- Re: How many Drs. does it take to remove a thyroid???......

[Guest guest]

Dear Lesley,

Welcome to the group!

I'm struck by the fact that you had your first RAI ablation in November, and

are apparently going to be having another one in March. Do you know what your

ablation dosage was?

It is generally advised to leave at least 6 months between ablations, since it

can take up to 6 months for the RAI to fully complete its work. Also, it can

take at least that long for all of the

iodine to leave your system, thus clearing the way for the RAi of your next

scan.

Dr. Ain (one of the monitoring doctors on this list) and others believe that

100mCi is pretty much the minimum dosage to really accomplish anything. The

primary exception to this is if you are

trying to ablate an entire lobe (not a generally recommended protocol), in which

case a lower dose (usually 30mCi) is recommended in order to avoid radiation

thyroiditis.

I'm not a doctor, but I don't imagine you have enough thyroid tissue left to

worry about that, and I assume your doctors will do an iodine uptake scan before

your next ablation, which will help

them determine your RAI dosage.

As for the low iodine diet ....

the principle behind this diet is to deplete your thyroid cells of any dietary

iodine, so that they will be more likely to take up the radioactive stuff.

There is a letter (subject " LID - why

bother? " ) which was posted on this list last week (2/15/02). You should be able

to find it in the archives, but if you have a problem, just ask, and I'll post

it again.

Many doctors (including my own) don't recommend the diet, for various reasons,

including " it's too difficult " , but intuitively it makes sense to give yourself

every chance to enhance your

treatment. To clarify, it's not a low salt of low sodium diet, but a low

iodine diet. You can you use as much salt as you want, as long as it's not sea

or iodized salt.

Good luck to you, and keep asking questions!

-

NYC (TT 2/99 dx pap/foll; RAI 100 mCi 3/99 & 4/00; currently off meds - and on

the low iodine diet - in preparation for a scan)

Lesley wrote:

> Hi Everybody!

>

> I'm new on this list and had to read everyone's

> message. I'm 50 yrs. old so no children at home to be

> concerned for, but I empathize with you. It must be

> difficult.

>

> If you have a couple mins., I'd like to share a bit of

> my crazy story with you, and get your opinions and

> advice.

>

> I had a goitre, and half thyroid removed 10 yrs ago.

> Tests came back neg., but they say I should have had

> whole thyroidectomy....that's when they feel this

> 'good' cancer started....

>

> Was diagnosed with pap. ca last Sept..(l lump, 2cm)

> It's such a shocker, I think they feel they're putting

> us at ease by telling us it's the 'good' kind....it

> actually made me feel better, but I'm still new at

> this and have yet to experience the side effects, etc.

>

> Had it removed with lymph nodes in Oct....you know,

> the whole major surgery thing......

>

> O.R. report was not written up clearly, so I had to

> have further tests to determine if thyroid was

> completely removed....(Can u believe?? They told me

> this 2 wks. after surgery......I told them, surgeon

> said he got it all, just phone him!!...but it's not

> that simple..)

>

> Surgeon made error, and tests showed some remaining

> thy. in me...However, he said he didn't know it was

> there due to old scar tissue and location (close to

> parathyroid?) and was so small he ignored and went to

> malignancy and removed all that....

>

> So now, question is, how to deplete remaining

> thy...RAI drinks and scans or more surgery?

>

> They decided since I'd already had 2 surgeries, and

> probably scar tissue, and remaining bit is so small,

> they'd do the RAI drinks.

>

> Had my first one in Nov....I'm now awaiting my second.

> Have been off syn. for 2 wks. and still feel good so

> am thinking I still have active thy tissue left.

> After the next scan, it should show if it's active.

>

> If it's active, then how many drinks will it take to

> deplete it?

>

> Is it safer to drink these chemicals, or just have

> MORE surgery to try to remove this safely?

>

> How important is it to go on low iodine?

>

> I was not told to stay away from iodine.....just salt,

> and msg, and even then they said I didn't have to

> worry too much, just to be careful and cut back a

> little.

>

> It sounds like all of you take great care to stay away

> from iodine.....Is that so the thy cells will take up

> more from the RAI drink? Would they not take it up

> anyway?

>

> So, if you're going in for surgery, I'd make pretty

> darned sure they know exactly where everything is and

> how much they're removing, because you will not want

> to have it done twice...It's not that it's that

> bad.....but major surgery is major surgery......I wish

> I had got them to check the ultrasound again before

> it....I don't believe the surgeon ever really saw the

> ultrasound, or he would have known where the tissue

> was.......

>

> I look forward to sharing your stories, ideas and

> input...Thank-you for your time, and you'll probably

> be hearing from me too now and then....If you have any

> questions, shoot!

>

> ....and how many surgeons DOES it take to remove a

> thyroid???.......

>

> Lesley in Canada (where I keep the heat turned wayyy

> up!)....and......good luck in the hockey game on

> Sun....but I hope we win!