Thyca gets the attention of Congress!

Been so *&;^%$ busy lately!  I've been enjoying my undetectable status and not giving thyca much of a thought, which is a good thing I think. 
This caught my attention though...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/20/ap/cabstatepent/main6974320.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CBSNewsTheEarlyShowLeisure+(CBS+News%3A+The+Early+Show%3A+Leisure)

Remember when I was glowing?  I think too many of us were glowing and it caught someone's attention.....

Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to look at how RAI patients dealing with life post-RAI and how much danger they are putting other people in by exposing them to radiation.  I particiapted in survey through the Thyca website about my experiences post-RAI and whether or not I had been given adequate information about how to isolate myself. 
I felt that my hospital did a great job providing me with info and asking me questions about  my living conditions, and I did a ton of research on my own in preparation for glowing.  In the US, it is common practice to take the RAI pill and then go home.  Some doctors will have their patients stay inpatient for up to 3 days, and at one point they used to tell patients to stay in hotel for 72 hours.  According to the study, it is more common in Europe for thyca patients to do RAI inpatient for a few days.  Kinda scary that you could check into a hotel room that was recently vacated by an RAI glowworm, no?  What about the housekeeping staff that had to clean the room with no knowlege that the linens were giving off radiation?  What moron thought an unnanounced hotel stay while radioactive was a good idea?? 

Hmm. 

Supposedly, if anyone came near me within the first 24 hours after the RAI, the radiation exposure was no more than a chest x-ray. 

I was in a good position--no small children at home, no infants at home or in my social circles, and no pregnant women to worry about that might come near me.  I was able to send my cats to my sister's house, and my husband was able to sleep on the couch.  Ok, I did have to whip a blanket off of him in the middle of the night when I realized that I had been wrapped up in it earlier in the first day after RAI, but that was actually pretty funny.  The look on his face at 2 am was priceless. 

I'm not sure if it would have made a difference for me to be inpatient?  I live in a condo, but my unit doesn't touch the walls of the neigboring units since there is an elevator shaft on one side and a utility closet on the other side.  I had a ride home and stayed in the house for more than 72 hours since I felt so crappy afterwards.

I did have a letter stating that I had been given RAI, and the staff did tell me that I would set off a radiation detector.  If you look back at the posts in May, you can see a pic of the Geiger counter Mr. Wonderful used on me daily to see how radioactive I was...it was scarily funny.  I was still making the thing beep a month later (though not much), and I read somewhere that the radioactive iodine continues to work in your system for 6 months to a year after inital RAI treatment. 

Apparently Congressman Markey wants the NRC to tighten up its regulations for RAI treatment, banning all travel on public transportation for 2 days and banning hotel stays.  I don't know if he's pushing for all inpatient stays, and I'm sure the insurance companies will push back at paying for hospital rooms that the patient just sits in, alone and isolated with no staff attention.  We'll see.  Nice to see Thyca in the news, and nice to see someone paying attention. 

I did feel really strange leaving the hospital that day, heading for the car--I don't know how many people I passed by, but I could feel my mouth burning up as the pill started working.  Not to mention my lovely chauffeur who was more exposed than most people.  I still wonder if I gave off a subtle neon glow....

It will be interesting to see if this changes anything.  If the damn cancer comes back, I'll have to do RAI again.   

As for now, feeling pretty damn good even though my hair continues to fall out, my weight is annoying the hell out of me and I am ravenously hungry.  All the time.  I wanted my metabolism to wake up, but this is ridiculous!  Still eating like a crazed rabbit while sneaking bits of chocolate here and there....