Yesterday was 15 weeks exactly since my neck dissection and thyroidectomy. I had another check-up with my endocrinologist to look at all my levels and determine a new dosage for my thyroid hormone replacement.
For my readers who might not be up-to-speed on thyroid lingo…a little teaching. The average person has TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) levels less than 5 (more specifically, they fall between 0.5 and 5). This is the hormone that tells your petuitary gland when to release T3 and T4 and how much to release. These affect almost every physiological process in the body, including growth and development, metabolism, body temperature, and heart rate.
In order receive my RAI treatment in February, my TSH levels were allowed to elevate above 50 – mine reached 78. Great for the treatment process. Once RAI ended, hormone replacement began in order to help regulate my TSH once again. After 7 weeks, it was measured at 56. Yesterday, 15 weeks after surgery and two dosage increases later, it is still measuring at 25. For thyroid cancer patients, my doctor wants it to be less than 1. We have a long way to go. He once again upped my dosage and plans to do so again in 3 months when I return (he says it’s better to baby-step it since I’m going from zero hormone back to “normal”).
In the meantime, I’m essentially a hypothyroid patient with all the symptoms and side-effects to go along with it. The good news of the day was that my body seems to be retaining Calcium normally again and I can reduce my supplements from 1800mg/day to 600mg/day or none at all if I so choose. This after I found a great buy-1-get-1 deal at Walgreens and purchased enough to last almost a year at the larger dose! 
