Good news: WBS is negative; Thyrogen-stimulated Tg is 4.0.
It seems there is less thyroid tissue in my body, and my Tg seems headed in the right direction (down). Even applying Dr. Ain's one-third rule ("Thyrogen-stimulated Tgs are about one-third the level of hypo ones"), I still come up with 12 (4.0 x 3 = 12.0), and no matter how you slice it (and believe me, I've sliced it every which way!) 12 is less than 16.7. So I feel good about it. It seems headed in the right direction.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Testing Week, Day 4, Hoag Slumber Party
I should just take my sleeping bag and PJs to Hoag Hospital. I've been there every day this week, and I have to admit that it's not a bad place to spend a little time. I had my second Thyrogen injection Tuesday (Day 2), my scan dose of radioactive iodine Wednesday (Day 3) and my whole-body scan (WBS) today (Day 4), and I'm having my blood work done tomorrow...looking for thyroglobulin (Tg), which indicates the presence of thyroid tissue/thyroid cancer (the blood work can't tell which). I hope for a very low Tg (would it be unreasonable to hope for an undetectable Tg?) and a clear WBS.
I've had some nice (read: warm and fuzzy) moments at Hoag this week and some funny ones, too. One fabric softener commercial moment happened while visiting the infusion center on Monday with my 9-year-old son, Jack. I'd never been to the infusion center before, and apparently it's where patients go to get chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and other major stuff I'm clueless about. When I went in to get my injection (Easy Street compared to absolutely everything else they do to patients there), Jack waited for me in the main waiting room. When I came out after the shot, Jack told me one of the ladies who worked there had given him a wrapped gift. Apparently, at Hoag they have an entire committee or group (the Toy Auxiliary) of people who go around and give kids who are there with their parents or caregivers gifts "for being so patient," Jack said. Is that the nicest thing ever? Also, both days I was at the infusion center, they had a group of older volunteers who made the rounds with a cart of coffee, muffins, etc., for patients--all free. I know Hoag is a big operation, and I guess this could result in cold, sterile care, but they have really thought of everything as far as making sure cancer patients are comfortable and well taken care of. It was touching to see the staff and volunteers compassionately interacting with patients.
A funny couple of moments occurred when I think I might have accidentally acted like a cougar to a male Nuclear Medicine tech when I got my 4 mCi dose of radioactive iodine Wednesday. This is a different location than Hoag's infusion center, which really isn't relevant or important, but I thought I'd throw that out there. First of all, let me just say that when I've been to this facility in the past, a female usually comes out to the waiting room to get me. Well, this time a dude came out, and I think I was initially so thrown off by the gender switch that I never fully recovered, and I wound up acting quite weird and spastic throughout my time with him. As he was leading me down the hallway to the weird locked door behind which was my dose of radioactive material), he asked me a few questions (which I dutifully answered), and I observed that he had a nice, deep voice. Nothing wrong with that, right? But what I said was (with an increasingly frenzied demeanor as the words tumbled out faster and faster and I became increasingly horrified with the impression I was making): "You should be on radio. [and then, worried he'd be offended because people jokingly tell "ugly" people they have a face for radio...I continued, faster...] I mean, not that you're not an attractive person, you are, but you should be a deejay or something because your voice is good. What I mean to say is you have a good voice. You have a good voice for radio... [And then nervously...] Heh heh."
Whatever.
Our interaction got a little more normal inside the dosing room where he gave me the 2 pills (I like my scan dose of radioactive iodine in two 2-mCi pills, thank you very much), and he asked me a few more questions about my thyroid cancer, and I presumably answered more normally, but I did spill a little bit of the bottle of water he gave me when I was pouring it into my mouth after the first pill went in.
My two sisters say I acted like a cougar to our waiter at Red Robin a few weeks ago, and I can see their point. I get hyper, and this comes off very, very friendly, and this may sometimes seem a little desperate...although I think I'm just earnest, not desperate, but whatever my true intent, I come off pretty weird and spazzy sometimes.
Oh well.
Life goes on.
I'll post my test results next week. I should have them Tuesday after my endocrinologist appointment.
