Scan today went great. No evidence of cancer spreading beyond what we already knew about. Yay! Also, I got them to measure me with a geiger counter and from 3 feet away I'm almost indistinguishable from background radiation (I'm .03 mrem/hr, background is .02 mrem/hr). Up close to my neck dose rate is higher (.45 mrem/hr), but still low enough that I don't need to worry about snuggling with the kids...it means kid sitting on my lap with head right next to my neck for 3 hours would get about the same radiation exposure as they would in one cross-country flight. And given the short half-life, even that will go away pretty soon.
I have follow-up appointment with endocrinologist in October, but probably there won't really be any more cancer news until I get follow-up scan in a year.
Kids are having a great start to the new school year, and Nate teaches his first class as a Georgetown professor tomorrow. Woohoo!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Ending Isolation
So I'm basically done with my post-RAI isolation, and it really hasn't been too bad. I've been sleeping in, spending long mornings out on the porch reading, afternoons on the computer, evenings watching tennis & Gilmore Girls (thanks Meredith!) and doing jigsaw puzzles. I've felt really supported by neighbors, family, and friends here, and I'm kind of an introvert anyway, so I haven't been too lonely.
Saturday I took an outing to Hollywood Cemetery, where I miraculously found my grandmother & great-grandmother's graves. I hadn't been there in at least 15 years, and the map I had of where the plot was was just an aerial view, with no street names. After visiting the graves of James Monroe, John Tyler, Jefferson Davis, and countless confederate soldiers, I eventually found it. The hill where the presidents were buried had a nice view of the river...fun to see all the people out playing on the rocks on the other side.
Tomorrow morning I'll call the kids to wish them a good first day of school, clean up the house, pack my stuff, and go pick up my mom for the drive back to DC. My mom's coming up to help for another few days this week. We may pass Nate's parents on I-95 as they make their way back down here after being at out place for over a week.
Wednesday I have my post-RAI series of scans...will take a couple of hours to get through them all, but these will reveal more definitely if the cancer spread anywhere outside my neck. Hopefully they'll be clean, and the doc will tell me I've cleared enough of the radiation that it's safe to go back to work and snuggle with the kids.
Will update again Wednesday after the scans....
Saturday I took an outing to Hollywood Cemetery, where I miraculously found my grandmother & great-grandmother's graves. I hadn't been there in at least 15 years, and the map I had of where the plot was was just an aerial view, with no street names. After visiting the graves of James Monroe, John Tyler, Jefferson Davis, and countless confederate soldiers, I eventually found it. The hill where the presidents were buried had a nice view of the river...fun to see all the people out playing on the rocks on the other side.
Tomorrow morning I'll call the kids to wish them a good first day of school, clean up the house, pack my stuff, and go pick up my mom for the drive back to DC. My mom's coming up to help for another few days this week. We may pass Nate's parents on I-95 as they make their way back down here after being at out place for over a week.
Wednesday I have my post-RAI series of scans...will take a couple of hours to get through them all, but these will reveal more definitely if the cancer spread anywhere outside my neck. Hopefully they'll be clean, and the doc will tell me I've cleared enough of the radiation that it's safe to go back to work and snuggle with the kids.
Will update again Wednesday after the scans....
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