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surgery and RAI treatment for cancer

cadid
  • By cadid
  • Posted October 5, 2009 at 11:56 pm · 2 replies
  • In Treatment
  • Shared with the public
0 Recommendations

Hi all, I was diagnosed last week with papillary thyroid cancer. I have an appointment with the surgeon in a couple of days. Just wondering what to expect with the actual surgery and with the RAI treatment afterwards.
I* haven't really read a lot of personal accounts about the RAI, so am very curious about that. Do you stay
in the hospital for a couple of days afterward, when you are radioactive (!) or what? I am 41 and have a 4 and 6 year old-I don't want to put them in any danger.
I would appreciate any info. I am so glad that this cancer has such a good successful treatment rate, but it is still scary to think that I have cancer.
God bless us all!

Explore topics in this discussion:

Cancer Surgery Dry mouth Thyroid cancer

2 replies

cynthiag117

Hospital stay is handled differently at different institutions. With the added complication of your children, perhaps your hospital will have you stay. We had to aggressively advocate for my mom (83yr) to stay at hospital after treatment.

Mom received a large dose of RAI, 285mc, because she had a large tumor. It impaired her salivary glands and she has severe dry mouth which means she can not eat foods that have low moisture such as bread, potatoes, carbs. It is a big impact on her QOL. Please question your doctors on how much RAI you will need. The greater the dose the higher the possibility of damage to salivary glands. Of course, if the dose is not enough the cancer cells will not be killed. It is a real balancing act.

Hopefully, you can stay in the hospital for 1-5 days after treatment (depending on amount of dose) and when you do come home, you'll still be "hot", perhaps your kids could go stay with friends or family for a couple days. They shouldn't be in the same room with you. Your hospital's radiation officer should have information for you about how close they can be and when.

cadid

Thanks for the info. I'm making a list of questions to take to my surgeons Thursday.
Hope your mom can find some comfort!
God bless,

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