Well, it's been about a week and half since I took the RAI (radioactive iodine). So far so good. Here's how it all went down:

For two weeks prior to taking the RAI I was on a low-iodine diet. The idea is to get the iodine in my body low so when I took the RAI the potency wouldn't be diminished by existing iodine in the body. Veronica was super adamant about making my life as effortless as possible and took upon herself to learn a bunch of meals that would make the diet less of a chore. She definitely went above and beyond.

I went in to my endocrinologist on Dec. 10th to receive my first shot of Thyrogen. It's a $1500 shot that tricks your pituitary gland into creating TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). Luckily when I was waiting for appointment I looked up the procedure to discover it's a shot in the butt cheek. So, when the nurse asked me to bend over and drop my pants a little I wasn't surprised. I got the same shot on Dec. 11th in the other cheek. 

When Dec. 12th rolled around my body was low on iodine and my pituitary was producing copious amounts of TSH. Primed for the RAI treatment I made my way to Boulder Community Hospital where I met my wife who wanted to be there. After register and ending up in the Imaging department we met with Charlie, a nuclear medicine technologist. He basically went over how the procedure was going to happen. To my surprise and misinformation, I wasn't going to be the only one in the room. There were two capsules I had to take. The same size as any typical capsule with a light gray powder inside. The vial the capsules came in was held in a container that looked like a thick can. Likely lined with something to prevent the radiation from leaking out. Lead maybe. I asked Charlie how the capsules were made. He said there were only two locations in the world that produce the radioactive isotope I-131. Once delivered to a lab in Denver the capsules are made.

After shooting the breeze for a little bit everyone got to watch the anti-climatic event of me taking two capsules with water. Yay. Veronica and I left the hospital in separate cars and made our way home. I went straight to the back of the house to begin my quarantine.

We had prepared two rooms and a bathroom for me to live for the next 16 days. I grabbed a small snack and laid down for a nap. After two hours I woke. I sat up and began to sweat. I could hear my heart pounding and an intense pain coursed through my body. I stood up to head for the bathroom. When I did the pain amplified and my heart began pounding harder. I dropped the floor. Veronica heard me hit the floor and immediately came to the door. Worried she asked what was happening, hesitant on opening the door to be exposed by radiation. My mind was so focused on the overwhelming pain I could barely muster the energy to answer. I realized my body was needing to take care of some other arising issues and I needed to make my way to the bathroom, fast. I eventually stood and made my to the bathroom where the pain persisted for another 20 minutes. I could hear my heart pounding so loud and the pain was so intense I thought my heart was going to explode. After an eternity the pain relented. I let Veronica know the pain was going away.

While this episode was going on Veronica was at a loss for what she could do. She couldn't see what was happening and only knew that I had told her to give a little bit of time. By the time she was able to get a hold of someone a hospital the pain was subsiding. She tried the nuclear medicine department at Boulder Community without any luck. So she tried the closest hospital, Platte Valley. The hospital told her to bring me in if it was in fact my heart. She told them I was radioactive. The didn't really seem that fazed by it. She got off the phone with them and I was back to normal. After some time it was decided that going to the hospital would result in them not finding anything. Considering that the episode had ended and there wasn't any residual effects. Both Veronica and I came to the conclusion it was likely my body's response to the RAI. This was confirmed later by Charlie, when I went in for a scan a week later, as he said that the timeframe of when the episode happened (4-5 hours) was when the RAI was likely hitting the bloodstream. I went to bed that night and woke up next day with a full nights rest and ready to begin the quarantine.

The first two days are the most crucial. It's when the RAI is at its maximum potency. So no one should be around me. After 2-3 days and drinking lots of water, my body had flushed the concentrate out so that I had just the residual of the RAI in my body.

The half life of I-131 is 8 days. So were cautious and limiting my exposure to everyone with that in mind. Right now I need to limit my exposure to people at one hour a day if they are one foot away. Three hours a day at three feet and so one. My next half life is Dec. 28th. I'll be back to sleeping in the same bed with Veronica. Although we've been playing it super safe so we'll see. The I-131 will be detectable in my body by airport scanners for three months. So they gave me a card indicating this if I fly within that time period.

Right now I feel great. I have zero indication of radioactivity in my body. This is the last step to the journey I've been on that started in May with a motorcycle accident and a cancer diagnosis shortly after. 2018 has been a ride. I've learned a lot about myself. I love all the people who have extend their hearts out to my family. Thank you. You matter to us.