I've had some nice (read: warm and fuzzy) moments at Hoag this week and some funny ones, too. One fabric softener commercial moment happened while visiting the infusion center on Monday with my 9-year-old son, Jack. I'd never been to the infusion center before, and apparently it's where patients go to get chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and other major stuff I'm clueless about. When I went in to get my injection (Easy Street compared to absolutely everything else they do to patients there), Jack waited for me in the main waiting room. When I came out after the shot, Jack told me one of the ladies who worked there had given him a wrapped gift. Apparently, at Hoag they have an entire committee or group (the Toy Auxiliary) of people who go around and give kids who are there with their parents or caregivers gifts "for being so patient," Jack said. Is that the nicest thing ever? Also, both days I was at the infusion center, they had a group of older volunteers who made the rounds with a cart of coffee, muffins, etc., for patients--all free. I know Hoag is a big operation, and I guess this could result in cold, sterile care, but they have really thought of everything as far as making sure cancer patients are comfortable and well taken care of. It was touching to see the staff and volunteers compassionately interacting with patients.
A funny couple of moments occurred when I think I might have accidentally acted like a cougar to a male Nuclear Medicine tech when I got my 4 mCi dose of radioactive iodine Wednesday. This is a different location than Hoag's infusion center, which really isn't relevant or important, but I thought I'd throw that out there. First of all, let me just say that when I've been to this facility in the past, a female usually comes out to the waiting room to get me. Well, this time a dude came out, and I think I was initially so thrown off by the gender switch that I never fully recovered, and I wound up acting quite weird and spastic throughout my time with him. As he was leading me down the hallway to the weird locked door behind which was my dose of radioactive material), he asked me a few questions (which I dutifully answered), and I observed that he had a nice, deep voice. Nothing wrong with that, right? But what I said was (with an increasingly frenzied demeanor as the words tumbled out faster and faster and I became increasingly horrified with the impression I was making): "You should be on radio. [and then, worried he'd be offended because people jokingly tell "ugly" people they have a face for radio...I continued, faster...] I mean, not that you're not an attractive person, you are, but you should be a deejay or something because your voice is good. What I mean to say is you have a good voice. You have a good voice for radio... [And then nervously...] Heh heh."
Whatever.
Our interaction got a little more normal inside the dosing room where he gave me the 2 pills (I like my scan dose of radioactive iodine in two 2-mCi pills, thank you very much), and he asked me a few more questions about my thyroid cancer, and I presumably answered more normally, but I did spill a little bit of the bottle of water he gave me when I was pouring it into my mouth after the first pill went in.
My two sisters say I acted like a cougar to our waiter at Red Robin a few weeks ago, and I can see their point. I get hyper, and this comes off very, very friendly, and this may sometimes seem a little desperate...although I think I'm just earnest, not desperate, but whatever my true intent, I come off pretty weird and spazzy sometimes.
Oh well.
Life goes on.
I'll post my test results next week. I should have them Tuesday after my endocrinologist appointment.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thyrogen: So Far, So Good
Got my first Thyrogen injection this morning, and so far, so good. No reactions or side effects as of now. Will write more when there's more to write. :--)
Monday, October 25, 2010
It's Testing Time Again
Follow-up, monitoring, checking for thyroid tissue...
Next week is testing week...meaning I get 2 shots of Thyrogen (one Monday, one Tuesday), a small dose of radioactive iodine on Wednesday, a whole-body scan Thursday and a Thyroglobulin (Tg) blood test Friday to see if anything has changed since my testing last December. My Tg was then 16.7 (hypo, not using Thyrogen), and my scan showed nothing.
Although it's awesome that I don't have to go off Synthroid for my testing this year (instead, I'll get the Thyrgoen injections, which will elevate my TSH for more sensitive testing), this also means my doctor can't compare apples to apples (a Thyrogen-stimulated Tg is always lower than a hypothyroid measurement). Thyrogen-stimulated Tg measurements are typically one-third the level of a hypo-stimulated Tg, so we'll have to keep that in mind when comparing numbers.
Does anyone else besides thyroid cancer patients care about comparing Tgs? ("Dude, what's YOUR Tg? Mine's undetectible.")
I wish for mine to be undetectible, because this would mean I have NO thyroid tissue anywhere in my body, and I would finally earn my NED (no evidence of disease) badge.
