Low Iodine Diet (LID) - Day One

Today starts Tanya's Low Iodine Diet (LID).  So far, so good.

An Update, Finally...

Sorry for not posting anything in such a long time.  Life, work and laziness got the best of me...

It's now been 10 weeks (10 WEEKS!!!) since the surgery.  Tanya is continuing to heal; the scar is getting better, her calcium levels have stabilized, her voice is back to normal, and she is feeling pretty good overall.  It took longer than expected to get the calcium levels to get back to normal (low-normal, but still normal).  She has been going in weekly to get her calcium and PTH (para-thyroid hormone) levels checked, but hopefully that is now over.

At the suggestion of Dr. Hsieh, Tanya has been going to Physical therapy to work on her neck and right shoulder.  Thanks to those appointments and the exercises she is doing at home she is starting to regain the strength and movement she had pre-surgery.

We have finally gotten to the point of setting the date for the radioactive iodine (I-131 or radioiodine) treatment.  We are currently planning for February 15th.  There is a lot to do before the treatment, including a low-iodine diet and some lab work.  The low-iodine diet starts on Monday, and lasts until 3-4 days after treatment.  That makes it about 2 1/2 weeks on it.  Luckily we found a cookbook from ThyCa (Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association).  It doesn't look terrible, just bland.

We did get good news in that Tanya will be able to get the Thyrogen injections prior to the I-131 treatment.  This means that she doesn't need to go off of her thyroid meds (Levothyroxine), which will make her more comfortable.  We were not sure until this week if she would even be able to get it, as it has been back-ordered for over a year.  We will go in to Dr. Kimmel's (the Endocrinologist) office on the Monday and Tuesday before the I-131 treatment for one injection each day.


I'll post more info shortly.  I promise...  Really! :)

Continuing To Heal

Tanya is continuing to get her strength back and to heal.  The 'steri-strips' that covered the incision have come off so we can see where the doctors worked their magic. It looks really good, better than I could have hoped it would.  I am calling it Tanya's battle scar.  Also Tanya's calcium levels are looking better.  She has to go in for more blood work tomorrow to get it checked again.  Hopefully it will be closer to normal by then.

I can't believe it's been over two weeks since she had the surgery. I also can't believe that my time off of work is coming to an end. I am so grateful to all of my coworkers who filled in for me while I was taking care of the family (you know who you are).

Later this week we have our first post-surgery appointment with the Endocrinologist. Hopefully we will find out when the next step in treatment will happen.

Pathology Report: They Got It

Last Tuesday we had follow-up appointments with Tanya's Surgeons, Dr. Lee and Dr. Hsieh.  Both Surgeons told us that they received the pathology reports from the tissue removed during the procedure.  We were also told us that the results while sounding scary were good.  Nineteen (19) of the twenty-three (23) lymph nodes removed had cancer, which appears to be not that unusual for thyroid cancer.  The report showed that there were clear margins around all the cancerous tissue, so it looks like they got it all.  Tanya will still need radioactive iodine treatment to nuke any of the microscopic cancer remnants that might be left.  We were also told that this was in Stage 1, also really great news.

Parathyroid, Calcium Levels and Blood Tests

We were told that during the surgery it was possible that Dr. Lee might remove one or more parathyroid glands in addition to the thyroid, but that this was common and the parathyroid glands would be reimplanted into the muscle in Tanya's neck.  This did happen.  The parathyroid maintains the calcium levels in the blood, among other things, and we knew that Tanya's calcium level might be a little off for a few days.  When we were discharged on Saturday, the discharge slip contained orders for the blood work for Monday to get the calcium levels checked, and for the results to be sent STAT (within 4 hours) to Tanya's Endocrinologist (Dr. Kimmel) and Dr. Lee.  That should be no issue, right?

When we went to the lab where we have had other work done, they told us that they couldn't take the discharge slip as an order for the STAT blood tests. In addition they couldn't seem to be able to fax the request for the blood work to the Dr. Kimmel's office (tried twice) and couldn't find the Dr. Lee or her office in their system.  The lab did draw Tanya's blood, but wouldn't do any tests on it without the order.  I finally talked to the Dr. Kimmel's office and got them to fax the request to the lab.  This whole process took close to 4 hours.  We found out the next morning that the Dr. Kimmel's office still hadn't received all of the results they needed...

Homecoming

Tanya was released from the hospital after lunch on Saturday. She was kept Friday night due to her calcium levels being low, which is normal in this type of surgery. The test on Saturday showed that the levels were going up, so they said she could come home.

This coming week will include more blood tests and some follow-up appointments with her surgeons and Endocrinologist.

Thank you to everyone who has followed Tanya's journey so far, and have sent their positive thoughts, prayers, and wishes. We have definitely felt them.

Resting Comfortably

Tanya is resting comfortably.  She thanks everyone for all of their good thoughts and wishes.  We don't yet know when she will come home, but should know more tomorrow.