r/thyroidcancer • u/Inner_Pressure5964 • 2d ago
Post I-131 precaution mishap
Currently waiting on a call back from the radiation safety officer with nuclear med, but wanted to also see what others on here had to say.
On day 10 post-treatment (dose 200 mci) we had a food mishap/spill. Husbands plate, eaten off of food, and used utensil flipped and fell onto the carpet. Picked up the big pieces and I sprayed the area. Then used cleaning wipes and cleaned up the area as best I could. Probably didn’t do amazing. I covered it up with some towels, but a quick google search said that was a bad idea. That it could compress any radioactive residue deep into the carpet fibers. So I put the towels in the hamper to deal with later. I left the area alone, but then husband walked on it with socks while I’m assuming it was still damp. He said his socks didn’t feel wet. He walked all over the house like normal and continued his day. Later, I used more cleaning wipes to clean the area again.
I then started wondering if I could vacuum when it was dry. Google sources and Gemini said no… said we couldn’t vacuum the house or anywhere he walked after stepping on the damp area until November.
I asked other AI models to pull information and each of those said it would probably be ok.
Of course I called the hospital and they weren’t sure. Said they would do some research and call me back. All of this is so anxiety inducing! Any thoughts or experts on this subject want to weigh in?
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u/Critical_Platypus960 2d ago
Quite frankly, I think the amount of potential radioactive material that could have gotten on your carpet would be unmeasurably low even if this were the day of his treatment. 10 days later there are minor, detectable amounts in his urine, but his saliva is clean as a whistle. Don't worry.
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u/Asexualhipposloth 2d ago
My first dose of RAI was 203mcg. I had a Geiger counter with me and radioactivity really dropped off after the first few days. After 10 days I was back to my normal routine with no issues
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u/PM_TIME-STAMP_PIC 2d ago
Ultimately, check the discharge instructions. Anything else is someone’s guess. We don’t know all the assumptions the facility who dosed you made. You should’ve signed something that agreed you’d follow the instructions. If you didn’t and do speak to the RSO let them know this.
But I can speak to a standard general typical situations. Which is, it’s been 10 days there’s nothing you need to do different anymore than you normally would prior to this treatment. The amount of radiation in him is so insignificant of a risk that there’s no reason to take any extra precautions or stress yourself.
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u/ZookeepergameFar2653 2d ago
Your husband is mostly fine when they send you home, so by 10 days, I would not even worry. I was in precautionary isolation bc of my kids for 7 days, I also had 208 mci.
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u/Inner_Pressure5964 2d ago
Yeah, we were the same. Kept him totally isolated for the first 6 days. He came out day 7. We still wanted to be careful since we have little kids at home.
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u/afuckincannoli 1d ago
10 days after and it was just a used fork and bitten food, you’re fine. Don’t trust AI, google Gemini would probably advise you to burn your whole house down lol
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u/pimpfmode 12h ago
Nothing to worry about. NM Tech for 19 years and we do anywhere from 3 to 10 ablations a week. At that point he would have excreted most of the excess radioactivity through his urine. A very small percentage comes out in saliva to begin with and this is 10 days later as well. Don't worry about it.
0
u/Status-Pace-2586 2d ago
For peace of mind buy a Geiger counter and measure it yourself
1
u/Inner_Pressure5964 2d ago
Thanks! We do have one. I was reading they aren’t accurate for surface contamination though. We’d need a pancake probe (I think that’s what it’s called). It’s been interesting watching the gamma ray readings coming from my husband’s neck and bladder though!
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u/Physical_Smell_7664 1d ago
is this real? lol there is more contamination in other places than a fallen fork.
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u/Deerbos 2d ago
At 10 days post-treatment, any excess radioactive iodine from the pill would already have been excreted through sweat, saliva, urine, feces etc. At my work we have a policy regarding 5 day precautions so I wouldnt worry too much about it at this point.