Tag: low iodine diet

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Cancer Family & Friends Health low iodine diet Me Parenting

Thyroid Cancer-D-Day!

I am so happy today!  Today is the the day I finally can take synthroid- the thyroid replacement hormone.  It will have been just two days under two months, since I have been without any thyroid hormones in my body.  I took my first one at 7AM.  I will have to take this medication for the rest of my life. 

The doctors tell me it is not a quick fix, and it is a gradual return to feeling better and normal.  So I am not expecting to take one synthroid and be back to my “old self” but after this long of being in the hypothyroidism state,  I am hopeful  today the downwards trend I have been experiencing for the last eight weeks stops.  It is very rare for the first dosage to be correct, so I am expecting to have to go through a few dosage adjustments as well. 

My doctor also prescribed cytomel for two weeks, to “jump start” my system. I didn’t wake up one day and feel this tired, this fatigued- it was a definite gradual downward change- every day was a little worse than the last, so I am hoping that with feeling better it will be the same.  As long as I feel a little better than the day before, I’ll feel like I am heading in the right direction.  I have to have my blood tested in six weeks to check the dosage, but if I don’t feel better after a few days, I will be calling the endocrinologist.  

Today is also the day I stop the low iodine diet.  It was nice to eat so many fresh foods and vegetables- I am going to try to keep that part of the diet going, but it will be nice to have some milk with cereal, tea again, and I have been craving  homemade popcorn with lots of butter on it.  🙂  I found the hardest part of the diet was just preparing the foods since I have been in the hypothyroidism state for so long.

I received my radioactive iodine therapy (in the form of a pill) on Monday, and  I am radioactive as I write this.  I can be around adults no more than 30 minutes at a time, but can’t place myself in a general population where there would be children, until Thursday.  However, the nuclear medicine doctor, who administered the pill, strongly suggested that I am not around my boys for five to seven days.  She said because of their ages, their cells are much more vulnerable to radioactivity, and it is hard for them to not climb on me, and keep an arms distance away.

I thought I was going to be able to see the boys on Thursday, and I am very sad and miss them like crazy, but under the circumstances, I agree with her.  I don’t want to put my boys at risk and in the grand scheme of things, two more days is worth it, if it eliminates the risk they will be exposed to radiation.  Their dad and his family have been taking care of the boys, and Ryan and Cole have been having a lot of fun. 

I have been at home- really having no energy to do much.  I have been reading, catching up on some paperwork, and I took a very short walk yesterday.  It’s kind of weird thinking of myself being quarantined, but since I have very little energy I don’t feel like going anywhere.

This has really been the hardest thing I have ever had to do, physically.   No energy, fatigue, no mental energy- that is how my body felt physically for so many weeks. 

My family and friends told me to hang in there and not give up- there is light at the end of the tunnel. So many people told me I am stronger than I know.  I didn’t believe them- I certainly didn’t feel strong. In fact, these last two months,  is the weakest I have ever been, physically and mentally. But I learned there is nothing wrong with being weak- I can’t do it all- no one can, and being weak allowed me to accept this. Being at my weakest for so long, showed me that I am stronger than I knew, stronger than I believed. 

I feel like today is my new beginning.  I am finally at the end of this tunnel- and I just don’t see the light, I am in the light.   I have discovered, that I am strong, but there is no shame in being weak either.  Others could see that in me, and now I see it for myself.  But more importantly, today, I believe it.

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Cancer Cooking Health low iodine diet Me

Low Iodine Diet Food & Information

I can’t write much, but a picture speaks a thousand words.  The boys’ dad watched them for the weekend, and my dad took me shopping for low iodine food for the week.  Then he helped me chop, dice, and grilled the chicken and meat.  This was all recommended to be done before I was in the hypothyroidism state, so it was very difficult to get it done, but we did. 

The diet says you can eat meat you prepare yourself, and as many fruit and veggies,  as you want (no soy), but I can’t get enough protein from the fruits and veggies I need, so having the meat will help me immensely with my energy level for the week.   

