I just got off the phone with Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in Ann Arbor. My Thyrogen is in. That means I am finally going to have my whole-body scan to see if there are any remaining thyroid cancer cells in my body. My bloodwork hasn’ t shown any signs of tumor growth, but the scan will look at the cellular level. I nearly had a meltdown on the phone…it was so, so weird. They basically just called and asked me for my birthdate before they would even reveal why they were calling, and then I had to pay my $250 co-pay over the phone before they would ship it to UofM. Maybe it’s the anxiety, but that REALLY annoyed me. I told the pharmacist, “This is an insane way to deal with cancer patients that have been waiting 8 months for medication. I want to hang up on you, but I am afraid you’ll give my Thyrogen to someone else.”
Well, you survivors out there know what this means…low-iodine diet. Here are just a few items I will have to part with for two whole weeks:
- Milk
- Cheese
- Yogurt
- Chocolate
- Bread
- Salt
- Pre-packaged or restaurant food of any kind
I seriously feel like crying. I probably won’t even lose weight. Speaking of, there has been ZERO change from upping my Synthroid to 125 mcg, so I made an appointment with a holistic doctor. She’s going to try to compound T3/T4 thyroid medication for me, but I don’t have my blood tests back yet to determine the exact ratio. I was supplementing with iodine and selenium (it wasn’t effective), and she told me to stop. That’s a good thing, since now I have to deplete all of the iodine in my body.
Okay, let’s try to be positive. Ideally, I will go on this stupid diet for two weeks, get two injections, and then get the scan over with. (Hopefully there is no iodine in Xanax, because I am not going in that giant tube without it!) There will be no microscopic cancer in my body. Then I will start on my perfectly compounded (and probably very expensive) thyroid medication, and by summer I will be completely back to normal.
Right?
Thyroidless 
What horrible customer service! Where’s the empathy?
So, do you have to come down to A2 to pick it up or will they send it to your Walgreens? If you come to A2, let’s get together!
I have to go to Ann Arbor to get injected with it two days in a row! I will let you know and let’s get together! I can’t be anywhere delicious Zingerman’s until after the scan though!