When a Cancer Therapy Puts Others at Risk

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — Doctors told Ann B. Maddox that she had thyroid cancer and that the cure was to swallow radioactive iodine, to kill the malignant cells. She traveled 500 miles from her home in Fayetteville, N.C., for treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Then began a problem: what do you do when you cannot go home and you are radioactive?

There are about 40,000 new cases of thyroid cancer a year, and most patients are treated with radiation, which makes them potentially dangerous to people around them for up to a week.

The question of where they should spend that time is drawing new concern from doctors, public health officials and regulators.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/health/policy/25radiation.html?th&emc=th

[murielm99]

1. I had radioactive iodine to kill my thyroid.

They just sent me home. I had to keep away from my pets and sleep alone. I had to flush the toilet twice. I have been told that other radiation patients are given the same instructions. And they are just beginning to talk about this?

[groovedaddy]

2. I hear you. This wasn't an issue before? Well, yeah, it was, but it appears to have been swept

under the rug. It amazes me that the human body can even take this (i.e. the patient).
I hope it helps you!

[murielm99]

3. It did help.

When someone has Grave's Disease, the body just not digest food only. It digests muscle, fat, organ tissue, brain tissue, or whatever is there. I was losing a great deal of weight. I had anger issues and terrible insomnia.

But the side effects are not good, either. I have to take thyroid replacement, and we still do not have the right combination. The right drugs for me may not be available in this country. Thanks, Big Pharama.

This spring, I am going on a big diet. I have gained about sixty pounds. I am now strong enough to begin some sort of exercise program, too, if I start out slowly.

But these people sent me home twice after radiation. I had an iodine uptake test earlier, too. I suppose I should have surmised that they were not taking proper precautions. Doctors want to rush us through our appointments and treatments so they can see as many people as possible in one day. They treat the labs, not the patients. I am not alone in my frustration.