Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine sounded fancy, eh?😃

Before I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I knew nothing about nuclear medicine. It turned out that nuclear medicine could be used in both diagnosis and treatment. More about nuclear medicine use in diagnosis and treatment, you could read it here.

In my case, my oncologist recommended me to take radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation, a radiation therapy in which radioactive iodine is administered to destroy or ablate residual thyroid gland, including cancer cells that take up iodine.

As I mentioned on previous post, my primary hospital did not have nuclear medicine facility. So, on a Saturday afternoon I met dr. Yustia Turi SpKN, a nuclear medicine physician from Rumah Sakir Kanker Dharmais, also a colleague of dr. Bayu.

dr. Yustia explained to me what RAI was, the side effects, etc. At that moment, honestly, I had not decided if I would take ablation or not. I was still weighing the side effects, also the fact that I should not conceive within 6 months to 1 year after the ablation.

***

I remembered being asked by dr. Bayu to see him after Lebaran holiday, whether I would take ablation or not.

So, on May 29, I came to see dr. Bayu for follow up and telling him my decision. I decided to take the ablation, if necessary.

Following to dr. Yustia recommendation, I would take thyroid scan first.

What is thyroid scan?

In summary, thyroid scan is a imaging procedure for examining your thyroid which involves small amounts of radioactive iodine. Just like ablation, before taking the scan I must stop taking Euthyrox for two weeks to increase my thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH).

At RSKD, thyroid scan only available every Wednesday, and since I had stop taking Euthyrox for 2 weeks before my thyroid scan, I had my scan scheduled on 18/Jul.

Another nerve-wracking procedure. *sigh*

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Thyroid Scan

I had thyroid scan scheduled for 18/Jul at Rumah Sakit Kanker Dharmais (RSKD). But, since RSKD required me, patient who uses general insurance, to at least had 1 consultation before getting my scan, so I made an appointment with dr. Yustia for 17/Jul. I made appointment directly through dr. Yustia's personal number since I really couldn't rely on RSKD staff to make one for me. So, I came to RSKD on 17/Jul basically to fulfill the hospital requirements. Nothing much to discussed as I have enough knowledge on the procedure. On 18/Jul, I left home around 6:00 AM because I had to arrive before 7:30 AM. Hubby was ill, so I asked my mother to accompany me. Patient registration for insurance holder was quite troublesome, but it was still better than using BPJS. I wonder how long the BPJS patient must wait before getting their examination. After registration done, at first I headed to the lab to get my blood drawn, and then to the nuclear facility. It was almost lunch time and...

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