Emory

Spent another looong day at Emory. I fasted this morning b/c I wasn't sure if I was supposed to eat before the radioactive iodine dose. I've had two injections that basically make me hypothyroid.

I went to get my blood work and had to wait an hour. After that, I ran over to nuclear medicine and filled out paperwork. They were waiting on the results of my blood work including a pregnancy test. They are not allowed to administer my treatment until they get the results of that. So after waiting about an hour wondering why it was taking so long, I was told that the labs systems were down. I decided to go over to the other building to find out myself. After talking to several people we discovered someone had dropped the ball and not sent it over. I walked back across the building to the hospital, passing snack machines and looking away b/c I knew I couldn't eat yet. I returned to nuclear medicine and waited for another hour until the Dr. called me back.

While in the waiting room, I met a lady who was having her second treatment. She has had cancer for a year and a half and they found more after her yearly whole body scan. It was sobering talking to her and realize that I am just days away from hearing results.

The whole time I was on pins and needles thinking something was wrong with the results from the pregnancy test. When I found out the results were negative, a man walked in carrying a metal canister, and everyone backed out of the room. I knew this was my cue to swallow the pill quickly and leave! This time the dose was I 131, its purpose is to attack any cancer cells. My body has been deprived of iodine and the pill supplies dose of radioactive iodine. If there is cancer, the cells will absorb it and the scan will show areas where the uptake is.

I asked them to measure how radioactive I was. They came in with a red and yellow "gun" pointed it at me and told me that it was a 1.5. That is how much radiation I was putting out. They consider a 7 to be "dangerous." It is a really strange feeling to know that I have radiation inside me...crazy.

They told me not to eat for another two hours,which made me so sad. At that point I felt a migraine coming on so I found a spot to stop for a few hours just to rest and relax and take in all that had happened today.

Whew....ready to start a new day tomorrow!
No Drs. appointments until Friday!