After a long week of low iodine diet, injections, iodine 123, scanning, and blood work...the results are in. The scan was "clear", but the blood work, as my doctor said, was "not ideal". Apparently, some of the tumor marker, thyroglobulin, was detectable. It was such a minute amount, but, my endocrinologist wants to be "aggressive" with watching it. I'm thankful that there isn't a knee jerk reaction to just empirically treat me with another dose of I 131. I really don't want to have to do any more of that stuff, as it can cause a secondary cancer later on. So, the plan is to recheck my level in another 6 months while on my Levoxyl and TSH is suppressed. Hopefully it will remain undetectable on the medication. If so, then a year from now, another ultrasound, Thyrogen injections, low iodine diet, more I 123, scanning, and blood work will probably be the plan again. I was so hopeful for an "all clear" so that we could maybe loosen up on the follow up and just go with ultrasounds and blood work.
Between issues on mammograms and then my thyroid cancer, for the past 3 years, I've been told, "let's recheck in 6 months". I'm tired of my life feeling like it was on hold or in limbo every 6 months. So, as far as I'm concerned, this exam was negative and we're just rechecking blood in 6 months. I can't sit around worrying about it for the next 6 months. It may not have been "ideal", but it wasn't exactly bad news either. So, I'll take what I can get.
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