Wednesday - Scan Part 2

So let's try this scan thing one more time. We head over to Round Rock and the waiting room is PACKED! After about 30 minutes Stephanie (the tech chick) comes out and says that the part is in, but that the service guy who had promised to be there and have it fixed by them had gotten hung up at one of the other locations with a CT machine that refused to come back online.

So we have to reschedule again. Tomorrow. Will the third time be the charm?

Monday - Scan Day - Day of Truth!

Monday, April 26, 2010, the day of truth!

Today will be the tell. Had the cancer spread? Did we get it all? Will I have to go through this again in a few months to a year? Are we done with I-131 (other than small doses for future scans)? We'll know in a few hours.

We head over to Round Rock and get checked in and after a little while Stephanie my nuc-med goddess comes and gets us. She's running a bit behind but takes us back to the waiting area in nuclear medicine. That way it gets me out of the crowded waiting room full of kids and germie people. After a while she brings me a glass of water to drink. At least I'm pretty sure it was just water. It looked like water and tasted like water so I'm pretty sure it was just water but she said here drink this so I drank. I should probably learn to ask more questions. LOL! But I was thirsty so I drank it!

She then took me in and I got in the scanner. It's different from a CT or MRI in a way. Kind of like an x-ray but you lay down the whole time and it moves down you. So there are two scans, one is a static image of just the neck area and the other is the whole body. She did the first one of the neck. It takes about 10 minutes to do. Then she moved the panel and set up for the whole body. Shortly into it the machine started beeping. I heard some click click clicking. Then a sigh. She said that the whole reason she was running behind was because the machine had been giving her troubles all day. The errors weren't clearing and she needed to call the tech guys, they can usually fix it over the phone...cool. I opted to stay in the machine. Hey I was already there, it could only take a few minutes and I was comfortable all snuggled in to the arm wraps.

After a few calls and about 45 or so minutes later it is determined that a sensor in the panel mat has gone out. They'll over night one and get the service guy out to replace it so we'll have to reschedule. We picked on Wednesday to make sure there part gets in and there are no other bugs with the machine.

Oh well, at least we tried.

I want CANDY!

The chemo/radiation therapy treatment for thyroid cancer is different than for other types of cancers. With this you actually take capsules containing radioactive iodine (I-131). Depending on the stage of your cancer and how far it may have spread determines the amount of iodine you will get. One of the big concerns is trying to save or protect the salivary glands from radiation. So just like with bladder, you want to keep them moving fluid through them and the best way to do this is with sour candy.

The "gold standard" is Lemonheads. I love Lemonheads. My dad has been through three rounds of I-131 and can no longer stand Lemonhead. And with all the sour candies out on the market these days why should I have to be limited to just one candy. Do the people who make the I-131 have stock in Ferrara Pan (that's the makers of Lemonheads)?

We don't have kids so I'm not all up on what those wacky kids are up to these days so I did a little Internet searching. I kind of made a list of the items I wanted in my stock pile then set out to try and find them locally. I gathered most of it from one of the local grocery stores (HEB for you local yokels) at kid level on the candy isle and the one checkout lane that has all the wacky kid candies and the others I got one of the local party supply stores (Party City).

Here's my stash. From left to right...

Quick Blast - in Berry and Cherry Blast. The berry is kind of like a blackberry flavor, very pleasant natural taste, not over powering but tart like eating blackberries off the vine. The cherry is more along the lines of a cherry sweet tart.

Then there are the AirHeads Xtremes Sour Belts, the Sour Power Belts and the Chargin' Cherry Sip-n-CHEW straw. These things are covered in citric acid and defiantly get the salivary glands squirting. The nice thing about these is you can bite off a small piece at a time. They are like sour covered fruit leather strips.

That brings me to the Toxic Waste. These I was scared of. It says right on the container it's "HAZARDOUSLY SOUR CANDY" it even has a chart on the back to time how long you can keep it in your mouth and where you rate. I will say this, it does get the salivary glands working but honestly, have nothing on Warheads. They are intense for a bit and then has another little power punch of citric acid in the center but for the most part not as "hazardous" as I expected. I rated a Total Toxic Head. Still, they made for a nice addition to the stash. Each "drum" comes with 15 candies in apple, black cherry, lemon, blue raspberry, and watermelon.

Next up WARHEADS!

