. My favorite part was that when entering the radioactive area you had to be buzzed in never experienced that one before. Filled out the usual paper work and of course waited the usual 45 mins to be called in. Meet the nurse and she explained to me everything that was happening over the next few days. Meet the radioactive Dr. I'm sure he had some fancy name but I don't remember it. Asked me a bazillion questions and explained all the lovely side effects of the treatment. Then released me to get my shot. Then off I went.

Tuesday- some what the same routine. Except I got my shot was told to come back in two hours for my meds to take the whole body scan. So off Kev and I went. I worked from my car and we impatiently waited until street sweeping time was over do we didn't get a ticket and back to the hospital we went. I got my low dose of iodine for my scan and was told to come back tomorrow at 8am. That was news to me, I thought it was 9am. So back home we went. Worked the afternoon away and packed for my week away in isolation. That night rushing around to pack things, make sure I didn't forget anything I needed. I fell down a flight of stairs  I have not done that in a very long time, was winded and in a ton of pain. So after I felt better in about ten minutes off to complete my packing.

The radioactive card that I was given as I can still set off alarms due to my radioactiveness.

Wednesday rolled around quicker than I thought. Lots of traffic on my commute to MCKCC this time. So of course I was late. Oh well. It was time to take my first WBS (whole body scan) and then when that was over I was it was to the radioactive room to get ready for my treatment. A room in the corner of the hospital with tons of radioactive/hazard signs on it. There was someone else who was also getting the treatment done at the same time. So as MSKCC calls it I had a radioactive buddy. We hung out and chatted until the Radioactive Security officer came in to discuss all the terms with us. He spoke with us both individually regarding our dose, all our rules for the radiation and treatment itself. Then came in the fancy named Dr. who was here to give us our treatments. He spoke with each of us and then explained the results of our WBS and said that mine specifically came back with cancer still in my neck. I tried to get a better answer as to how much, where, is it in my lymph nodes etc? Nothing. So I was like okay. Well let's hope this works. It was time to give my my dose of 150mci. I had to put gloves on, the Dr. had a mask on and gloves as well. They had about 2 feet long tweezers that they took the medicine out of what looked like a time capsule. One at a time, shutting it, watching me swallow the pill and doing it all over again 4x.

We hung out until around 2pm ish when we could go home. We chatted about our cancers and its crazy to know that we both basically had the same exact thing minus the whole voice thing with me. We were fed a low iodine meal for the second to last time before we could return to a normal diet. That was honestly the best meal I've eaten in two weeks. So happy I got to do that. The nurse who sat outside the room who could not let us go unless we went pee. We were finally released to go home and escorted out of the hospital and told to go straight home as we were now radioactive and could harm others around us for the the first 6 hours especially.

I stayed at a good friends house during this isolation. I am so thankful for her as I have no idea what I would of done without her letting me do so. It was great to be able to stay there. It was like a vacation for the week. I had my own space, tons of quietness and was in heaven. The first 24 hours I was really radioactive. I had to stay 3 feet (so arms length) away from people, could not be around animals, had to clean the toilet and flush 3x's every time I peed, the sink, and you name it. It was intense. I'm surprised I didn't develop OCD from it. As the days went by I could actually hang out with my friend and Kevin came to visit me. It was so nice to have some company even though I had to be in isolation. That next Monday I returned to the hospital to get another WBS to see if the treatment had started working and it gives a better idea of what's going on inside my neck for the Drs. to see. I was to get the results in two days. So Wednesday rolls around and no answer yet, I call. I get a call back saying that as expected there is still cancer in your neck, it'll continue to work over the course of the next year. In six months I have a follow up appointment with my Endo to rerun test and discuss the results of them to see how the treatment is working as well as my next steps in the process.

The sign on the door of the room I had to stay in for my treatment.

So for now I battle with damaged salivary glands, super sensitive teeth, loosing a ton of hair (thank god I have a ton so it's not too noticeable yet and still a numb neck from surgery. But even though I still have these things going on, I say I am thankful to not have to struggle like others have and currently are. So if I'm having a down day with all of this I will always think of how lucky I am to not have another type of cancer.