Crossed fingers

[Tui2too]

I'll be thinking of you!
Here's to an undetectable Tg for life!

:-))

[sophiedb]

Whee! All blood test results fine and the onco reckons I have less than 10% chance of recurrence and is happy to sign that off, so I should be ok for my medical.. whenever we go for that, which may not be RIGHT NOW, but at least we know we CAN!

And in a freak coincidence, the onco then asks "where in NZ will you go?", I say "Chch" and it turns out he used to work there and still has contacts.

P.S. How old can a medical test thingy be when applying for a visa? I presume they have a "best before" date.

[Flutterby]

yay for good news.

if you mean the medical for the visa it has to be less than 3 months old when you submit your application, and the police cert's have to be less than 6 months old.

[JandM]

Congratulations, and all the best.

[Tui2too]

That is GREAT news Sophiedb! Wonderful he'll put it in writing too!!
And reassuring that you may have some contacts on the other side. I often lie awake at night wondering what nz follow-up protocol is after thyca, as it differs so widely region to region just in my own country! If you ever need to do a re-scan or stimulated tg test (in hypo mode for accuracy) I heard you can get thyrogen brought in by special request (I emailed gemzyme in Oz and then they very kindly explained it to me). Its not otherwise listed in nz. Just thought I'd mention it in case you were wondering (lol) Good luck with all the plans to move!! :-))

[sophiedb]

Thank you very much for all the congrats *boing*

if you mean the medical for the visa it has to be less than 3 months old when you submit your application, and the police cert's have to be less than 6 months old.

Thank you very much, that'll help us come up with a good plan of attack

And reassuring that you may have some contacts on the other side. I often lie awake at night wondering what nz follow-up protocol is after thyca, as it differs so widely region to region just in my own country! If you ever need to do a re-scan or stimulated tg test (in hypo mode for accuracy) I heard you can get thyrogen brought in by special request (I emailed gemzyme in Oz and then they very kindly explained it to me). Its not otherwise listed in nz. Just thought I'd mention it in case you were wondering (lol) Good luck with all the plans to move!! :-))

Here in the UK the treatment & follow-up is fairly standardised, but whether you can get thyrogen is a postcode lottery - I only made the list as an exception, as I was my daughter's primary carer (she was 9 and then 15mo) and me going hypo-wacky might have risked her safety.

As far as follow-up goes, I had a clear WBS (I-123 with thyrogen) last December, blood tests this month and now that's all I'll have (every 6 months) unless TSH or Tg levels go awry. From what I've read on some of the international mailing lists that's pretty basic compared to the US norm, but that's the NHS for you. At least I get free prescriptions for life though ..but that isn't the case in NZ.

I haven't heard of anyone in NZ being given thyrogen at all I'm afraid, though the Kiwi thyca mailgroup is pretty small. Follow-up sounds pretty similar to the UK. Hope that doesn't sound too terrifying!

[Tui2too]

Thanks for the link (only 9 members!!) No that followup doesn't sound scary, its rather reassuring it means hopefully they won't feel the need to request a bunch more tests! Prescriptions sound very reasonably priced in nz. I'm aware that to get name brand we'll have to pay more though. Relieved the thyroxine scandal appears over and done with...

I found my email from gemzyme and thyrogen can be brought into nz for a patient who requests it (through their doctor/pharmacist) through a program called: 'Named Patient Program', it costs about $1825 (Aus) plus dispensing fee. They said an endo in Auckland was using it. I don't plan on ever needing it again, but its reassuring to know it can be brought in!

After my surgery I went nine weeks hypo in prep for the I131 treatment dose and scan, luckily I had Cytomel to help me out of it at the end....(can't imagine kiwis not having access to Cytomel either!! I'd certainly be willing to help advocate to change that). I had a clean scan then, and another clean scan using thyrogen a couple of yrs later. Here they also do yearly neck ultrasounds and chest xrays for the first five yrs. I feel done with it all, I'm good with yearly blood tests at this point, as long as nz labs will also do ft4's.

Good luck with the process! I look forward to hearing how it turns out.
:-))

[sophiedb]

NINE WEEKS OF HYPO? That sounds horrible!! May it never happen again *shudder*

(it's bad enough laying off the dairy and seafood for 3 weeks )

[Tui2too]

(it's bad enough laying off the dairy and seafood for 3 weeks )

LOL now that WOULD be extra tough in nz!!

I still stock up on kosher salt just in case I ever meet someone on the 'lid' I can gift it to, lol. Its rarer than hen's teeth, and I imagine no easier to find in nz, so I'll bring it with us if we ever get there! lol

[alancoll]

Sounds like good news in the end, congrats