Warhead products made up a good bit of my candy arsenal.

I had the Extreme Sour hard candies in the regular and mini size, the Double Drops, the jelly beans and the Super Sour sprays.

The hard candies and jelly beans come in black cherry, apple, lemon, watermelon, and blue raspberry. Where the sprays and drops come in black cherry, blue raspberry, watermelon and apple. The double drops come with two flavors side by side and you can opt to squeeze one or both of the tubes for a single or double shot of flavor.

I'm going to say this now, the minis and these drops and sprays have by far been my favorites. You can get just a little bit of the sour punch enough to make your salivary glands work a little over time but you don't get the over load of sugar and depending on what your instructions have been as far as "taking" the sour candies your taste buds really begin to take a hit from the citric acid. After a point your tongue is so raw. The drops, sprays and minis give you small punches and allows your the ability to take maybe not fry your taste buds. The "belts" are good too cause you can easily stick it between your cheek and gums and suck the citric acid off.

Many people complain that everything tastes like cardboard after they have completed their I-131 treatment. So I wonder, is this actually from the treatment or from frying the taste buds with citric acid?

The jelly beans were okay, but not at all sour. They were sorta tart but I found them even less tart than your standard SweetTarts.

Next up, the Twister Mixers (seen above). These little "inhaler" like containers hold four different mixers powder crystals in sour apple, sour blue raspberry, sour strawberry, and sour grape. These I found to be more along the lines of crushed up SweetTarts and more sweet tarty than sour. They gave a little tingle to the tongue but for the most part were just kind of sugary sweet.

The next items are I think one of my favorites also, but for different reasons than the others. They became my night time buddies. This honor fell to my Too Tarts Sour, Smart Choice Sugar Free Sprays I had blu bewwy and straw bewwy. These are low calorie, just under 11 calories for the .6 fl oz spray bottle and are sweetened with real fruit juice. This is what I kept next to the bed for use during the night. I like the blu bewwy but the straw bewwy was my favorite to hit in the wee morning hours. It has a very natural tart stawberry flavor that would get the salivary glands going but was not a jarring knock you out of bed kind of punch to it.

And since they are so low calorie they are great for helping to keep the sugar overload to a minimum. It also comes in green apple and I've found a site that says they have it in watermelon too.

And my last item, was purchased strictly for it's oddness. LOL!

That would be my Sour Flush. My little pink toilet, flanked by two little plungers. Yes, plungers. I went for the watermelon

but it also comes in raspberry and green apple. Under the lid in the toilet bowl you will find the powdered sour candy. You lick the plunger and roll it around in the toilet bowl, then pull it out and lick or suck the powder that plunger sucker has picked up. Then do it all again! Gross sounding I know, but the watermelon sucker was really good.

That's my stash! And yes, I will admit I got way more than I needed but better to have more than not enough. Not that Jeff wouldn't have gone and gotten me anything I needed or wanted but might as well have it and then any left overs can be used to have torturing fun with the nieces and nephews. Or Red River drunks! LOL!!!

Sunday - Radioactive Girl Day 5-6

We had a little bit of a thunderstorm last night. I've never been this close to the roof before during a storm. Sitting on the end of the bed my head is but four to six inches from being outside. I was cool until my head started tingling heavily. Yeah, I broke the isolation rule, I went downstairs and sat in the big chair across the room from Jeff. There was a good distance between us the only issue was the dogs at my feet but I kept my feet in the chair with me to help maximize the space. Once the major part of the storm passed I went back to my room. I'm sure I was just being a big baby but I've had a lightening experience before, I really don't want to have another.

So this morning Jeff needed to go meet a gentleman in Austin for some stuff. When he left the dogs were still sleeping so I got to play mom for the morning. Made the pups very happy. When they got up I put them out and then made camp in the big green chair as I had done briefly the night before. OMG...TV!!!! What a wonderful invention!!!!!!!!!

After a few hours of Mythbusters, the History channel, and the Travel channel my brain had been over stimulated and I was rendered unconscious for about four to five hours. I was out HARD! It really would have been nice to know just how many Mac trucks hit me but Jeff lost count after the first couple of dozen. LOL!

