More Research Needed

Ok before you read this post, I highly suggest watching the video posted earlier today.  Its yours truly and a few members of my Susan G. Komen 3 Day for a Cure team – the Pink PediCures – just trying to spread some holiday cheer! :)

If you read my post a few days ago, you are probably wondering if I did some research on the “getting pregnant after cancer” issue. I’m not planning on this anytime soon mind you but the more I'm learning, the more I realize it may take extra planning. (Still taking applications for Mr. Right, btw)  I did.  Bottom line is thyroid cancer is so rare and more common in older women that there is still much more research needed on the subject – BUT – I was able to find a couple studies on thyca patients and more info on thyroid patients in general in relation to pregnancy.  From the few studies I did find, these are the tidbits that seem to stick in my brain:

• As said before I cannot get pregnant for a year after taking my therapeutic RAI dosage and if pregnant cannot get a scanning dose of RAI because of radiation exposure to the baby.
• For the fist 10-12 weeks, the baby has no thyroid and so exclusively uses the mom’s thyroid.  Since I have no thyroid, the monitoring of my medication dosage would be critical so that myself and the baby would not have too little or too much thyroid hormone.  It is not uncommon to have to increase your dosage by 50% or more during this time.  The dosing is completely critical - If I have too much thyroid hormone during pregnancy, it can lead to fetal growth restriction and stillbirth.  If I have too little thyroid hormone, it can lead to intellectual deficits.
• You can’t take pre-natal vitamins containing iron and you can’t take the vitamins within 2-3hours of taking your hormone because they interfere with the absorption of your thyroid hormone pills.
• If my thyroid hormone isn’t properly regulated, it may be difficult for me to get pregnant.  And if I do get pregnant, my chance of having a miscarriage is higher than normal with some studies citing a 40-50% chance of miscarriage.

So basically while it isn’t impossible, it may be difficult to get pregnant and carry a pregnancy full term and I should plan ahead and have very close monitoring and follow-up during.  I wonder if this qualifies me as high risk?