Ingesting the RAI - 6/19

June 19th – Went to the hospital and spoke with Dr. Tiu and the staff before taking the RAI pill. They once again spoke with me about what I was taking, why I was taking it, some of the side effects, etc. This was the first time I ever spoke with Dr. Tiu in this entire process. He told me that the primary purpose of the total body scan was to check out if the cancer spread to any other parts of my body, besides my neck, that wasn’t picked up on the diagnostic scan. The reason being that there is so little radiation given on the diagnostic scan, that it is all absorbed by the thyroid tissue in the neck. After some prodding, I had him show me my diagnostic scan and give me a copy of the results. He showed me that there were two spots in my neck, which was expected since I had some remaining thyroid tissue there and some activity in my bladder and intestines, but that was normal and probably nothing to be alarmed about. Therefore, there didn’t seem to be any metastases but that would be confirmed by the post treatment total body scan. After our discussion and signing some forms (as well as speaking again with the radiation guy) I took the radioactive iodine - a dosage that was scheduled for 150 millicuries but I ended up taking 148 instead. I was told to go right home after swallowing the pills. By about 11 AM, I was in a cab being whisked away to my apartment. I started to drink and suck on some sour candies as recommended. I stayed isolated in my apartment for the next couple days and did not go to work this week.