The six months neck ultrasound – low iodine preparation – oh joy!

Once you have your thyroid removed from cancer or its death, you’ll learn to have a medical fetish or a grow a fondness (or dread) of people in scrubs and jackets.

Looking over the sheet telling me that because my “thyroglobulin has remained undetected, however Tg-Ab present,” the medical staff is planning a I123WBS (meaning Whole Body Scan) for me. Oh joy.

So here we go again with the low iodine diet for two weeks.

Pro – I get to loose some weight that I’ve gained from not exercising as I should be.

Another pro – I get to work from home one week as I’d probably get fired otherwise. (I get extremely cranky when I don’t get a steady diet of eating whatever the heck I want).

Con – I get cranky. Very cranky.

So what does the second week look like?

Directions
Continue current Levothyroxine dosing. Start low iodine diet 7 to 10 days prior to I-123 whole body scan. Do not resume regular diet until after scan is completed.

Day 1
Thyrogen 0.9 mg IM, injection #1, administered in the clinic.

Day 2
Thyrogen 0.9 mg IM, injection #2, administered in the clinic.

Day 3
Arrive at nuclear medicine department, where I-123 capsule is administered, TSH testing.
I-123 NM whole body scan (radiology), TSH blood draw (lab).

Day 4
Return to Nuclear Medicine at the Hospital for I-123 whole-body scan (24 hours after capsule taken).
I-123 NM whole body scan (radiology).

Day 5
Go to Hospital Outpatient Lab for thyroglobulin.
Thyroglobulin blood draw routine.

Resume regular diet and continue on levothyroxine after the scan.
Post-surgical hypothyroidism: Goal TSH is less than 0.5. TSH at target.

For everyone else going through this, I wish you luck and lots of delicious food afterwards.