I've let myself get a little behind, which is never a good thing. In order to stay on top of what's going on with Terry, I need to make sure I'm timely with my information so it's correct and appropriate for the posting when it occurs. It's too easy to let the little pieces of information slip away if I don't keep it current.
So, he has met with the endocrinologist who will supervise the radiation treatment as well as be responsible for getting his thyroid levels where they need to be. It was a bit of a shock talking to her, because his oncologist had told us he would be hospitalized for 24-48 hours in isolation in the hospital because of the treatment. He will emit radioactivity at high levels for the first few days, and then lesser amounts until it has been processed out of his system. This doctor is telling us that while he will need his own bathroom, and separate bedding, and we can't get within 3 feet of him initially, it's all good that he do this at home. At home?!? Yes, he will swallow a couple of capsules with radioactive iodine, and do this all at home. Our poor dogs are going to wonder what they've done wrong because they definitely won't be able to get close to him for several days.
In the meantime, we've been waiting and watching for his TSH, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, to rise as his thyroid levels drop. When he hits the magic number of "30" he will be able to start the treatment. It's taking a major toll on him, though, because in addition to his thyroid being gone and not having that regulator for energy and heating and cooling, he also is now missing that continual stream of adrenaline being pumped into him as it was before the surgery to remove the adrenal gland. The combination of both factors are making it incredibly difficult for him to have any energy AT all. I've told him all things considered, it was probably a good thing to have all of this going on during the long hot summer when he didn't need to be outside or doing anything much right now anyway.
We also met with the cardiologist this week, and surprisingly he doesn't feel the need to be in the loop of labs and thyroid levels as that process progresses. Terry and I were both a little surprised about this, because the cardiologist is waiting to start re-introducing some of Terry's heart medications until after his thyroid level gets settled. His partner was who Terry met with the week after the thyroid and adrenal gland surgery, so we had to tell him the events that occurred with the surgery. We even told him about the oncologist theorizing that Terry may never have needed a pacemaker/defibrillator as the over producing adrenal gland had probably given false cardiac readings. I was there for the heart attack...there's no question in MY mind that he needed it. The cardiologist agreed the two issues were separate.
Results from lab work show Terry's TSH levels are rising faster than anticipated. This means he will be going through the treatment much sooner than we had expected. There's a real chance given he'll be doing this in early August rather than late August or early September. Hopefully by the time his birthday rolls around on September 22 he may be feeling pretty good. That might be too much to hope for, but hope for it we will. It would be nice to have a "normal" life for a while.
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