Taking the radioactive plunge!!

Monday, I had to get my blood taken to check my TSH levels to make sure they were suitable for taking the radioactive iodine pills and a pregnancy test was in order to ensure no babies were in the oven yet! Luckily, everything came back with the green light so I was excited that I would be getting this mess out of the way! The only thing was... the taking of my blood left me with a gnarly bruise!! It was a little worse than this (this was taken the next day!) The bruise still hasn't gone away yet :(.....

Tuesday was the day! Ablation is the process of taking two radioactive iodine pills and I was ready! I was feeling a little uncertain because I didn't know how the pills would make me feel. Of course, I'm a psycho about vomiting so I was afraid of that happening or maybe passing out because of the high dosage of radioactivity. I was actually okay! A doctor went through some forms with me stating why we were taking the pills, what symptoms would be experienced, and what I needed to do once I got home to protect others. Later, the tech came in carrying two 10 lb. containers that carried my pills. She told me I would have to wear gloves since the pills are sticky. Heck, to get the top of the containers off I had to have the tech help me because they were SO heavy!!!! 

The Rules:

Wash hands like a fiend.

Take 2-3 showers a day.

For at least the first 2 or 3 days, stay quarantined in a room and if you come into contact with anyone..you must stay an arm's distance away.

Make sure no one comes into contact with your urine or saliva (clean up after yourself!)

Make sure you have your own bathroom and bedroom to occupy.

No one can kiss you for an entire week!

No one can share utensils with you or eat/ drink after you.

You are not allowed to ride in a car with anyone for over 2 hours (for the first few days).

You can't hug or hold animals or small children.

You must wash your clothes and bedding separately from others for 3-4 days.

Drink tons of water!

Protect your phone by using a paper towel when you talk on it or use speakerphone.

You can't go to work for 2-3 days.

You can't attend public events for first 2 days.

When I got home, I started to feel drained and weak. My hubby was so sweet...he came home for lunch to cook me some steak and broccoli. Unfortunately, the pills attack my salivary glands since they are part of the process of pushing the pills through my body so my face began to swell at my jaw joints (under my ears & affecting my ears as well) and it was hard to eat the steak. I ate it though! 

It felt weird having my husband wear gloves to handle my stuff or wash dishes in the bathroom sink! I felt like he was a part of some hazmat team and I had the plague! After lunch, I passed out for about 4 hours. I couldn't get over how drained I felt! Ryan brought home Olive Garden for supper so I was happy, but he had to sit in the hallway to visit with me!

I got on the internet, watched Netflix, and played games to pass the time.

Later Tuesday night..I had trouble sleeping because I felt so nauseous! I really thought I was going to throw up so I did everything in my power to make sure that didn't happen! On top of that, my face had been gradually swelling to the point that I had grown uncomfortable and after dinner Ry had to give me 4 Advil!! I chatted with my bestie and even face-timed her to show her how bad it was and she was shocked!!! I didn't take a picture but I basically looked like this:

Literally, no joke! My face looked so deformed!

The first night was pretty hard BUT I got through it falling asleep to Rocko's Modern Life around 5:30AM (cartoons always get me through somehow!) 

Wednesday- The day of my 4th anniversary with Ry and I couldn't even spend it with him because I had to be quarantined!! I was happy because I got to FINALLY be off the low iodine diet and I could get my thyroid medicine in me!! I looked forward to Schlotzsky's for lunch :) The sleep did me good and I felt rejuvenated! I still was stuck in the bedroom watching television but I got to see what the rest of the world was doing through Facebook! Eventually, I felt drained and exhausted again and slept until Ry got home from work. I got to have a choco-cherry love blizzard from DQ!!! I spent most of my time watching the whole entire first season of "The Gates" on Netflix. 

Thursday- I've been up all night fighting nausea. Last night was lonely not having Ry lay beside me! It felt weird and surreal like I was living all alone :(. Not a good feeling for me! I look forward to getting out in the world today. I got my first hug by RY this morning and I am excited about getting to eat Mexican food at CAMPUZANO's & Red Robin for dinner :). Although I know I'm going to have to take my food home in a box since my stomach shrank! My goals today are to wash my clothing and bedding and try to work on my homework (that I'm behind on!!!!) I hope to see some of the fam tonight and get some time out of the house! 2 days feel more like 4 or 5! Tomorrow, I have to go to the dentist. Tuesday is my full body scan so I will keep everyone updated on how that goes..kind of nervous!!

Low Iodizing My Life

My doctor decided that I would need to take radioactive iodine in order to kill off the remaining thyroid tissue and cancer cells. Hearing that I am going to be ingesting a radioactive substance into my body is quite unsettling. I decided that Spring Break would be the perfect opportunity for me to do so because I would have to be quarantined for 2-3 days so I would not expose anyone to radiation. 

In order to get ready for the radioactive iodine pills, my doctor required that I go off of my thyroid medication for 2 1/2 weeks as well as be on a low iodine diet. I knew I would be tired, but I had no earthly idea how depleted of energy and strength I would be! Having no thyroid and no medication to regulate my body took its toll and it felt like a struggle to get through school and work each day. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and rest all day...every day! 

