SURGERY: A surgery can put you out of school for anywhere from approximately 2-10 days. In both of Julie's surgeries, she was out for a week of school. Part of that was because she came back to Arizona for surgery and needed to recover before travelling back to Colorado for school. We felt the recovery time would have been important, even if she'd had the surgery locally. You still need recovery time, even if you are home.
LID and "HYPO HELL" (the time during which you are preparing for a scan or an RAI treatment by not taking any thyroid medications), will not necessarily take time away from school. (But, see next section on Energy/Mental reliability.)
SCANNING DOSE and WBS (whole body scans): These do not need to take time from school. A scanning dose of I-131 (usually less than 5mci) does not require you to stay away from people. So, if you have the energy to get to class, you can still go. The WBS requires the time of a long doctor's appointment.
RAI: Your radioactive iodine treatment will take time away from school for several reasons. You may have physical problems (nausea, tiredness) that make you unable to think about school work. You won't be allowed to be near people for long enough periods to sit in class...until about 7-10 days after RAI (depending on your dose and doctor's recommendations). AND, even when you are glowing, and in isolation, you won't be able to work on homework or projects without contaminating them. So, figure a couple of days of nothing getting done, and then another week and a half of working on your own, but probably not attending class.
WBS: A whole body scan will usually follow your RAI in 2-14 days. Again, this takes about as long as a doctor's appointment.
FOLLOW UP EVENTS: Once you are through the surgery, RAI, and scans, you will probably have to get blood tests every 3 months, or so...and go to your doctor for conferences. A year later, you'll possibly have another pre-scan, possibly more RAI, and possibly more surgery...but let's hope not. :) The scheduling of the yearly followup scans should be flexible by a couple of months, give or take a year.
The interruption caused by lack of energy and lack of mental reliability is the most important consideration. Time interruptions are easier to predict. But it's hard to predict how exhausted and how mentally unable to focus, you will be. Tips for pressing on and dealing with this problem appear, below.
Pushing is NOT always the smart way!! The tendency is to think tough, and figure you'll not give in to exhaustion, but that's not always the smartest approach. You can hurt yourself, physically, if you continue with certain exercises or weight workouts, while hypo. Recovery just isn't the same, and there's more potential for injury.
The mental state and alertness of a person who is hypo should be taken very seriously. You might think you are still thinking straight, but your reaction times might be too slow to make it safe to drive a car (or bike), or operate machinery. There are times when you really need to be responsible to yourself and others, and take a break.
During hypo times, your toughness and bravery needs to show in your ability to remain emotionally strong, while allowing yourself to do less, sleep more, and not be "your good ol' self" for a while.
Please inform me of any corrections or additions you think are needed. I will try to update and add to the list of links in the near future. I'd be happy to hear of information YOU would like to see provided.
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