Day One of Radioactive Therapy

I feel like I was just out partying all night last night and never got any sleep. That bites 'cause I never got any of the fun lol.

Yesterday at about 2:20pm I sat in the Radiology department answering doctor's questions and asking a few of my own about the side effects of radioactive iodine. One of which is called a thyroid storm, it kills you. I asked how you know when you're having one. He said you'll literally feel like you're dying. If that happens call the emergency room and get back here as fast as you can (yikes). Then one of the radiology techs brought in a big white lead container with my capsule inside and specific instructions. "Ok here is what you're going to do. You need to lift off the lid and it's heavy so be careful. You're going to take the bottle out of the container, take the lid off, hold it up to your mouth and swallow it. Watch out for the packet in there don't swallow that. When you're done grab your water and help yourself out this door ok?" They literally stood about 8 feet away from me while I took the pill which I'm sorry made me laugh, and then I did as instructed and went home. Trying not to giggle at that experience the whole way home.

Let me just say that radiation, gammas, can be felt a lot quicker than expected. Not quite immediate but soon enough was a weird feeling. As time progressed for an hour or two I actually felt good and was waiting for any of the side effects to kick in. Don't worry. They did. 6-8 hours in I feel cold. Like the flu really cold big time chills. Then about an hour after that I'm hot. Then cold. Then hot. Soooooo annoying! I feel ever worse today though like I mentioned at the beginning. Sore throat, minor ache near my thyroid, and just wiped out. Soo tired.

The worst part about this is, I can't hold my baby girl at all if I can help it and only for short periods of time when I have to. I had to hear her cry for mom when mom and mom couldn't do anything about it. She's used to sharing my food so when I tried to eat some dinner she was angry with me that I wouldn't share. I feel terrible about the way she must think of me right now. The good news is children this age forget quickly lol so I have that on my side. From what I understand this will get worse then get better. I've been drinking massive amounts of water to flush this out so I can be around my family. Some precautions I won't have to worry about in 4 days so that's good.

I'll keep you posted.