Just an update. Sorry for the length...

[Guest guest]

I had my RAI this past Tuesday. Before that I was on the LID. I was a

little flustered at first, mainly due to the lack of dairy, breads,

and processed foods that I could NOT eat. I did not realize how much

of that crap I eat on a daily basis. When I really started groovin on

the diet, I thought to myself, damn I am really eating so much

healthier than before, a nice little mental pick me up.

I really noticed the hypothyroid symptoms approximately 5 days from

the RAI. I became slightly moody, I gained 10 pounds, felt chilled

more so than normal, and I could never get 'restful' sleep. All in

all the symptoms were mild and I expected so much more. I was

mentally prepared to deal with severe hypothyroidism symptoms that

some of you have had, but the severity was minimal in my opinion. I

am thankful for that.

OK time for RAI. Don't get mad at me, but I found this to be a little

anticlimatic. The endo walks into my paper and plastic encased

hospital room pulling this wooden/metal waggon with a wooden box on

it. Inside the box is this steel canister with " the pill " (very

dramatic). I take the pill drink it down with water. That's it! Enjoy

the rest of your day, he says and leaves. I felt absolutely nothing!

I had my laptop, cell phone, books, magazines, toiletries, etc. to

pass the time. ALL of it stayed in the room with me. I thought the

first RN was going to have a heart attack! She waxed on how I should

have left everything at the door. But hey, no one informed me of what

was or was not allowed into the room until after the I-131. Whatever!

It was all staying with me contaminated or not. The rest of the staff

did not even give a shit about what was occupying me just as long as

I was not high maintenance. When there was human contact, plastic

gloves was the norm. No gowns, no decontamination suits, nada. I

thought I was going to be this radioactive space case. Twas not to

be. This hospital's food was absolute shit! Inmates at the prison eat

better than the folks in this hospital.

Day 2 comes along and the nuclear medicine dept, head walks in to

take a reading. " You're too hot! You must stay another night. " All I

could think about was I was going to have to endure more hospital

food! LOL. After being polite, respectful, and low maintenance, I had

cow when dinner arrived on night 2. Absolutely disgusting! Dinner was

changed to something more edible. I then thanked them profusely for

the extra effort and apologized for the self centered outburst.

Day 3 I go home. I pick up the Levoxyl(.0125mg) at the pharmacy. Yes

I am in the grocery store by myself! A grand total of 10 minutes. Now

I am sequestered in my apartment for next few days. I sent the

" signicant other " , the dog, and cat back to their home. If you can't

be around pregnant women, and kids, its a safe bet that the animals

need to be away as well. If you have to be on the streets then

momentary contact with others will not hurt, in my opinion. Prolonged

contact with the ones on the list is where the professionals take

issue.

As for the contaminated clothing, and my bag of tricks. The nuc. med.

dept. said launder all of the clothing, and wipe everything else down

with alcohol and keep it away from others for a few days. That's the

decontamination process! Technically, the nuclear med dept. is

suppose to decontaminate the stuff for me, but since I live alone and

do not have others in the house, the aforementioned process will

suffice. Fine by me. They did not want my laptop laying around, they

were more afraid of theft. So was I.

So what's next? The WBS on the eighth day after RAI. Blood Work and a

follow up with the endo on the 6th week after treatment. Whew! I hope

all stays calm for awhile.

Thanks for for all of the advice I have been reading here. You all

have been quite helpful. Are the WBS results immediate or will it

take some time to have the films read?

I wish you good health and happiness.