Papillary Carcinoma 1cm..plz help

[pacant]

my mam diagnosed with Papillary Cancer 1cm and she removed her whole thyroid on 10/5/2009 ....
now she is on 50cmg Thyroxine, after one month she went for follow-up bloodwork and her TSH was over 100...
im very scared......
is it because she removed the whole thyoid and it takes time to decrease the TSH to normal....
or its indication for cancer recurrent....
and i want to know that is there any specific brand of tyroxine to take after thyroid removal or all thyroxine is equal
thank you

[MANmom]

Did she have radioactive Iodine treatment after they did the TT?  Sounds like she should consider it, when they remove the thyroid, it is nearly impossible to get all the tissue, they have to "peel" the thyroid away from the vocal nerves and from the parathyroids, so tissue gets left behind.  If she has the RAI treatment, that should kill off all remianing tissue.

[pacant]

she didnt have RAI, his doctor said that he removed her thyroid capsulated and she didnt need to RAI ...and she is ok...but im still very worried...no one in my family knows that mam had a cancer...olso my mam it self didnt know....i dont know what to do...
and please about her case is TYROXINE good for her or what is the Suitable brand??
Thanks

[Smilerdeb]

Your Mother has just been through a major operation and needs time to heal.
Thyroxin is the best thing for her at the moment and it does take time for the levels to become stable.
What was her Free T3 and Free T4 levels?
Also your Mother would need an increase in her medication if her TSH is 100.0
Give her time to heal but I would also ask about RAI as she is the first person I know who has had cancer and not had RAI.
if she doesnt have RAI, there is a big risk of the cancer coming back.
Your Mother will need thyroxin for the rest of her life now....make sure she doesnt miss any and gets regualr blood tests.
Also make sure she takes it on an empty stomach with a glass of water every morning and not eat for about an hour after taking it or it wont absorb properly and wont work.
Also no vitamins until at least 4 hours after the thyroxin.
Your Mothers Calcium levels should also be checked.
This shouldve all been explained by the Surgeon/Endo who did the surgery.

[MANmom]

I believe that >1 cm is the size of tumor where they are supposed to do RAI treatment, she is right on that border, so maybe they think she will not need it since it was encapsulated.  Anything smaller then they wait and watch TH levels for recurrance in tissue that cannot be removed due to proximity to veins/nerves and/or parathyroids.  She should ask again about RAI, but if she needs it later, they can always do it at a later date.  Remember, thyroid cancer is very slow growing and usually does not metastasize.