Even hotter man: RAI big dose

Yesterday I went back to nuclear medicine for my whole body scan and got a couple of pieces of good news. One, my scan didn't light up anywhere except my thyroid bed, which means my cancer probably hasn't metastasized. And two, the doctors were able to accelerate the schedule of my big radiation dose to yesterday afternoon. So, to avoid having to drive back home and back downtown, I killed a couple of hours in center city Philadelphia. It was very cool but also odd to be doing touristy things like walking around Independence Hall, visiting Ben Franklin's grave, and seeing the Liberty Bell, knowing that in just a few hours I'd be taking on more radiation than anybody should normally get in a lifetime. But it was a good way to pass the time.

When I got back to the clinic, they told me my pill was being walked over from the radiation safety department. A really nice guy with "nuclear physicist" embroidered on his lab coat showed up and formulated my pill to 107.1mCi, and then we chatted a little bit about isotope half lives and such (we both geeked out a little, I think he was as excited to talk to a patient who finally understands what he does as I was curious to be learning about what exactly I'd be swallowing). Taking the pill was a little freaky. First of all, you have to go get it from a chemical fume hood (131-I is an inhalation hazard as well), remove it from a lead vial, and then slam it back with a full glass of water. They have you do all this yourself so the nurses won't get any extra exposure. So, after I downed it, the physicist measured me with a Geiger counter, and told me to go directly home. Because this procedure used to involve an overnight stay in the hospital, they have to be positive that if they send you home you won't go in public or endanger anybody for the next couple days. So I drove straight home and went right to the bedroom.

And that's pretty much where I have been the last 29 hours since I took the pill. I didn't notice any really bad side effects, only a little nausea, and pain in my neck and salivary glands. I will say I did everything I could to avoid side effects, like drinking a ton of water, and sucking on lemon candies non-stop (stimulates salivary glands, a common side effect is losing a salivary gland or two for a few weeks). And when I say I drank a lot, I mean it. I read a guy's blog who said he drank a gallon of water per day when he had RAI and that helped clear the excess radiation fast. So, being a naturally competitive person (and a triathlete out of commission, I need a competitive outlet!), I aimed to double this. Between 4PM and bed time last night I drank 1.5 gallons, and today I hit 2 gallons. Which means A LOT of peeing. I did leave the room around 4PM to take my dogs on a long walk. Though I had been feeling really hypothyroid the past two days, this afternoon I got a jolt of energy, which I think came from laying down for nearly 24 hours, not to mention 10 hours of sleep last night. I even mowed my lawn after the dog walk, but it kicked my ass, and I am totally spent now. By far the highlights of my day were the picture Elena drew for me (winnie the pooh in pink and orange scribbles) and the take-n-bake pizza Becca (who is known on my FB page today as the "hot nurse") made for dinner. Ahhh...cheese, I have missed you! I am off the low-iodine diet and loving it.

Tomorrow I can officially re-enter the world, though I still have to take a lot of precautions. Especially with Elena, no lap sitting for at least two weeks, and no hugs or kisses. I mainly need to do two things: keep people at a distance and watch where my body fluids are going...which I geuss is pretty good advice for just about any situation! I can also start Synthroid tomorrow, and should begin climbing back out of my state of hypothyroidism. That will be nice.