# Post I 131 exposure to kids



## Mothertimes3

TT and then I had 100 mCi on 5/1. Approx 48 hours in isolation room at the hospital until I measured 1.5 (never clear on what the measuring gadget was called, not a geiger) from 3 feet away (I was measuring 11 soon after I swallowed the pill.). I have been staying in a friend's unoccupied house by myself for the past four days.

The handout I was given by my nuc med doc reads as follows:
"During the next seven days you must stay away from children and pregnant women."

Almost all patients receiving doses as high as 150 are treated as outpatients at this facility. Based on that, I have been calculating my time frame around the day I was "dosed."

I am a stay at home mom with 3 kids who are 7, 4 and almost 2. I was planning to go home Thursday afternoon. At that point I will be eight days post treatment.

What I don't understand is why I have to carry around a card for the next three months because I might set off radiation alarms. Obviously I must continue to have this crud radiating out of me for quite some time. Obviously I cannot stay away from my kids for that long, but should I still be limiting contact for awhile?

According to a USA Today article (I found it while searching on about.com) the national council for radiation protection and measurement recommends to, "avoid holding children for more than 10 minutes a day for 21 days after." Seriously? 
Anyone out there who is a stay at home mom knows that is simply not possible with young kids!

There is so much conflicting info. I even had one safety officer at the hospital tell me that once my levels were at 1.8 I could go home without restrictions and that the only reason I had received further instructions was because at some point I had "expressed fears regarding my children's safety." Obviously I am lacking in confidence to seek any further advice from them!

Does anyone out there know about the risks of residual radiation that lingers for up to three months?

Thanks!


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## joplin1975

There is, as I understand it, very small amounts of radiation that you *MIGHT* be giving off from as long as up to six months post treatment. The vast, vast majority is in bodily fluids, so while I would be careful around kids for the first ten days, after that, I would just not do things like share utensils (and that is being VERY cautious, it's not necessary). Any amount of radiation you may give off is likely to be no greater than the baseline level of radiation that you and your kids are exposed to on a daily basis.

The card they give you is really just a precaution. The airport detectors are super sensitive and they are making sure there's no mix up, hence the card. I had 100mci in mid-September and had two flights in November. No issues.


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## Andros

Mothertimes3 said:


> TT and then I had 100 mCi on 5/1. Approx 48 hours in isolation room at the hospital until I measured 1.5 (never clear on what the measuring gadget was called, not a geiger) from 3 feet away (I was measuring 11 soon after I swallowed the pill.). I have been staying in a friend's unoccupied house by myself for the past four days.
> 
> The handout I was given by my nuc med doc reads as follows:
> "During the next seven days you must stay away from children and pregnant women."
> 
> Almost all patients receiving doses as high as 150 are treated as outpatients at this facility. Based on that, I have been calculating my time frame around the day I was "dosed."
> 
> I am a stay at home mom with 3 kids who are 7, 4 and almost 2. I was planning to go home Thursday afternoon. At that point I will be eight days post treatment.
> 
> What I don't understand is why I have to carry around a card for the next three months because I might set off radiation alarms. Obviously I must continue to have this crud radiating out of me for quite some time. Obviously I cannot stay away from my kids for that long, but should I still be limiting contact for awhile?
> 
> According to a USA Today article (I found it while searching on about.com) the national council for radiation protection and measurement recommends to, "avoid holding children for more than 10 minutes a day for 21 days after." Seriously?
> Anyone out there who is a stay at home mom knows that is simply not possible with young kids!
> 
> There is so much conflicting info. I even had one safety officer at the hospital tell me that once my levels were at 1.8 I could go home without restrictions and that the only reason I had received further instructions was because at some point I had "expressed fears regarding my children's safety." Obviously I am lacking in confidence to seek any further advice from them!
> 
> Does anyone out there know about the risks of residual radiation that lingers for up to three months?
> 
> Thanks!












I sure can't tell you not to worry but I do think you have been advised properly by the radiologist group and our friend Joplin.

Just wanted to make sure you feel welcomed!! And, I am sorry you had to go through this.


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## Mothertimes3

Thank you for the replies! Wish I had found this forum sooner.

To hear you were not setting off detectors at airports soon after treatment is reassuring.

As for the baseline radiation we are exposed to on a daily basis . . .After finding out that most patents are treated on an outpatient basis I'm a little scared about how that level may be rising! It' a good thing there is such a short half life! But I guess that's a fight for another day and for someone else. I just want to go back to my kids and wonderful husband and put this behind me. I have my scan on Friday. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again.


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## JPGreco

I set off the radiation detector at the local dumps just last week and I had a dose of 15mci at the end of march, so keep that card with you at all times

They told me that after 1 week I was cleared of all precautions. However, my precautions were no different than what yours are for the most part, which I assume means that the guidelines are written for 100mci+ doses and just transferred to others so it's easy. The BIGGEST concern is transfer of bodily fluids.

http://www.thyroid.org/radioactive-iodine/


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## JPGreco

Take your uptake % and multiply it by your therapy dose and that will give you a rough estimate of how much RAI your thryoid absorbed. I would round this amount up to the nearest power of ten (so 104 = 110, 91=100, etc). This would be to account for random absorption by the body.

The rest of the RAI is going to want to be secreted by the body, which is the biggest danger early on. That secretion can contaminate another person, and they could absorb it into their body's. So be cautions for at least 5 days, as the link I posted suggests for total secretion of excess RAI of high doses.

For the half life, take the number calculated earlier and divide by 2 for every 8 days.
So for me, I had 15mci with, say, and uptake of 50%. So 7.5mci, rounded up, 10mci was absorbed (most likely less, but better safe than sorry). It has been, say, 40 days for easy math.
With a half life of 8 days my radioactive decay graph would plot
10, 5, 2.5, 1.75, .875. I'm at the equivalent of having 1mci of RAI administered, but without any threat of secretion as it is fully absorbed. Or at least the secretions are in such small amounts that it poses no danger to others or is in a form that others can't absorb (the iodine has been used to create other compounds that can't readily be absorbed by others).

But as I said, I am STILL setting off radiation alarms as of last week and my card says to keep for at least 95 days or 12 half life cycles. I am supposed to hold onto my card until there is less than 1/2000th of the initial dose left in me. I'd keep the card just in case. Last thing you want is to set off an alarm and not be permitted to board a plane or anything. I can't drop off construction debris without that card cause of setting the alarms off.


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## Mothertimes3

Thanks JPgreco. I may have missed it, but how do I determine my uptake? Since my thyroid was removed, I'm guessing there wasn't much thyroid tissue left to absorb the RI?

Sorry to hear about your setting off the alarms. Must be a hassle. I went out walking the last two days and have kept my distance from the fire station near my house!


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## JPGreco

oh, didn't realize it was a post TT dose. Well then your body really shouldn't hold on to all that much excess RAI other than any lingering thyroid cells and some in your salivary glands. Regardless, it's actually the same procedure I linked to. A few days of no contact due to the body excreting the RAI, and then a few more days of keeping your distance and some other precautions as the last of it is excreted.

As for setting off the alarms, I just hand the card to the guy at the window with my ID (which I need at the local dumps anyway) and they let me go through no problem.


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