Reading Mary Kay's post was like reliving my own experience. When my
youngest child was 19 months old, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer
(mixed follicular & papillary upon excision lab results) which required
132 millicuries of I-131 to obliterate any remaining thyroid cells in
order to control return of the cancer. After consulting every source I
knew, it was determined that my milk would not be safe for about 8 weeks
after the therapy, based on the dosage I received. On top of that, I
needed to be separated from my children for a period of time while the
radiation in my body diminished since my radioactive state could
possibly damage their thyroids. I can't remember how long the
separation needed to be, but they stayed at my mom's for 3 weeks.
In the days before the treatment, I talked to my son about why we needed
to stop "nummies". I do not know how much he understood. He left to go
to my mom's the day I went to the hospital for treatment. We were down
to about 1 - 2 BFs per day by that time (planned tapering had occurred
during the previous 5 weeks).
Interestingly, around the "8 week" point, my son asked for "nummies". I
allowed him to "nurse". He sat there, somewhat latched, and looked at
me like "Now what was it I was supposed to do?". We "nursed" 2 - 3
times a day for a few days, until he no longer asked for nummies. I
think that this was HIS way of weaning.
For the record, there are no indications of cancer. I have chosen not
to continue with body scans since the 5 year mark since all came back
negative, and the size of my tumor, plus its staging led to a very
positive prognosis. I do remember grieving over forced, but necessary
weaning. However, I am still around to mother of a wonderful 14 year
old!
If this were to occur now (i.e. Joel were 20 months!), and with the
readily available equipment (i.e. hospital grade pumps, I might consider
pumping to maintain my milk supply until Joel could resume
breastfeeding...if he could in fact remember how to do it!
Hope this will help your client.
Sandy Hess
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