# I was looking at my path report



## kadalikay (Aug 16, 2012)

So I know I already told you that that my diagnosis came back as a follicular variant of papillary cancer.... The nodule was 2.5 cm by about 1.75 cm. It was completely encapsulated....clean margins.....but did have capsular invasion. Is it safe to assume that they will recommend RAI? I meet with my surgeon tomorrow to get my steri strips removed and get my appt with a oncologist. My surgeon did start me on Synthoid right after the surgery because we didn't know if the tumor was cancerous or not. Once I stop taking the synthroid....how long will it take to truly feel the effects of being Hypo? My levels have always been in the normal range. What is a standard dose of RAI usually? Also....I never really had a ultrasound of my lymph nodes....they only looked at my nodule. How will they know if there is any lymph node involvement? All you can feel in my neck right now are swollen tense muscles....frankly I am still a bit weary of pushing to hard on my neck. Don't want to hurt the healing process. Sorry for all the questions. I wish my surgeon would have held off on the synthroid.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

It took me 14 days to get a TSH of 71. I was a little tired and foggy-headed, but didn't REALLY feel the effects until around day 13 or 14.

I'm not sure its "safe" assume they'd recommend RAI, but I would say that chances are likely, given the size.

Three of my lymph nodes were cancerous. The pre-surgery u/s did not reveal any cause for concern so, sure, while it's another look at the area, I don't think it would show much until the nodes were really bad. The RAI is a multi-day process. I received a tracer dose on a Tuesday, had a pre-therapy dose scan on a Friday. Depending on how much uptake that scan showed (and here's where they would determine if here is node invasion), the determine your dose from there. I don't think you can really say there's a "normal" or "standard" dose because everyone's case is so different.


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## kadalikay (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks.... Did you know you had lymph node involvement prior to your TT? When I saw my surgeon for my 2nd biopsy....she had noted shotty lymph nodes on the same side as my nodule. When she did the surgery she said that everything looked okay, so she didn't remove any during the TT.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

No I did not there was lymph node involvement. Again, nothing felt funny prior to surgery and everything looked clear in the u/s. However, once my surgeon got in there and saw how messy things look (three tumors, three microcarcinomas), he thought it prudent to do a central neck dissection and removed 10 nodes, three of which had cancerous cells.

I had quite a bit of uptake in my pre-therapy dose scan, even with the node removal. I got a dose of 100 millicurries. NY has some antiquated radioactive hazard laws, apparently, so if I got a large dose, I'd need inpatient hospitalization. I hadn't prepared for that, so we went with 100 with the assumption I'd need another therapy level dose at the end of next month.


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## kadalikay (Aug 16, 2012)

Thank you for the info....this whole process has been surreal. I think I would feel a lot better if I could just get this stiff neck to go away!!! It is really the only thing making me feel crappy right now.I am in NC and I am not sure the laws here with dosages. I am sure that I will find out soon enough.


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