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Re: saftey of being in the proximity of someone on RAI therapy
Philip,
Unless there is a regulatory state requirement, which
I doubt, there is no requirement to isolate household
trash. It is a nice idea, but unless the hospital or
local authorities are willing to pick it up, patients
should not be required to do so. Does Colorado have
such a provision?
I have never heard of a private citizen being asked to
pay charges for contaminated waste.
--- Philip Egidi <phil.egidi@state.co.us> wrote:
> And PLEASE have your friend follow the instructions
> given (hopefully) by
> the doctor/clinic/hospital as to disposal of wastes
> that may contain the
> I-131 after she is released from patient care. Do
> NOT just throw paper
> towels or anything that may contain body fluid
> (feces, urine, sweat,
> vomit, etc), in the trash - it may set off alarms at
> the local landfill.
> Your friendly state regulator (or less friendly
> hazmat response team)
> may end up dumping the load looking for the
> offending trash in order to
> deal with it appropriately/ If the responders can
> trace the radioactive
> trash back to your friend, she may get a visit from
> the suits, and
> perhaps a bill for the effort.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil Egidi
> Colorado
>
> >>> John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM> 08/19/04
> 07:42 AM >>>
> Steve,
> Your friend is being treated with I-131 to ablate
> any
> remaining thyroid tissue. I-123 is an imaging
> agent,
> which was probably used during a diagnostic scan to
> assess her the extent of the cancerous thyroid and
> uptake of iodine.
>
> Because she no longer has a functioning thyroid,
> various hormonal and physiological problems will
> develop. Eventually, she will be put on a synthetic
> hormone that will have to be adjusted over time.
> Too
> little, and the patient is lethargic. Too much, and
> the patient is too hyper. I assume they have not
> started her on replacement therapy because the want
> to
> ensure that all of the cancerous thyroid tissue has
> been destroyed.
>
> Your friends sinus problem may be a side effect of
> the
> removal of the thyroid, or a totally unrelated
> effect.
>
> There are a number of Web sites dealing with thyroid
> cancer try
> http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/CRI_2_3x.asp?dt=43
> and
>
http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/types/thyroid/
>
> With regard to at home care, the precautions she is
> asked to take are to ensure that exposures to the
> public and family members as the I-131 decays. She
> should have been given a date as to when she no
> longer
> needs to follow these precautions.
>
> The precautions you discussed with probably provide
> minimal protect to you. Potassium iodine would
> protect your thyroid from uptake of radioiodine.
> However, patients do not excrete significant amounts
> of iodine. It is bound to the remanant throid
> tissue;
> proper hand washing and sanitary activities, e.g.,
> using separate eating utensils, precludes the spread
> of contamination.
>
> The use of a leaded apron will provide no benefits
> to
> protecting yourself from radiation emitted by your
> friend. The radiation emitted by I-131 is high
> energy,
> and the leaded apron protects against low energy
> x-ray
> radiation. The best way to protect yourself is to
> stand or some distance from your friend, e.g., 3 to
> 6
> feet, and not spend significant amounts of time. I
> would avoid spending whole evenings watching TV with
> her.
>
> It is also important to keep in mind that the
> recommendation are precautionary. No harmful
> effects
> have ever been shown to occur to caregivers who have
> worked with therapy patients.
>
> --- Steve Packard <kb1ipd@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> > Hello. I realize that this board is not normally
> > concerned with nuclear
> > medicine, but perhaps someone with a good health
> > physics background could
> > help me.
> >
> > I have a very good friend who a few years ago was
> > diagnosed with thyroid,
> > throat and lymphoid cancer. Her thyroid was
> > removed and since then she has
> > been given radiation therapy approximately every 6
> > months.
> >
> > Her therapy consists of direct gamma irradiation
> of
> > the neck region and
> > ingestion of radioactive iodine. I believe the
> > isotope is iodine-123, but
> > she didn't know for sure what isotope of iodine is
> > used. The iodine is
> > administered in an attempt to eliminate any
> > remaining thyroid tissue.
> >
> > The radiation therapy has the side effect of
> making
> > her very ill,
> > immediately after it is administered, and has the
> > long term effect of
> > causing her sinus problems.
> >
> > Her sinuses are chronically clogged and painfully
> > filled with fluid that is
> > impossible to drain. She has sinus infections
> > frequently and has been on
> > antibiotics so many times for sinus infections,
> that
> > they are losing their
> > effectiveness.
> >
> > I am not sure if it is the iodine treatment or the
> > direct irritation which
> > has caused this damage to the sinus region.
> > However, clearly there has
> > been tissue damage from the radiation that is not
> > healing. Does anyone
> > know of any supplements, medications or techniques
> > that are effective in
> > promoting the healing of radiation damaged tissue,
> > such as that in the
> > sinuses?
> >
> >
> > And on a related note:
> >
> > When my friend is given the radioactive iodine,
> she
> > is ordered to stay alone
> > in her home for over a week. She is told she
> > cannot be within 25 feet of
> > anyone else and cannot closely interact in any
> way.
> > This is very
> > difficult for her, especially because she becomes
> > ill and would benefit from
> > personal care.
> >
> > Would it be safe to spend time with her if I did
> the
> > following: I Took
> > potassium-iodine before being around her (incase
> > somehow iodine excreted
> > entered the environment), I wore a 1 mm thick
> lead
> > radiological apron, lead
> > kilt, thyroid protector, gonad protector,
> > radiological lead-acrylic glasses,
> > and .5 mm equivalent full-arm lead-rubber gloves.
>
> > I also would wear a
> > digital alarm dosimeter to verify that my time
> would
> > stay within reasonable
> > limits of safety.
> >
> > If I took these protective steps, would I be safe
> to
> > spend a period of a
> > couple hours a day with her?
> >
> > . . .
>
> =====
> +++++++++++++++++++
> "Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects."
> Will Rogers
>
> -- John
> John Jacobus, MS
> Certified Health Physicist
> e-mail: crispy_bird@yahoo.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________
>
=== message truncated ===
=====
+++++++++++++++++++
"Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects."
Will Rogers
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail: crispy_bird@yahoo.com
_______________________________
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