The website that I got some of the recipes from (you can download their free cookbook), and read up on the low iodine diet, is ThyCa– (Thyroid Cancer Survivors Association).  I found it to be very helpful, and so far the recipes have turned out great. One good tip they had was to read the labels.  We started to buy some organic ingredients, but found the organic black beans for instant, had sea salt in them, which is worse than just regular salt, because sea salt is higher in iodine.  I would have never had know that, if I had not read through their information.

 Here is a picture of most of the low iodine food we were able to prepare:

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I would have never been able to do it without the help of my and my boys’ family, so thank you.  I am still waiting to hear when I can take the thyroid replacement hormone.  Until I can take it, I am not going to start feeling better, but as of today there is only one week to go on the low iodine diet.

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Cancer Family & Friends Health Me Mothering

Thyroid Cancer- Low Iodine Diet & Waiting for Radioactive Iodine Treatment

This past week has been a nightmare- an absolutely awful nightmare.  I don’t even know where to begin. 

As I wrote previously, my surgeon said one of the proactive things I could do before having my thyroidectomy and neck dissection was make an appointment with an endocrinologist.  So I did.  One he recommended at one of the hospitals in my state, Colorado, with an excellent reputation. 

When I made the appointment back in MAY, I specifically pointed out to the scheduler, that my surgery was June 12th, and the appointment with the endocrinologist wasn’t until this past Tuesday- July 21st.  She assured me that was fine.  I asked her again- that six weeks wasn’t too long to go.  She told me again, it was fine.  These are the “experts” so I figured I was in good hands.

Six weeks later I am a hormonal, emotional, tired, wiped out mess.  I feel like I have aged 50 years in the past six weeks.  Evidently the hormone your thyroid produces regulates all kinds of bodily functions- like energy levels, emotions, metabolism, memory, concentration- just to name a few.  When I met with the endocrinologist on Tuesday, Dr. S., (another Dr. S.) she was shocked to find out I had not been on any thyroid hormone since my surgery.  She looked at me and said, “My god, I bet you feel like crap.”  That is one part they did get right.  She told me they would rush my radioactive iodine treatment (RAI).  Only problem- I haven’t been on a low iodine diet. 

I called a week after my surgery and asked this same office if I should be on a low iodine diet.  They told me no- I would receive all that information at my appointment. I pointed out again, that I had a six week time frame, and they told me it was fine.  I’d learn everything about the diet during my appointment. 

Since I can no longer manage this mess by myself, my sister, Vanessa, called bothered them until she got the person on the line that could help.  That is how we found out the scheduler had “old” information.  The treatment coordinator, B., told her I could have received RAI three weeks after surgery, but I have to be on the low iodine diet now for ten days.  I could have started the diet the week I called to ask them about the low iodine diet, and have had all of this behind me.  But now I have almost two more weeks of “feeling like crap” and trying to figure out a diet and what I can and can’t eat. Vanessa expressed the displeasure this has caused me, and the state I am in.   B. apologized and sent me a personal e-mail apologizing as well.  Vanessa scheduled the RAI treatment for me, for August 3. 

I am so mad and beyond frustrated at this hospital.  I talked to a friend who is a nurse,  who told me this is negligence, and there is no excuse for something like this happening.  But, what can I do?  It isn’t B.’s fault.  It is one of those nightmare things that you never imagine will happen to you, but it does.  So somehow, my family and I have to get through the next 2 weeks to make it to the appointment where I can receive the RAI treatment.

I still don’t know how long after the RAI treatment I have to wait until I can receive the replacement thyroid hormone.  As it is now, it will be 8 weeks and counting.  In the meantime, I am losing more energy every day, my boys are suffering, and I am missing work. 

I am having a hard time with this blog post.  I said I was taking a break from it two weeks ago, but then I said I wasn’t, but I am going to be forced to now.  I mentally and physically do not have the energy to write much until I am finally on the thyroid replacement hormone.  For now, what energy I do have, I have to put into my boys and into my health. I will try to post quick updates on Twitter when I can. 

I appreciate any thoughts and prayers you can send my way- two weeks seems like an eternity right now, but there is nothing left to do, except get through them.  Thanks again to everyone for all their support, love, and help. I literally could not do this without my family and friends.  Love you all. 

Heather