I posted awhile back about my cat being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.
I got her back yesterday after she had the radio-iodine treatment at the
University of Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.  I had to
take her to Madison (2 1/2 hour drive) last Wednesday for the tests and
then bring her back on Monday for the treatment and I picked her up on
Friday when her radiation level had dropped enough to bring her home.
It was an interesting, but beautiful drive to make 3 times in 10 days
with a crying cat, but we survived.

Smokey had a TT4 (thyroid hormone) level of 10.3 with 1.9-48 being
normal.
I was told that the radio-iodine treatment has a success rate of 94%.
They also found that she has a hiatal hernia when they took x-rays last
week.   She does not have any bad symptoms of this, but if she develops
them it will simply be treated with Pepcid.  This might explain why she
would make this pitiful cry that would precede any time she would vomit.

Smokey seems normal and happy to be home after spending 4 days at the
hospital.  She ended up spending an extra day because she was not eating
well enough at first and the radiation is eliminated in the stools.  Her
appetite now seems to be diminished from the voracious, nonweight
gaining appetite she previously had.

The people at UW were very helpful and called me twice a day with
updates about Smokey.  It was considerate of them that since they knew I
work 3rd shift they would call me first thing in the morning and then at
about 5 p.m.  I appreciated that.  The first day that I took Smokey for
her tests ended up being a monster day for me since it took all day and
by the time I left Madison I had been up for 26 hours and then had to
make the 2 1/2 hour drive home and also worked that night.

Something happened on that Wednesday to prove it is a small world.  In
the waiting room a vet tech asked who I was waiting for and I said
"Smokey".  An older couple sitting across from me asked what my pet was
and I told them it was a cat.  They said the cat they had there was also
named Smokey.  I said I was from out of town and it turned out they were
from the same place (130 miles away).  It turns out we go to the same
vet clinic at home.  It turns out we have the same vet.  Both of us in
Madison, WI with our cats named Smokey.  The trouble is in Madison they
were waiting for my clinic to fax them
Smokey's records.  A half hour later when asked where were the records,
my clinic at home said they had already faxed Smokey's records.  The
trouble is was that it was the OTHER Smokey's records.
Small world.