Thyroid Treatment Process and Timeline...

As best as I understand it...

Step 1: Thyroidectomy. Thursday, July 27th.
Impact: I’m told that I’ll be back at work w/in a few days (probably Tues or Wed of the following week. No guarantees of course). One issue is that my vocal chords (due to proximity to thyroid) may be sore and thus I will be limited in my talking abilities. I know, a net positive for all of you.

Step 2: Iodine Free Diet (target begin date approx. August 13th)
Impact: 2 weeks of significantly less than 100% energy
Explanation: I won’t be able to eat anything that has iodine in it (salt, fish are two of them, but there are a lot of things, I’m told). What this means is that I will be exceedingly tired (sounds like a carrot and celery existence) and won’t have as much energy as I’d like. Long days may be out of the question.

Apparently, the thyroid has a unique ability to absorb iodine. This is the first part of a 2 step process where the we starve the body of iodine so that any remaining thyroid cells are hungry for iodine.

Step 3: Radioactive Iodine (target date: end of August)
Impact: 2 days of hospitalization followed by a few days of limited contact w/the outside world.
Explanation: In an effort to remove any remaining thyroid cells, this stealth/nuclear iodine is taken via pill/liquid. The remaining cells are tricked into absorbing the iodine they crave and then destroyed from the inside. Kind of cool, eh?

I’ve asked if there’s wi-fi in the hospital (the Dr. said no one had asked that one before), but using a PC [for fear of making it radioactive-although that could be a good reason to get a new laptop J] may be forbidden. Basically, a few days of reading, watching NetFlix, and not being able to help around the house w/the kids. Hmmm….maybe I should do it for a week or so.

Step 4: Recovery (1st part of September)
Impact: Apparently it takes a week or so to get back to “normal” as the body adjusts to the TRH (Thyroid Replacement Hormone).

Conclusion
Not your typical summer vacation, but since insurance (thankfully) picks it up, much more economical. Surprising that more people don’t do it.