Radioiodine treatment is done and dusted! It was so boring. On the plus side I was not nearly as sick as I was last time! I felt much more in control, too. I guess I had the advantage of experience.
I had no sickness with the injections, and only a bit of queasiness from the radioiodine itself. The queasiness was remedied with some anti-sickness. I'd really psyched myself up to feel horribly ill again this time around, and I was so relieved when it wasn't nearly as bad this year as it was last year. So relieved, in fact, that I felt slightly giddy about it!
When I first went in I thought to myself, and said to a couple of people, that I would just think of the day I come out and that would get me through it. I realised after a while that this was the wrong approach. On Monday evening I had a lot of anxiety, and I just kept thinking,"Oh, this time is just going to drag on and on!" The next morning I decided that instead of thinking about the day I go home, I'd just have to take it day-by-day.
Last week I wondered it I should some kind of A Day In The Life kind of thing whilst I was in the hospital. Thought it might be a good way to show people what the process is like. Then I realised that no amount of Instagram filters could make it interesting. (Not to mention that I don't even have an Instagram account) I can, however, offer the following pieces of advice:
My first piece of advice would be to ask questions. I am STILL learning that is okay to ask questions. I keep apologising to staff for asking questions, and they all tell me that it's okay. If you're not sure why they're going to the treatment they want to do, or what that treatment even involves, then don't be afraid to ask!
My second piece of advice would be to take things you don't care about. This sounds obvious, I'm sure, but once you come out of hospital you have to wash the clothes you brought (twice) and then stash them away for a month. Last summer when I first did this treatment, it was fine for a while because I was wearing shorts to bed. Then one night, the temperature dropped by a few degrees and I didn't know what to wear because all my pyjama bottoms were stashed away!
Third piece of advice is to get moving! This is for a couple of reasons. 1)You might get a bit restless since you can't leave your room for a walk around the building. 2)You have to go um, number two before you leave. If you're too sedentary, then your bowels won't move. My room had an exercise bike in and I really took advantage of that this week. I didn't turn it on, I just sat and pedalled (also the plug for the bike wouldn't reach any of the sockets, and no way what I was going to try to move the bike on my own)
In fact, while we're on the subject of...that region, I would also advise drinking a lot. That way you'll pee a lot, and the levels will go down faster.
I think that's it for advice. Hopefully it is useful!
As for the treatment itself, I'm not sure how it went, and I got no indication from the technician of what my scans looked like. I won't find out how well it went till I see the consultant in a few weeks. I think I did all I could to help my body take up the radioiodine, though. Oh, and I don't have to go in for a scan on my birthday, which is great!
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to eat tuna melts, and talk people's ears off. Nothing new there!
Thursday 30 October 2014
Wednesday 22 October 2014
Oh, life. You crazy thing.
Things get on top of me occasionally. They all come at me at once, shout,"PILE ON!" and then I'm lying underneath it all squirming.
So, I have more radioiodine treatment next week, as well as a gynaecology appointment to re-arrange, and this week I had two cysts in one of my breasts drained. So, you can see why I was ready to shriek by the end of last week.
The radioiodine treatment feels like it is just, in my way. The other day my mum asked me what I want for my birthday (which is the Monday after my treatment) and I just couldn't think of anything. Not because there's not anything I particularly want, but because I just feel like I have this flashing neon sign in my head that says,"TREATMENT". However, I was talking to my sister the other day, and she said that this treatment was like the final rinse of shampoo when you're washing your hair. You give it one final rinse, just to check that it's all gone. I hadn't thought of it that way before, and it made me feel a bit better.
I've really fallen off the no-sugar/low sugar wagon. In general my diet's been quite bad. Especially with the stress of last week. Also, I have been really bad with the radiodine, which is actually more important than just trying to avoid sugar where possible. I can't have too much dairy, but it is hard to know how much is too much. Also, I can't have tinned fish (or tinned anything, really) and today I had a tuna melt. Halfway through I remembered (I mean, the tuna melt was at Costa Coffee, but I doubt it had been freshly line caught this morning) No more! From tomorrow I will try much, much harder! My friend did point out that it probably won't make much difference, and she's right, but I just don't want to jeopardise the chances of the radioiodine working. With regard to the no sugar thing, I'm trying to get better. There is now fruit in the house, and even though I bought some biscuits yesterday, I've only had two of them. Of course, this may change at the weekend if the injections give me nausea and I need something bland to nibble on.
