Getting ready!

Well, I now have dates on the calendar.  The strict low iodine diet begins on 24 Feb.  The first dose of Thyrogen (an injection) will be on 8 March.  I'll also do blood work before the injection to get some baseline data for my cancer marker.  My second injection of Thyrogen will be on 9 March.  I get to do the injections and baseline blood work close to home in Waterloo, Iowa.  On Wednesday the 10th, I'll make the trek to Iowa City (1.5 hours in good weather) where I will swallow a radioactive iodine tracer.  It's about 10 millicuries of radiation and it's like getting your body X-ray'd.  I'll be mildly radioactive at that point and will do my part by staying away from anyone pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant, as well as small kids, etc.  They don't say I have to do this - but I do it - to be fair to those around me.  Then Thursday the 11th is a "free day" but I'll be busy packing for a trip East during Spring Break - we are going to Newport, R.I. to enjoy the sea, make day trips to Boston and to see Bob's Aunt Honey and Uncle Ralph, and connect with John and Anna and Evenlyn - our parents.  Alek and Olyvia will be with us too for this trip.  But, I digress.  Friday is the "big day."  Friday March 12th I will again make the trek to Iowa City and get plunked into a scanning machine.  It's a big machine with a table that they strap you into.  I like being strapped in because you can't move during the scan and the more they tie me down, the better I feel - it's kind of like a security blanket.  They will first do blood work to again check my thyroid cancer marker - Thyroglobulin.  It should elevate slightly as a result of the Thyrogen injections.  If it goes up too high, that's not good.  Then the scanner will do it's job.  A huge scanning pad will very slowly move it's way up my body looking for glowing spots.  I'll have my eyes closed since the thing is huge, heavy and ends up being about 1/4 inch away from my nose when it reaches my face.  The process will take about an hour, but it will feel like 3.  Nearby there will be images of me on a screen that look somewhat ghost-like.  That would be the radioactive iodine shooting out from me and creating an image.  It looks kinda cool, actually.  Yes, I'm a geek.  There will be spots that should glow...my digestive tract, my bladder, my saliva glands (neck and face area).  Then hopefully there will be no other collection spots of radioactive iodine - hopefully no other glowing spots. 

I will hang around in Iowa City that afternoon to get "preliminary" results.  If I'm lucky, I'll sneak a peak at the screen and read the results myself beforehand.  Anyway, we'll get preliminary results and then head East for vacation.  I'll be looking forward to some de-stress time and some normal food!!

I'll update the blog here and there throughout the process.  Love to all of you who support me on this journey.  God bless.  dj