Yes, please!
In other news, my salivary glands are super pissed this week and last. It's likely I have permanent damage from my 2 radioactive iodine treatments. My mouth is dry, and I've had a lot of jaw pain near my parotid glands, which has resulted in some doozy headaches.
Good news: I ran the inaugural "Rock N Roll Los Angeles" half-marathon yesterday with my sister and 3 dear friends--Diane, Lisa and Valerie.
Bad news: a woman died at the Biltmore Hotel (where we stayed) on Saturday morning, a few hours before we checked in. It's not known yet whether it was a homicide, a suicide or an accident, although her husband has been questioned. "America's Got Talent" auditions were being held at the hotel, too (in addition to it being the host hotel for the half-marathon), and this made the scene at the hotel completely, absolutely, depressingly surreal. (Picture young girls in sequined costumes with guitars and cowboy hats, an obese transvestite whose "talent" was unclear but whose makeup and dress were scary as all hell, a gaggle of orange-turbaned dancers...all these people milling about the hotel lobby, singing and rehearsing and in costume...while policemen were swarming everywhere...investigating a death.) Our floor, the 11th, is said to be the floor from which the woman fell down the staircase (she's rumored to have fallen all the way to the 3rd floor), so we had an extra share of cops 20 feet from our room, at the top of the stairwell.
Is this what blogging is for? I highly doubt it, but I had a really weird weekend, and I'm getting ready to find out where I stand with thyroid cancer, and I really wanted to get all this off my chest!
I'll write next week as I get my testing stuff done...
Next week is testing week...meaning I get 2 shots of Thyrogen (one Monday, one Tuesday), a small dose of radioactive iodine on Wednesday, a whole-body scan Thursday and a Thyroglobulin (Tg) blood test Friday to see if anything has changed since my testing last December. My Tg was then 16.7 (hypo, not using Thyrogen), and my scan showed nothing.
Although it's awesome that I don't have to go off Synthroid for my testing this year (instead, I'll get the Thyrgoen injections, which will elevate my TSH for more sensitive testing), this also means my doctor can't compare apples to apples (a Thyrogen-stimulated Tg is always lower than a hypothyroid measurement). Thyrogen-stimulated Tg measurements are typically one-third the level of a hypo-stimulated Tg, so we'll have to keep that in mind when comparing numbers.
Does anyone else besides thyroid cancer patients care about comparing Tgs? ("Dude, what's YOUR Tg? Mine's undetectible.")
I wish for mine to be undetectible, because this would mean I have NO thyroid tissue anywhere in my body, and I would finally earn my NED (no evidence of disease) badge.
Yes, please!
In other news, my salivary glands are super pissed this week and last. It's likely I have permanent damage from my 2 radioactive iodine treatments. My mouth is dry, and I've had a lot of jaw pain near my parotid glands, which has resulted in some doozy headaches.
Good news: I ran the inaugural "Rock N Roll Los Angeles" half-marathon yesterday with my sister and 3 dear friends--Diane, Lisa and Valerie.
Bad news: a woman died at the Biltmore Hotel (where we stayed) on Saturday morning, a few hours before we checked in. It's not known yet whether it was a homicide, a suicide or an accident, although her husband has been questioned. "America's Got Talent" auditions were being held at the hotel, too (in addition to it being the host hotel for the half-marathon), and this made the scene at the hotel completely, absolutely, depressingly surreal. (Picture young girls in sequined costumes with guitars and cowboy hats, an obese transvestite whose "talent" was unclear but whose makeup and dress were scary as all hell, a gaggle of orange-turbaned dancers...all these people milling about the hotel lobby, singing and rehearsing and in costume...while policemen were swarming everywhere...investigating a death.) Our floor, the 11th, is said to be the floor from which the woman fell down the staircase (she's rumored to have fallen all the way to the 3rd floor), so we had an extra share of cops 20 feet from our room, at the top of the stairwell.
Is this what blogging is for? I highly doubt it, but I had a really weird weekend, and I'm getting ready to find out where I stand with thyroid cancer, and I really wanted to get all this off my chest!
I'll write next week as I get my testing stuff done...
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