parentwithgrace
Hi Shannon, Our daughter is 12 and she had RAI 7 weeks ago. We were in the situation you are in surgery or RAI– (you can find my earlier post explaining more). It became clear surgery was not a safe option as there are not surgeons that have done this procedure thousands of times on children and it is a delicate surgery perhaps effecting the vocal cords. I have been told Graves is rare in children so that is partly why there are not skilled surgeons for this. So we decided on RAI. It went much as Nancy described–We spent the week preparing with various tests and then on a friday she had the dose and we were out of the hospital and home. We did take more precautions than mentioned for the 3 days at home such as washing her dishes separate from ours, using her own bathroom, not sharing bedding, clothing etc. We had a list of precautions and we followed all of them. She carries a card that she had radiation treatment also incase she sets off an alarm somewhere!! 
” title=”Wink” /> She has been taking SSKI twice a day to support the RAI treatment. She has had blood work done every 3 weeks. There have been ups and downs during the thyroid imbalance and lots of brain fog. She has handled it well and I have kept a close eye on her offering all the support I can. We received great news yesterday from Fridays blood work — she has gone hypo thyroid and we will start replacement therapy tomorrow. If anyone has advice for us in this next phase we are glad to receive it. So overall it has all gone well. I have read as much as I am able– this site has been very helpful and I found the book Thyroid Solution helpful too. I hope this gives you some reassurance– I would be happy to talk more as you go thru this. take care of yourself too– I know how stressful this is as a parent. grace