Once I recovered from my long nap (and it did take some recovery time) Jeff went and picked up some dinner from Jardin Corona. A little more TV, some actual in real life chatting time with Jeff (even if it was from across the room) and then back off to bed. Tomorrow is the big scan. Cross fingers, if this goes well it could mean no more treatments and only scans every six months or yearly. There should be a large butterfly shaped uptake of the iodine in the throat area where the thyroid used to be and ideally no where else. Tomorrow will tell!

Thursday - Radioactive Day 1.2

So it's been a full 24 plus hours since I took my iodine (I-131) pills. Today I get to start my Synthroid. Yea!

My new best friend or you could say my new thyroid in a sense. Synthroid 150mcg. Every day for the rest of my life this will be the first thing that enters my body.

Oh and don't think that "little blue pill" jokes weren't buzzing about. Cause they were.

So another great thing to this radioactiveness is I have to carry a card with me until sometime in July stating that I've had this radioactive treatment because basically until the date the card expires I'm still considered active. I will set off sensors in airports and other "secured" areas (like government building...good thing I'm a State employee :) ) I have even read of multiple cases where people have set of fire sensors in restrooms. They advised not to panic and just flush a few times (which you are suppose to do any way) and the sensor should stop. THAT could be interesting! {note to self: locate fire sensor and select stall farthest from it!}

Radioactive Girl!

Thankfully since I had an ultrasound done a few weeks ago I don't have to do all the normal paperwork all over again.

We get called back and start going over everything. So for the next seven days I have to:

• stay at home, isolated from the general public
• maintain a distance of at least six feet from others in the house (impossible with my old dogs so it's total isolation for their welfare)
• sleep alone
• no travel with others by automobile for longer than 2 hours and must sit as far away as possible
• drink plenty of fluid. This helps move the radioactive iodine through the body.
• no strenuous activity that may result in excessive perspiration
• shower one to three times a day
• prepare food only for myself
• no kissing
• no sex
• limit visitors, for short periods of time (15 minutes) and maintain distance of at least six feet
• avoid contact with kids and women of childbearing age
• to help avoid damage to the salivary glands take sour candies (I have a butt ton of these!)

After all was reviewed and all questions answered the time has come. Stephanie instructs me on how she is going to give me my capsules and what I am to do with the vial and taking the capsules. She then, using tongs, hands me my clear vial with two long, blue capsules in it. I wasn't sure I was going to get the cap off the vial. I finally get the cap off, I forgot to take a sip of water first (like any sane person knows they should do before taking a capsule) so the capsules stuck to my tongue...blah! Done! They are down!

After paperwork is sorted we are escorted from the building and we head home. Once home, I head up to my room where I will be for the next seven days.

In the whole grand scheme of things cancer wise, as hard as total isolation may be it's not like daily visits for radiation or spending 4-8 hours a day at a cancer center having chemo infusions.

So, here I am. Alone in my room. My only contact is the occasional delivery of food and/or beverage and video chats with Jeff. This will be life for the next seven days.

Countdown to Radiation Girl

April 20, 2010...Well today is it.

A few things left to do on the room this morning and then we'll head over to Round Rock for my pill. I hope it's not a honkin' horse pill!

Dressed the bed, moved my clothes and stuff in, set up my candy station. I think I'm about as ready as I can be.

Here's what will be my view for the next seven to 14 days.

I hope with two quilts I'll be warm enough. Probably won't though.

The East window will get lots of nice light in the mornings.

Isn't my beautiful golden harvest wing-back chair just lovely?

And here is the unfinished window box. Unfortunately, the snoozing Licorice Whips will not be allowed to stay with me. I'm sure that will be met with much protest from her and her brother Flipper.

I can't decide how I want to finish it. I have fabric for the top. I've had it for YEARS. But the front, no clue. It has a really nice grain pattern. I can't decide if I want to just stain it, do maybe a white wash, paint it just white or what? I had thought of stencils but are stencils so like over and done? No clue. Eh, I don't have to decide now. That's for another day.

This is the night stand I was able to pick up. $15 not bad I think. And other than one spot that has a little water ring type damage it's in really good shape. It's just like my mom's and Jeff said his folks had them too. LOL too funny!

And in case you are wondering the bottle has Murphy's Oil Soap in it for the cleaning the antique furniture.

Time to start getting ready to head over to Round Rock. I probably should grab a little something to eat. Haven't eaten all day and taking that iodine on a empty stomach is probably not a great idea. More later!