[Brad’s Gramma]

cva, I don’t have ANY answers to your questions, but I’m taking it upon myself to ping Logan’s Prayer Warriors so we can all pray for your wife, for you, for her medical team...and for your doggy.

[wfu_deacons]

I don’t deal with unsealed sources of radiation, so my first advice to you would be to follow the instructions given to you by the hospital. I-131 is primarily a beta emitter (radiation dose due to electron emission, short range) so the primary exposure mechanism of concern would be ingestion, i.e. physical proximity to your wife is not a significant issue. Keep bodily waste contained and dispose of as instructed. The effective half-life is about 5 days (biological and physical decay) so I would think that you would have been told to take precautions in handling wastes for a couple of weeks.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I’m glad your wife is getting the treatment she needs and has such an excellent caregiver! Best wishes for her recovery.

We had a cat that underwent thyroid radiation treatment. We were told to use gloves when we handled her litterbox, etc, and to wear gloves when petting her, and then dispose of the gloves. We weren’t allowed to have her on our laps or hold her for a few days (how many I forget now). I would think that the litterbox issues would be similar to handling her waste bags, etc.

My suggestion is: For tonight, wear gloves and try not to cuddle up. And then tomorrow bright and early, call her doctor or the hospital or both and point out that you have *special* issues because of her disability, and you need precise instructions how to handle it. The hospital probably has some sort of protocol worked out for this already, to keep their own workers from being exposed. You just need to find out what that is (and also find out if you need any special equipment).

As for the doggies, call your vet. Lots of pets undergo this thyroid treatment now, so your vet ought to have useful insight into how to protect your pets when they come home.

Best of luck!

[Jim Robinson]

Prayers on the way for your wife, you, and your extended family. God bless.

[Jim Robinson]

(dd65snipe)

[JSteff]

Sorry for you and mainly your wife. Hope she is okay. My wife underwent treatment about 6 years ago.

Radical neck operation. Thyroid removed along with para thyroids, rebuilt carotid artery and jugular, 64 other nodes (mostly lymph nodes in head neck and upper body removed), they also took a large part of her voice box, and several other things. Inserted a plastic shunt so she had some speech ability.

Surgery was tough, but she is still alive and now the main problem is she is NON AVID. Which means her cancer will not uptake the radioactive Iodine to mark any Thyroid cancer in other places it may have spread to. So every year they can not get a reading if the cancer is now growing else where in her body.

she get some sort of chemo and every year needs to go back and given some sort of hormone treatment that rids her body of any traces of Thyroid hormone to get better radioactive readings of present progress (if any) of any potential flare up of the Thyroid cancer anywhere in her body.
Those show there are traces everywhere, but not enough for more aggressive chemo or nuclear treatment at this time. The surgery was at UPMC by Meyers, and her follow up is mostly at Hershey Med canter. She looked terrible after the surgery, but has generally been okay. Meyers was the surgeon who did Renquist for the same thing just a couple of months before. She lived, he died.

She is a model for all the medical students every year on follow up visits. The doctors office is usually packed with Residents, and Fellows who want to see how someone who Meyers had operated on is doing. Even at Penn State Hershey Med center for anyone who had such a radical treatment she is doing fine.

She is still alive and doing relatively well so there is much hope for a good outcome for your wife. Prayers and fingers crossed for your wife. Mine is several years (6 or 7) past what they thought when she was first diagnosed and operated on. She thanks God every day that she had Meyers as the surgeon.

Johns Hopkins first misdiagnosed her and that operation they wanted to do (carotid body tumor) would probably/certainly have killed her. We went to Meyers on a 2nd opinion type of visit just 3 days before Hopkins wanted to operate. Meyers saw her and operated in less than 36 hours. Meyers also was the one called in to do Rehnquist for the same thing only a month or two before my wife. Rehnquist died, she lived.

Her treatments are still somewhat reserved as O care is affecting the way she is treated. Hope it works out for your wife. Prayers up for her and you.

[Twinkie]

Husband has had an ileostomy for about 30 yrs. now; and handles it like a champ. He did have to get a clothlike, leak-proof liner for the bed for the occasional leakage. Had a major surgery on Sept. 11th (a bad idea on that date!); touch and go, but the Lord was good to us and he has done well. - I don’t know a thing about the questions you raised; but just do the best you can and take it a day at a time. (I’ve had to learn that “a lick and a promise” method of doing a lot of things is good enough.)

[Alamo-Girl]

I cannot answer your technical questions but join with all the others here praying for your wife, you and all the loved ones, including your companion animals.

[Sun]

Prayers said. God bless!

I had two thyroid biopsies, which turned out to be fine, and was happy to hear that if one does have thyroid cancer the success rate is 95%.