Radioactive, Baby!

In less than 24 hours I will be radioactive. Sounds pretty crazy, but kind of cool at the same time.

I have an autoimmune disorder called graves disease as you may remember me mentioning in some of my last posts. After trying a couple of medications for the past year, doctors have come to the conclusion that my disease is not getting any better. We have been left with a couple of options and after lots of prayer and thought, Makia and I have decided for me to go with the radiation route. I will be going in tomorrow at 12:30 to swallow a pill of Iodine 131. This pill will then go into my stomach and up my bloodstream which will then get absorbed by the thyroid gland. Once absorbed the iodine will then start killing a lot of my thyroid cells which will then decrease the production of the thyroid hormone bringing my levels down to a more maintainable amount. Part of my thyroid gland will permanently be shut down and I will then be on thyroid supplements in hopes of allowing me to live a more normal life.

During this process I will have to be away from my family for roughly 14 days, and I won’t be able to be within 3 feet of anyone. The reason is because I could pass some of the radiation on to them which may affect their thyroid gland as well. The main three groups that could be affected by my presence during this time are babies (Olivia), pregnant women, and small animals (Alliedog and Lady Grits). For this reason, I will be staying away from home which will probably be one of the hardest things about this treatment. I have never been away from Olivia for more than a couple of hours.

I am currently feeling good and confident about this treatment. When I first heard about my options, I was worried and concerned. Both options(radiation and surgery) are so permanent and I guess I let my hopes get high in thinking that my disease would go into remission and I was not ready to make such an altering decision. After 2 months of praying and being completely nervous, I can honestly say that God has been so good to me. I am now confident in the treatment and am not nervous at all. I got nervous a couple of nights ago about being away from Olivia, but even that has surpassed. I am now excited about possibly not feeling so tired, hot, dizzy, nauseous, and grumpy.

The reason for me writing this post today is for two things. I wanted to inform family/friends on what’s been going on without having to repeat myself, and I also want to ask for all my prayer family/friends to keep me in your thoughts. Pray that the treatment will work and that during the treatment I will maintain solid trust and joy in the Lord for all His works.