Insurance covered it!

There were so many bills from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and on and on after all of the medical visits and procedures.  I am so grateful to have health insurance.  The two shots of Thyrogen alone was over $2,000!!!  Just check out this bill…Thyrogen receipt.  Even my doctor was surprised that it was covered by my insurance at 100%. 

Then there was the bill for the Thyroidectomy from the hospital, which was over $6,000!!!  Here it is…Thyroidectomy bill.  After going back and forth, it was all covered by insurance except for $275.  I was more than happy to pay that portion.

There were other bills of course, but those were the big ones through my thyroid cancer journey.  If I didn’t have insurance, I would owe over $8,000.  It just makes me think about all of the people who don’t have health insurance or who have plans with really high deductibles.  I can see how easy it would be to get into major debt due to medical bills.  I’m very blessed that mine was covered.  My heart goes out to all of the people going through there own journies with cancer or other illnesses who can’t pay the medical bills.

 

Good News!

The iodine radiation treatment worked.  Oh yeah!  I got the follow up results from my bloodwork and thyroid ultrasound today.  It looks good and the blood levels were close to perfect.  Some extra unexpected good news was I lost about 8 pounds since March. I could tell by how my clothes fit, but the confirmation was nice to hear.

So if you’re about to go on the LID (Low Iodine Diet) to prepare for the iodine radiation, I’m cancer-free proof that it works.  Stay positive, replace fear with faith and keep walking through that storm.  There is lots of light on the other side.  I know because I’m taking it all in today!

 

Just about Tasteless

After 18 days on the low-iodine diet, my taste buds were sure looking forward to the freedom of tasting normal food again.  I had been fantasizing about sushi for days and that was my first post-LID meal. 

Little did I know that my taste buds were affected by the radioactive iodine.  Loss of taste? Are you kidding me?  The sushi was good, but not great.  The low iodine diet was already bland enough, but at least I could taste the food then.  What is going on now?

As the days went on, I noticed my sense of taste became worse!  I had the yummy taste of metail in my mouth.  Mmmmm. Mmmmm.  As a bonus, it felt like had burned my tongue.  But the loss of taste was mostly on the front part of my tongue and the soreness was on the back of my tongue.  I had read that this was a possible side effect from the RAI.

So now I’m off the LID.  I can have my cake now and eat it to.  I just can’t really taste it!

 

Iodine Radiation Time!

So the day has finally arrived for the iodine radiation pill.  I’m glowing with anticipation.  After 18 days of the LID (Low-Iodine Diet), my remaining thyroid tissue/cells are starving for some iodine.  It has been hard to stick to the LID, but I did it!

Before Dr. Ladenson came in, we met with his Assistant, Marge and discussed my questions.  So I cannot be within 3 feet of anyone for 3 days.  (Frown)  I can have visitors over, but they just have to stay at least 3 feet away.  Well that is good to know!  Marge went on to let me know that I might set off some radiactive detector alarms. What? No way!  She gave me a letter that I need to carry with me for the next month just in case an alarm goes off.  These alarms are in airports, government buildings and other buildings.  Check out the JH Radiation Letter for the interesting details.

 And now for the big moment.  I was in the room with my Mom and in walks Dr. Ladenson and his 5 interns.  He explained that once I took the pill with the iodine radiation, it would make me radioactive for a few days.  The radiation will kill any remaining thyroid cancer cells and reduce the remaining layer of thyroid tissue.  It will go through my digestive system and come out in my urine, saliva and persperation.  (That is why I’m supposed to flush twice and put the toilet seat down, which made me think that some men might have a tough time remembering to put the seat down.)The actual thyroid area will be radioactive for a few months, but it will not be harmful. (Um, okay?)  Some of the radiactive iodine will go into my saliva glands which may cause soreness over the next few days, so sucking on hard candies is recommended to keep the saliva flowing. (Very interesting – huh.)

