The Good Cancer

Round One

They told me that surgery would not be enough. They assured me that this was normal for thyroid cancer patients. Even if the entire thyroid and all remaining infected lymph nodes were removed, further treatment was taken as a precaution and to prevent reassurance. It didn't involve chemo, which I was thankful for. I've heard the horror stories and as silly as it sounds, I did not want to lose my hair.

Instead, I got to get real friendly with a little pill: radioactive iodine. I could go into extreme detail about the thyroid and iodine and why radioactive iodine treatments are beneficial for thyroid cancer patients, but I will just give you the highlights. In this day and age, there is always Google if you want more information.

So, long story short, the thyroid is responsible for multiple things in the body. Just because it is one gland, does not mean that it only has one function. They thyroid is involved in metabolism, regulation of body temperature, and even plays a role in the immune system. It requires a nutrient, iodine, to function at its best. In areas of the world where diets rich in iodine are sparse, thyroid goiters, similar to tumors, are very common.

With radioactive iodine treatments, you go on a diet two weeks prior to treatment to "starve" any remaining thyroid tissue of iodine. Then you take what is called a tracer dose to see what percentage of uptake you have. In other words, you take a very mild dosage of radioactive iodine and see if it gets absorbed anywhere in your body. If it does, then you have some lingering cancerous thyroid tissue and need treatment.

They told me the average thyroid cancer patient post-surgery has an uptake of one percent or less. When they measured my uptake, I never heard what percentage it was. I knew then that it had to be a lot. I later found out I had an update of twenty-five percent. We all know that is significantly larger than twenty-five. So why didn't they tell me? I guess it's because they didn't want to scare me or thought I might not be able to handle the news well at the young age of thirteen. I would have rather known what I was facing.

The doctors went on to say that I would need more treatments, but they would space them out. Apparently too much radiation is a bad thing and they try to limit the amount you get throughout your lifetime. Being a juvenile cancer patient, they wanted to air on the side of caution in the case of reoccurrence in adulthood. It also turns out that radiation can cause cancer. We all hear about too much UV radiation from the sun leading to skin cancer. We hear about what happens when we get too many X-Rays. So, it was interesting to me, and still is I suppose, that doctors treat cancer with something that can also cause cancer.

Cancer treatment in general is a catch twenty-two. You want to kill the cancer cells because they are bad and can in turn kill you. However, the strength of the medication needed to kill cancer cells, can affect you in other ways. It can kill the good cells in your body including those involved in your immune system. Chemo patients can lose their hair including eyelashes and eyebrows. You're already sick and then you go through treatment and get more sick. It's just the way it is.

I was really nervous when I began my treatment. I knew all of the things that could go wrong. I knew there would be a chance that I could get sick. My favorite part of the whole process was the fact that for the first five days of treatment, I had to be quarantined. I couldn't be around any other people when the levels of radiation in my body were at the highest. I had to flush the toilet twice each time I went to the bathroom and wash my hands. I had to keep all of my dirty laundry separated from everyone else. Once it was washed, a hot rinse cycle had to be ran before any other clothes could be washed. I had to eat with separate plates and silverware or just use paper and plastic. The list went on and on.

It's not like I expected for my first treatment to be easy or a walk in the park, but as I read over all of these rules and procedures, my heart sank. First of all, how would I remember everything? Second of all, I had to go through it alone? My parents could not be in the room with me for more than a few minutes at a time. I couldn't even hug them. I couldn't cuddle with or even pet my dog. I had to be alone. I had to go through treatment alone. At least I could still watch TV. That would keep me company...right?

I had the long to-do list in my hand as we left the hospital. I had just taken what would be my first of third radioactive iodine pills. I kept waiting to feel different. I kept waiting to feel tired or sick or anything that wasn't normal. I sat in the back of the van and watched my mom look back at me every so often through the rearview mirror. She kept asking if I felt OK and I kept asking myself the same question.

Other than being a little tired and very overwhelmed from the situation, I felt fine. Even when we got home and I went upstairs to the room I'd be staying in for the next three to five days, I felt fine. I didn't feel nauseated at all. I actually felt hungry. I hadn't been able to eat all morning so that when I did take my magic pill, it could get absorbed faster. I still had to wait three hours after taking it too. So, I laid down on the bed in my new home for the next several days and tried to take a nap. When asleep nothing mattered...not being hungry, not being alone, and not even having cancer.