I had never heard of the low iodine diet, but I had been on several diets before and knew there would be some setbacks, but I figured I would be able to master the diet before it was all said and done.....UNTIL I did some deep research and found out that I could not eat hardly anything! NO seafood, dairy, bread, etc!!! Basically, (in some ways) the diet mastered me!

After my experience, I wanted to help others who find themselves in this predicament and think they have no where to turn...or no options to rely on. I learned a lot while being on this diet and want to share my knowledge with others!

First things first, the diet is a LOW iodine diet..not a NO iodine diet. For a week, I thought that meant low sodium so I checked all of the labels to see how high the sodium was in foods and avoided anything over 20 msgs. I didn't realize the data was talking about iodine..not sodium. The basis of this diet is to eat foods low in iodine in order to deplete the cells in your body of the iodine present. That way...when you take the radioactive iodine pills...it will be easier for the cells to absorb the iodine so the radioactivity in the iodine can kill any remaining thyroid tissue and cancer cells (that's also why your doctor will have you quit taking your thyroid medication.) 

The diet helped me to kick start healthier eating habits because you have to eat fresh veggies and fruit. My stomach began shrinking because I eventually did lose my appetite (a side effect from my body going into hypothyroid from not taking my meds) and did not eat much. I lost 6 pounds within the first week! Anywho, I found some products that are suitable for the diet and will get you through however many weeks you have to be on it. 

Eating OUT:
The diet recommends that people do not eat out because you are unaware of what restaurants use to cook in their food, but sit-downs are the way to go because you have the ability to ask the wait staff if they can have the cook not use any salt, seasonings, or butter on your food (not with everything but fresh items such as steak, grilled chicken, broccoli, baked potato, etc.). Olive Garden actually uses KOSHER salt in their kitchens so most (not all) of their items are suitable for consumption. They have an allergen menu for you to look through to see what you can and cannot have. Anything with dairy or seafood is out of the question so consult the list to see what items fall on those lists. Luckily, you can have their bread sticks and the spaghetti with meat sauce :). 

I, also, went to Cotton Patch, Mimi's Cafe, and Chili's and explained to the waitress that I was on a low iodine diet and could not have any kind of butter, salt, and seasoning and they were really helpful.

My Food at CHILI's

  My Food at COTTON PATCH

We have an HEB where I live and a Sprouts not too far from here so I shopped at those two places for items that were suitable for the diet. If you have a specialty grocery store around you or a health food store (or maybe even a regular grocery store might have some of these items) then you should be able to find these products.

Kashi's products use Kosher or non-iodized salt which you can have! I wasn't too fond of this cereal but it was a good thing to snack on.

Look for products that say NO SALT ADDED!

 You can have 5 oz. of fresh meat (chicken, beef, or pork) a day! I tried to find meat that was grass-fed, air chilled, and minimally processed as much as possible!! Remember NO processed or cured meats like lunch meats, sausages, pepperoni, etc.!!

I was sad because I didn't find Mrs. Dash until the last 2 days of the diet!! I had been using Nu-salt and this salt free seasoning (which tasted terrible!!!!) These are the ones you want to use on everything for taste because most of the stuff will be tasting pretty bland! Also, use extra-virgin olive oil as well. I was already putting it and garlic powder on my popcorn because it gives it such a great taste! 

 On the Matzo crackers, I tried raw almond butter and it tasted okay, but I REALLY liked the strawberry jam from Smuckers on these crackers. The Smuckers has no sodium in it.

These drinks are fantastic! They taste really good!! All of them have NO sodium and you are allowed to have sugar on the diet! Just REMEMBER NO RED DYE #3!!!

 If you are not into textures then you may not like this but it tastes really good on apples!! At first, I didn't like it because I ate it on the Matzo crackers, but afterwards, I loved it when I found out how good it was paired with fresh fruit!!

The Naked juice drinks are made with fruits and vitamins so you are good to drink these!! They are low on sodium and I'm sure the sodium used is kosher or naturally occurring...

You can pour these into your water bottles so you have some kind of flavoring to drink! Water is good, but sometimes it can get old. These have NO sodium and no red dye # 3.

 

I was so excited when I saw that you can have pasta on the diet and especially when I found a company that does not use any salt in processing the noodles! 


These chips are the best tortilla chips ever!! They actually taste like what you would find at a Mexican restaurant and they have NO sodium!!!!

Other products not listed: Haribo Happy Colas, Kettle Unsalted Chips, Popscicles!!!

Final Note: These are just some products that I found but there are other resources out there to help such as www.thyca.org/rai.htm and http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/patient_education/pepubs/lo_io_diet.pdf. Make sure you read the labels to see what ingredients are being used! Believe me, you don't want to have to further your diet because your levels are not high enough to take the pills!! There also blogs out there with people who have had to be on the diet as well that can definitely help!