The room got very quiet.  Dr. Ladenson looked at me and asked, “Are you ready?”  I said “Yes I am.”  A few silent seconds went by as the intern was getting the pill out of the container.  Yes, a container that was within a container.  This is radioactive stuff and so that one little capsule of radioactive iodine was housed in layers of containers.  See the pic below…

I then said, “It is so quiet in here.  We need some music for this.” Within a half a second my Mom’s (bless her soul) cell phone started ringing in the form of a song.  Perfect timing Mom!  So she jumped up and left the roon to answer the call. 

The intern brought over the capsule with a cup of water and gave it to me.  Everyone watched as I took the capsule.  Down it goes!  Then my Mom came back in.  She missed the big moment.  And just like that I became radioactive.  Let the 3 feet for 3 days begin.

 

Low Iodine Diet aka LID – What can I eat?

In order to prepare my body for the radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment and scan, I had to go on a low-iodine diet (LID). I must admit that I was not too thrilled to find out that I was going to have to greatly limit my diet for over 2 weeks by going on a low-iodine diet (LID).  But in reality that is such a short amount of time when I compare it to the remaining wonderful years of my life.  Plus I’m doing it so that those cancer cells will be zapped away once and for all! 

So I got fired up, made an adjustment to my attitude and started searching online. I had to be on the LID for 18 days.  That is 54 meals and lots of snacks…Yikes!  One low iodine diet food item at a time.  To my surprise, it was not too easy to find things to eat at first.  Sure ThyCa lists recipes on their site, but I didn’t want to have to spend hours in the kitchen preparing dozens of meals. 

In an effort to save YOU time and worry, I have put together some lists.

Food products with no or low-iodine that I used:

• Condiments: Kosher salt, Pepper, Mrs. Dash, Heinz No Salt Ketchup, Thyca red wine vinaigrette
• Trader Joes No Salt Wheat Bread
• Trader Joes No Salt Corn Tortilla Chips (surprisingly good)
• Yehuda Matzos (Jewish unleavened flat bread)
• Trader Joes Steal Cut Oatmeal – I added blueberries and sweetner for taste
• Trader Joes No Salt Peanut Butter

Fruits and Veggies:  There are so many fruits and vegetables to pick from in April/May, so that made things a bit easier for me:).   However, with so many to select from, it got a bit overwhelming.  Below are some ideas for snacks or sides that I used.  Hopefully some will work for you!

• Mashed Butternut Squash – Cut a butternut squash into cubes. Boil a pot of water with a bit of Kosher salt.  Put the squash into boiling water and cook for about 15 minutes.  Drain and put the squash into a bowl.  Add honey, cinnamon and sugar (or sweetner) and mash away!  It is so good and goes great as a side dish for lunch or dinner.
• Celery and Trader Joe’s no salt peanut butter (Good snack)
• Snow Pea Pods (Enjoyable, crunchy afternoon snack)
• Baked apples with cinnamon
• Frozen Grapes (A sweet, cold treat)
• Fruit salad – grapes, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries & any other fruit you desire
• Homemade Guacamole (Avocado, finely chopped onion, chopped tomato, lime, kosher salt, cilantro) with non salt tortilla chips

Additional Food products with no or low-iodine that I read about, but did not get a chance to use:

• Nature’s Path called Manna Bread in a range of flavors
• Manischewitz unsalted potato chips
• Newman’s Own Unsalted Organic Microwave Popcorn
• Terra Unsalted Hickory BBQ Potato Chips
• Mr. Spice Honey BBQ Sauce
• Mr. Spice Thai Peanut Sauce
• GottaLuvIT Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Gotta Luv It Sweet & Tangy Italian Dressing
• Health Valley No Salt Added Split Pea Soup
• Trader Joe’s Low Salt Items – Low salt is NOT low iodine, however I found this to be very helpful.  As it turns out, many of the products on their list were low iodine.  Just read the ingredients carefully and you’ll see what I mean.

I suggest putting together a schedule of LID meals for the week.  I did NOT do this the first week and felt totally overwhelmed.  Planning in advance made things much easier.  I made a list of LID meals for the second week and it made a world of difference. 

If you are about to embark on the low iodine diet journey, I wish you the best.  I reminded myself on a regular basis why I was on the LID and it always helped to put things in perspective.