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Re: nuclear cardiology nurse
Bob
What does her medical oncologist have to say about it? If it is he who is
concerned about the possible effects of low levels of occupational
radiation exposure, you might consider referring him to one of his
radiation-oncological colleagues, for an informal consultation. Docs always
take information much more easily, when the source is one of their own.
Bear in mind that external beam therapy, sometimes with a brachytherapeutic
boost, is done all the time for these patients.
A couple of times it has happened to me that, on monitoring the rooms
adjacent those in which patients were being treated by LDR brachytherapy, I
encountered patients who were (relatively) freshly post-BMT. I could not,
of course, truthfully tell them that there was no exposure above
background. In one case, the patient seemed to be comfortable with my
explanation of why he should not anticipate any ill effects (any effects at
all, for that matter). In the other case, the woman was so fearful that
some damage might be inflicted on her new marrow, that I had to ask her
radiation oncologist to give her a pep-talk. Subsequently, she seemed much
less anxious. I'm aware that this situation is not a perfect replicate of
yours, but it seems that they're in the same orbital plane.
Break a leg
cja
alstoncj@georgetown.edu
P.S. To forestall the possible question: On a nursing unit that usually is
at full census, it may not be feasible to move a patient to another room,
without any notice.
At 01:53 PM 7/20/00 -0500, you wrote:
> A Nuclear Cardiology nurse in our facility has breast CA. She had some
>degree of surgery with post-op chemo. She was out of work for a few
>weeks recently, and noted that her wbc count had risen to low normal
>range (3.8). One week after returning to work, the wbc level dropped
>again to 2.9 and remains there.
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