Lauren had her 6 month check-up with her Pediatric Endocrinologist this past Monday. Although she is nearly 17, she still loves her doctor at Children's. He works in conjunction with the doctors at the University to coordinate her care. We have the best of both worlds right now.
He did mention that there were several nodules in her lungs that were stable and one had totally disappeared. Great news?! Whoa......suddenly I wasn't feeling so confident. I think I realized at that moment that we were talking about multiple nodules. What did it mean that they were stable? For some reason, I can't bring myself to completely celebrate just yet. I've been there before and coming back to reality just wasn't as fun. Don't get me wrong...I couldn't be happier that one of the nodules is gone! Poof! See ya later. But what are these suspicious little "things" doing in there anyway? What are "they?" And why won't they disappear too? So as usual, I left the doctor's office feeling more confused than ever.
Lauren started her low-iodine diet Monday, which is always a fun (NOT!) time for me. The purpose of a low-iodine diet is to deplete the body of its stores of iodine, to help increase the effectiveness of the radioactive iodine scan or treatment. The premise is that when the radioactive iodine is administered, the thyroid cells will “suck” up the iodine, because the body has been so depleted.
Have you ever looked at the labels on food products? There is salt in just about everything. So here are the things she CAN'T have:
He did mention that there were several nodules in her lungs that were stable and one had totally disappeared. Great news?! Whoa......suddenly I wasn't feeling so confident. I think I realized at that moment that we were talking about multiple nodules. What did it mean that they were stable? For some reason, I can't bring myself to completely celebrate just yet. I've been there before and coming back to reality just wasn't as fun. Don't get me wrong...I couldn't be happier that one of the nodules is gone! Poof! See ya later. But what are these suspicious little "things" doing in there anyway? What are "they?" And why won't they disappear too? So as usual, I left the doctor's office feeling more confused than ever.
Lauren started her low-iodine diet Monday, which is always a fun (NOT!) time for me. The purpose of a low-iodine diet is to deplete the body of its stores of iodine, to help increase the effectiveness of the radioactive iodine scan or treatment. The premise is that when the radioactive iodine is administered, the thyroid cells will “suck” up the iodine, because the body has been so depleted.
Have you ever looked at the labels on food products? There is salt in just about everything. So here are the things she CAN'T have:
- Dairy Products (milk, eggs, yogurt, butter, cheese, ice cream etc.)
- Processed Foods
- Chocolate
- Seafood
- Any food containing iodized salt or sea salt
- Bakery products
- Red dye #3
So after 2 weeks of this diet comes the dreaded drive down to UC everyday for a week. Day 1 and 2 consists of Thyrogen injections in the behind. Day 3 is a tracer dose of radioactive iodine and lab work. Day 4 and 5 are the all important scans to see if the nodules in her lungs light up. Then we wait.....we wait for the news that my girl is healed and healthy. I know that day is coming.
Thank God for another day!
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