Officially Cancer Free!

I am so excited to finally say that I have no more thyroid cancer cells in my body!  To have this whole process behind me is such a blessing, and I can't thank y'all enough for your prayers and support over the last few months.

The week prior to the therapy I had to go on a low iodine diet.  It really does not sound like a bad thing, but oh my gosh it was no fun.  December 3rd & 4th (Mon & Tues) I went into my doctor for the Thyrogen Shots.  I opted to take these shots instead of go off my Synthroid for 4 weeks... take my word for it, it would be miserable without my medicine.  The only side effect I had from these shots was nausea, but luckily it only got really bad at night so I would just head to bed when that started.

December 5th (Wed) I headed to the hospital for the RAI therapy to begin.  Kyle and I woke up to this sunrise and knew it was going to be a great day!

After testing negative for a quick pregnancy test, I then waited for the nuclear medicine team to come in and administer the radioactive iodine pill.  I was all ready!

They went over all the quarantine instructions and pill side effects, and then handed me this card which I have to carry around in my purse for the next 3 months.  My body can actually set off alarms in arenas, airports, and other public places... crazy!  This card shows them I am not a terrorist but just went through an RAI therapy.

Before long, the team brought in the pill with "the wagon" as they called it.  I couldn't believe it when this rounded the corner!!

Inside "the wagon" was layers upon layers of canisters, where eventually my pill was.  It was a small pill about the size of my pinky finger nail.  After swallowing the pill, the team scanned my stomach to make sure it was actually there and then left me with "Okay you are officially radioactive"!

I drove myself home, then went into immediate quarantine in our room.  I needed to stay at a distance of 6 feet from everyone, but unfortunately Emery would not understand seeing me and not being able to be in my arms.  So, we decided that it would be easiest for me to just stay away for Emery for the 4 days.  I had no idea how hard that would be to not see my girl for 4 DAYS!!

Thankfully, Kyle took care of Emery all day Wednesday and then Mom did the rest of the week.  My dad even stayed a little while on Thursday so Emery got to see "Ga-pa" too!  Emery had so much fun with them, she really loves her Grandma time! I did sneak a peak at them going on a walk one day from our front balcony!

My body handled the pill great, with barely any side effects.  I wanted to take advantage of the time I had to myself, since it does not happen often these days!  First on the list was to catch up on blogging... I successfully wrote blogs to post every day from Dec 4 through Dec 20th!

I also got all of our Christmas Cards done, medical bills organized (& some paid), and started on some DIY Christmas presents.  I can't wait to show you some of the projects I made (check back next week!), and I owe it all to my sister for letting me borrow her brand new silhouette machine!

My dad actually came back in town Friday night through Saturday afternoon, and by that point I was able to come out of my room (just not hold Emery) so here is a quick picture I snapped of my loves squished on one couch while I took up the other :)

Watching Em play hide and go seek with "Ga-pa":

Just chilling:

The following Wednesday, I headed back to the hospital for a whole body scan to check for any remaining thyroid cancer cells.  This is the test that really would tell whether I would have to do another round of RAI or not, so needless to say I was on pins and needles waiting for those results.  Thursday night, my doctor called saying that all of the tests came back NEGATIVE for my thyroid cancer spreading, and that I am good to go!! Praise the Lord!

We are still trying to get my dosage right, so I'll have blood work done every couple months to check that and my tumor marker number but I'll take it.  Thank you again Mom for coming to our rescue and taking care of Emery while I focused on myself.  And thank you to everyone who was praying for these results, as they are definitely something to celebrate!