RAI Radioactive Isotopes and Thyrogen

Treatment
Hey Tim -
Glad to hear back and glad to hear how well the kick-off has been!
For me, the first year out was really easy too.
And all in all, this has been an easy journey to manage compared to many, papillary thyroid cancer is one of the least aggressive Cs, as you know.

You might what to consider a tad more research on the Thyrogen and RAI procedures..... I work at the National Cancer Inst. now and, for example, there is a real discrepancy between east coast and west coast endocrinologists about the need and prescription of RAI.

As a tip for the RAI, I took a jump rope in with me, asked for a mat from the hospital to be put in the room, brought a hand turn chin up bar (all of which I left behind) and trained twice a day while there. Sweating moves the R 131 through your system more quickly and gets you out faster.
Another tip for the Thyrogen might be to keep eating a lot. I dropped almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks on in, and that sudden weight loss might have been the reason for the Tinnitus onset (sudden weight loss and hypothyroidism - I found out afterwards - are cause for Tinnitus).

Re: Diet and Athletics - We have a GREAT group build in MB4L called Eat Train Live Long - join them and subscribe to their blogs. I am totally using their diet and approach and it is working VERY well for me! Jocelyn, the creator, is also a traithlete and a survivor advocate:
http://www.mybridge4life.com/user/363

I am going to post this as a new blog on my page too.

In Health,
roger


On Thu, Jun 24, 2010

Hi Roger,
Thanks for the introduction. I first saw you in a video on the Livestrong website. I was interested in your story because we have the same C and are close to the same age. I was also interested because you seem to be very fit/active/athletic and I haven't found many males telling their stories about thyroid cancer. It looks like you have had some challenges.

I have no doubt that I will survive this cancer; my biggest concern was how it would affect my quality of life. I consider myself in excellence condition (mostly from cycling) and although I don't compete, I probably could be competitive in an over 50 cat. I would really like to know how you are doing regarding your working out, training, and fitness programs. And, any tips you have regarding that, I would appreciate.

I must be one of the lucky ones (so far). I have not felt sick one day throughout this whole process, so far. The finding of my cancer was incidental. I had surgery April 28, 2010. No pain and a rapid recovery. To this point my hormone replacement seems to be working for me; no changes in weight or energy levels. I am scheduled to have RAI treatment next month after Thyrogen injections. I read your problems with Thyrogen and hope I have better luck, but I was not looking forward to going hypo.

Again, thanks for the contact. I will have to send you a birthday card.

Regards,
Tim