[Kimberly]

#1062928

Hello and welcome to the boards!

ThyCa, which is an organization for thyroid cancer survivors, recommends minimizing contact with small children for eight days following RAI. *However*, cancer patients receive a much larger dose of RAI than Graves’ patients do. Perhaps someone on the boards who has had RAI with small children at home will be able to jump in here with better information.

Hopefully, someone in the Nuclear Medicine Department can give you more specific guidelines based on the dose that you received.

[DHood]

#1062929

Thanks for the quick reply. I’ve looked at lots of other forums but this was the first I saw that seemed to fit me so I’m excited to be here.

For anyone else with info, I received 20 mCis for my dosage…my uptake (or was it my scan) came back at 82 percent so the Nuclear Medicine Department told me that probably 16 mCis were absorbed into my thyroid. I think my frustration with the Nuclear Medicine Department is pure and simple – different people have different answers…and answers seem to be based on exposure to adults and not kids. I get that there just aren’t definites…the supervisor was honest enough to tell me that. My plan is to stay at a distance for 10 days…my mom is here to help out until then. My wonderful neighbor has a geigor counter available to him and he said he’ll check my levels whenever I’d like for peace of mind. I honestly just don’t want to have to wait 80 days to snuggle with my little guy but I will if that’s best.

Other than that, I can’t wait for this RAI to take effect so I can take those first steps to feeling normal again. I was chalking everything up to ‘it takes a year to get back to normal after having a baby’. And I really want to get off these beta-blockers…I know I have to have them but my joints in my hands have been catching ever since I started them…and I type.. A LOT…for my job. Who knows if it’s even related but seems odd that started two days after beginning to take them.

Anyone else with info or an opinion – I’d love to hear it!

[DHood]

#1018145

I am new to Graves and new to this forum. I am 37 years old and have an eight month old son. I had an RAI treatment last Friday and am now TERRIFIED of harming my son. I have done more research in the last several days on millirems and safe levels – and trust me – I am not a science person. I have charts of decay, read up on half-life and basically driven my Nuclear Medicine Department CRAZY with questions to the point that the supervisor actually allowed me to come in yesterday to have my levels checked with a geigor counter.

When I talked to my endo about this he was much more relaxed about when I’d be safe around my son..48 hours and resume my normal life. It wasn’t until I started getting different information from the Nuclear Medicine Department that I started to freak out a little. A couple of days before I swallowed the pill and was asking lots of questions, I was told the half-life was 3 days. After I swallowed the pill and looked at the sheet of paper they handed me I saw it was eight days…not three. 80 days versus 30 days is a huge difference. I was really not happy with them.

Bottom line, I do not want to hurt my baby. I understand there is radiation…everywhere (a fact I’ve learned quite a bit about the last few days…bananas…really? who knew). But what I need to know…what I need to be comfortable with…is when can I snuggle with my baby and rock him to sleep with his head against my chest and feel safe?? As of now, I haven’t even been in the same room with him for more than 30 minutes and no closer than probably 10 feet…and the first time I did that was today…96 hours after the treatment.

I apologize for the rambling but am so grateful to finally have found a forum that might put my mind at ease. Any info is greatly appreciated.

(A little background about me)
I was diagnosed with Graves just last month. I had called my ob and innocently asked why I was losing so much weight after the baby and what was with all this shaking? They started asking lots of questions; had me in for a diabetes test since I had gestational diabetes, then referred me to an endo. When she got the results back from the uptake and scan, she pulled a few strings and got me into the top endo in the area (gotta love my OB!) RAI seemed to be the best option for having another baby quickly…at least for me. And supposedly my uptake and scan results seemed high enough that the RAI was a good idea. Hopefully we have made the right choice although it’s too late now to look back.

[Bobbi]

#1062930

Instead of a geiger counter, please take a deep breath. What is known. The RAI we take has not been shown to harm US and we carry it around in our bodies for a few weeks. It does harm the thyroid, yes. That’s why we ingest it. But it has not been shown, after over fifty years of scientists actively LOOKING for problems, to harm us long term in any other way. That’s number one. So, that being the case, any precautions for other people are not about imminent, or even long term, harm. The precautions that we are given about others are, as you have found out, guesses, but they are to protect them from UNNECESSARY exposure to radiation.

Throughout the years here on the board, the main advice for parents of small children (and, btw, the owners of small animals) is to maintain distance (a few feet) for a week. Ten days, as you have planned, sounds both prudent and rational. Use the time to pamper yourself: you’ve been sick and stressed.

I hope you are feeling well again, soon.

[pinky35]

#1062931

I too had a difficult time deciding timing. (I have a 2-year-old son and just had RAI in October.) I took all the info I was given by my dr and the radiologist, as well as some online stuff, and just made a plan for myself, stuck to it, and then didn’t look back with a bunch of what-if’s, because it would have driven me crazy! What I ended up doing was this: week 1 I was totally separated from him. My DH took him to a friends house for 4 days and then my Mom flew in and took him on a little mini-vacation to the beach for a few days. Week 2, he came home, but my mom stayed here and did most of the care for him. I gave a few hugs or cuddles, but really minimized my time close to him (I was told limit it to an hour a day). This was the hardest week because he was sick and needed/wanted a lot of snuggles, but Grandma enjoyed them anyway. Week 3, we were back on our own and I did all his care and everything. Perhaps still limited the really close contact a bit, but nothing too bad.

I realize your little one is even younger, so I can imagine it’s even harder for you– Hang in there!

[DHood]

#1062932

Thank you so much for your post! I really like the ‘never look back’ idea. I’m going to have to steal that.

I know I’m being overly cautious (yes, this is bordering on OCD here ” title=”Very Happy” /> )…but since my neighbor has access to the geiger counter and is a math whiz…I let him take the measurements this morning in my home and create the nice little spreadsheet. It’s really nice to see EXACTLY how many millirems I’ll be exposing him to depending on how far I am away from him for how long and then being able to relate that to a plane ride, day in the sun, etc.

My DH says I’m overreacting, but for me, I needed to see those numbers and know what I was exposing him to. And I honestly think my neighbor may have been doing a little of that for himself too considering I hang out with his wife and three kids whenever we can get a play date set up. It may have been a bit over the top, but it’s giving me peace of mind. I also think that I’ve come to the conclusion that the Nuclear Medicine Department (at least at my hospital) is not cautious enough. I didn’t get a one hour warning on week two like you did. I got a, resume your normal life with him after one week.

Besides my obsession over this…I really can’t wait to see how much better I’m going to feel. I’m sure it won’t be sudden, but incremental..and that’s okay. Any improvements will be a blessing.

[deblitz]

#1062933

I stayed completely away for a week, and then the doc said no restrictions (I had it about 6 weeks ago)

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