Saturday, May 27, 2006

Treatment Still on Schedule

So far, so good. My radio-iodine treatment is still on schedule, and I will be admitted to the hospital this Wednesday, 05/31/2006. It looks like I will not need any surgery prior to the treatment, although there is still a "hot spot" in the neck region.

Thank you for all the prayers for strength. When the doctors saw me on Monday, they expected that I would be in a wheelchair based on my blood test results and being hypothyroid. The average TSH level for a "normal" person is 1.0. When a thyroid cancer patient goes through withdrawal of the thyroid hormone in preparation for the radio-iodine treatment, the TSH level is expected to rise to 30 or 40. My TSH level was over 135! The doctors were even more surprised when they found out I had been driving. They asked that I give them a courtesy call when I get behind the wheel of my car : ) Seriously though, through your prayers I have been able to work from home after my daily trips to the hospital.

I've had to isolate myself for several days this week from the family, as I have been "radioactive". The tracer dose of I-131 radio-iodine administered on Monday, 05/22/2006 was only about 2 mCi. The treatment dose that I receive this Wednesday will be much larger, probably between 100 and 200 mCi.

This will be my 2nd round of radio-iodine treatment, and the nuclear medicine director agreed that it would not be the last round. The tumors are still taking up the radio-iodine though, which makes the cancer very treatable. The doctors will continue to administer as many treatments as necessary until I receive a "clean scan".

I look forward to returning to a normal diet and the thyroid hormone upon my discharge from the hospital. I'll probably be in the hospital for 1-2 days and will need to isolate myself from everyone for 5-7 days after discharge. Despite having been on the low-iodine diet for several weeks, I have not lost any weight. For those that know me, you know that this is great news! I thank my wife for all her hard work and effort to prepare meals that conformed to the diet, but that were still quite delicious. I don't know how she managed to make a chocolate fudge cake without any milk, eggs, or butter.

Thanks again for all the prayers and encouragement to our family during this time.

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