On day 7 after my radioactive iodine-131 treatment I had to go back to the hospital to get a whole body scan.   The intention of the whole body scan is to identify if any of the cancer has spread throughout the body, metastasized.  For the scan I had to lie down on a table as the scanner slowly moved over my body.  The scanner has sensors that detect radioactive iodine.  At the time of the scan radioactive iodine should only be found in thyroid cells or thyroid cancer cells.  Then entire scan took about 24 minutes.  Yes, it was very hard to stay still for this long period of time....

Even though the scan was performed in an open bay scanner I still got a little claustrophobic.  I had to arrange my neck in an awkward position during the scan.  This wasn’t that comfortable but the technician did provide addition neck support with pillows. Overall, the whole body scan was simple.  The whole thing took about 45 minutes.  Let’s just hope I come back negative!

If you ever have to have a whole body scan you may want to bring an IPOD...attach some speakers to it and you can pretend you are at a relaxation parlor. This will help the time go by.