Thyroid cancer treatments

Radioiodine Treatment – Patient Guide

0:00
This video is to explain your radioodine treatment admission. You will attend for TSH injections the two days prior to treatment.
0:15
If appropriate, you will have a pregnancy test on the first day and also on the day of admission. On the day of
0:22
admission, please visit the blood room on level one of Bexley wing. Collect a number and take a seat.
0:31
After having your bloods taken, use the red lift up to level four. Out of the lift, turn left and go to J93.
0:42
On the day of admission, the nursing staff and doctors will come to see you and clerk you in. The nurses will also
0:49
check on you in the room during your stay.
1:00
This is your room. Unless there is an emergency, no one is to cross the blue line through the barrier. Meals are brought to you and you’ll be asked to
1:08
wash your pots and keep them in the room with you. We ask you to keep yourself hydrated and the nursing staff will
1:16
bring you water. You can also make hot drinks with the kettle and that can be filled with the tap in the room. There is a call button for anything you need.
1:24
If you need more water, if you need blankets, anti-sickness, painkillers, anything you need, you press the button.
1:32
1 minute, 32 seconds
When anybody comes to your room, please sit in the purple chair. This is to maximize distance between you. The
1:40
window will open. When it opens, the heating goes off.
1:45
When it closes, the heating comes back on. There is a fridge in the room for you to use.
1:51
There is a television with Freeview and this is free for you to use. The white bag is for you to put your dirty laundry
1:59
in. On the day you go home, we will advise you what to do with this. When you go to the toilet, we will ask you to sit down if you can put the lid down
2:08
when you flush it and flush it twice after every use.
2:13
We will also ask you to have two showers a day. Please check the temperature before you step in.
2:20
This is the size of the capsule. It is about the size of a paracetamol capsule.
2:25
To take the capsule, we ask you to have a sip of water. Then take the capsule like this.
2:34
Then some more water to help it down
2:37
After the capsule, nothing to eat or drink for 2 hours. Then back to a normal diet. Every day you will have dose rate
2:45
measurements taken so we can see that your levels have dropped.
2:50
As part of your treatment, we do a scan on a gamma camera.
2:56
The first scan will be scanning from above your head to mid-thigh.
3:02
We ask you to keep still for this scan.
3:07
Another scan we do is called a SPECT/CT scan. Again, we need to keep nice and still and the camera goes around you very slowly taking an image.
3:18
On the day of your scan, we will take a final dose rate measurement. We will use these measurements to calculate your
3:25
contact restrictions. We may ask you to keep your distance from other people, sleep apart, and avoid places of social
3:33
gatherings for a number of days. We will advise you how long you need to do this for after your scan. and we will write
3:40
it on a restriction card that we will give to you. We may ask you to continue with the sitting and flushing the toilet
3:48
for a few days post treatment. We do ask that you do not have routine bloods taken for a month after your treatment.
3:56
If you wish to travel, whether that is national or international, we will give advice about that. Your washing will
4:04
need to be washed once as you normally would and then you can use it all again.
4:09
There may be restrictions of who can touch your belongings for a few days post treatment, but cosmetics we ask
4:17
only for your use for up to three months. Any craft items such as knitting may need storing before you give to others.