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Monitor Thyroid Function After Radiation To Chest

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Subject: Monitor Thyroid Function After Radiation to Chest
Date: 01/19/2008
My mom was treated for SCLC (chemo & radiation) followed by prophylactic radiation to the brain. She was starting to get her stamina back 6 months later, starting to get her hair back, but then her hair stopped growing, she was increasingly fatigued, she stayed cold even in the summer, and last she complained of having bags under her eyes. There was concern that she may have a cancerous tumor in her esophagus, plus she has a pleural effusion that remains from the original cancer. So, everyone and every doctor assumed her symptoms were related to the past and/or present cancer. It wasn't until we took her to the hospital with an intestinal ileus (bowels stopped working) that one of her doctors looked for an underlying cause other than cancer. While one was looking for mets, he was checking her thyroid function - ZERO thyroid function. This causes all of the symptoms including the ileus. He started her on thryoid replacement, her bowels regained function and over time the other symptoms will improve as well. He explained that while they try to protect this area, it is often damaged and that over time the function continues to lessen until there isn't any...fitting perfectly with her recent increase in symptoms.  It is painful to know that we could have prevented the pain and this recent hospitalization, that she could have felt much better and perhaps be without her wig by now had we known to ask for this or had her physicians monitored it for her as a standard of care. I hope this helps someone else.

Messages History for "Monitor Thyroid Function After Radiation To Chest"

  1. Monitor Thyroid Function After Radiation to Chest
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  3. RE: Monitor Thyroid Function After Radiation to Chest
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