The reason I have to re-arrange my gynaecology appointment is because my initial one was kind of a bust. The appointments were running about 40 minutes behind, but because of the amount of people there, that would lead to a two-hour delay. The poor nurse who was given the task of announcing this said we could re-schedule, so I went to tell her I would. I just felt like I wasn't a priority, and I could wait. Also the chairs in that waiting room were not comfortable for my poor shoulders, and I knew it'd be too exhausting to go away and come back. The BRI haven't got back to me with a new appointment date (it was only last week, to be fair), but I am looking into going to a completely different hospital to see a gynaecologist. When I come out of hospital I'm going to do a bit of research. I can't really think about it right now.
I kept a bit quiet about the cyst in my breast because I didn't really want to say anything about it till I knew what it was. Turns out, it was two cysts, but they were nothing to be concerned about and I just had them drained. Apparently I have a few mini cysts in there, but I don't need to do anything unless I feel any new lumps. I felt like the nurse lectured me on the importance of seeing a doctor as soon as I find a lump, possibly because I'd said I'd found the lump about a month ago. I did explain though, that after I found the lump I saw a doctor almost immediately (I really wanted to speak to a woman and had to wait till a female doctor was available, so it was a few days after I found it) and she told me to have a period and then come back if the lump didn't go after that period. It might be that they tell everyone to tell a doctor as soon as they find a lump, but I still felt a bit like I was being told off. I think everyone knows by now that I am a massive advocate for telling a doctor if you think something's wrong!
Onwards and upwards, though! Got to be more disciplined with myself, forget about boob lumps and endometriosis for now, and focus on this upcoming treatment.
So, I have more radioiodine treatment next week, as well as a gynaecology appointment to re-arrange, and this week I had two cysts in one of my breasts drained. So, you can see why I was ready to shriek by the end of last week.
The radioiodine treatment feels like it is just, in my way. The other day my mum asked me what I want for my birthday (which is the Monday after my treatment) and I just couldn't think of anything. Not because there's not anything I particularly want, but because I just feel like I have this flashing neon sign in my head that says,"TREATMENT". However, I was talking to my sister the other day, and she said that this treatment was like the final rinse of shampoo when you're washing your hair. You give it one final rinse, just to check that it's all gone. I hadn't thought of it that way before, and it made me feel a bit better.
I've really fallen off the no-sugar/low sugar wagon. In general my diet's been quite bad. Especially with the stress of last week. Also, I have been really bad with the radiodine, which is actually more important than just trying to avoid sugar where possible. I can't have too much dairy, but it is hard to know how much is too much. Also, I can't have tinned fish (or tinned anything, really) and today I had a tuna melt. Halfway through I remembered (I mean, the tuna melt was at Costa Coffee, but I doubt it had been freshly line caught this morning) No more! From tomorrow I will try much, much harder! My friend did point out that it probably won't make much difference, and she's right, but I just don't want to jeopardise the chances of the radioiodine working. With regard to the no sugar thing, I'm trying to get better. There is now fruit in the house, and even though I bought some biscuits yesterday, I've only had two of them. Of course, this may change at the weekend if the injections give me nausea and I need something bland to nibble on.
The reason I have to re-arrange my gynaecology appointment is because my initial one was kind of a bust. The appointments were running about 40 minutes behind, but because of the amount of people there, that would lead to a two-hour delay. The poor nurse who was given the task of announcing this said we could re-schedule, so I went to tell her I would. I just felt like I wasn't a priority, and I could wait. Also the chairs in that waiting room were not comfortable for my poor shoulders, and I knew it'd be too exhausting to go away and come back. The BRI haven't got back to me with a new appointment date (it was only last week, to be fair), but I am looking into going to a completely different hospital to see a gynaecologist. When I come out of hospital I'm going to do a bit of research. I can't really think about it right now.
I kept a bit quiet about the cyst in my breast because I didn't really want to say anything about it till I knew what it was. Turns out, it was two cysts, but they were nothing to be concerned about and I just had them drained. Apparently I have a few mini cysts in there, but I don't need to do anything unless I feel any new lumps. I felt like the nurse lectured me on the importance of seeing a doctor as soon as I find a lump, possibly because I'd said I'd found the lump about a month ago. I did explain though, that after I found the lump I saw a doctor almost immediately (I really wanted to speak to a woman and had to wait till a female doctor was available, so it was a few days after I found it) and she told me to have a period and then come back if the lump didn't go after that period. It might be that they tell everyone to tell a doctor as soon as they find a lump, but I still felt a bit like I was being told off. I think everyone knows by now that I am a massive advocate for telling a doctor if you think something's wrong!
Onwards and upwards, though! Got to be more disciplined with myself, forget about boob lumps and endometriosis for now, and focus on this upcoming treatment.
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