The human body normally gives off .75 microrads of radiations. There are 1000 micrograds in a milligrad.
Within 4 minutes of consuming the radioactive iodine pill (it looked like an extra strength Tylenol, except for the fact that it came in a 1 foot high lead box with the yellow/black nuclear symbol on the side), the Geiger counter 1 meter away from me picked up a reading of 18.3 millirads of gamma ray radiation.
It's not everyday that your movements are determined by US Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines. As long as I was above 7 milligrams, I had to stay put.
I was in one of 4 special rooms in the hospital. The floor was covered with paper. The phone, TV remote, handles, and faucets were covered with plastic or latex surgical gloves.
I was alone...beginning at 6pm.
In order to flush out the radiation, I had a few instructions.
Suck on sour candies, drink a lot, shower often, and go to the bathroom.
Now, I've long been a fan of sour candies, but when you've been eating them non-stop for a few hours and your alarm clock goes off at 3am and the first thing you do is pop a sour worm in your mouth to stimulate your salivary glands so they don't get radiated...you start losing your fascination with them.
By 7am, I was literally stick to my stomach of the sour taste. It was all I had consumed for about 10 hours, I was sick [a cold I had picked up] and exhausted. Probably only had 3-4 hours of sleep as well.
I did get 2 visits from a nurse (a grand total of 4 minutes and one time, one of them was wearing a heavy lead vest). They would occasionally check in on me via the intercom, but if I was up, they would open the door, hand me a tray or whatever, and then scurry off.
As they in the vernacular of the radition world, I was "hot."
I read a lot, watched a lot of TV...the best movies are always on at 2.30am, aren't they? And a big thanks to those of you who called (and apologies...no call waiting at the hospital which I know impacted some people).
Dave, the radiation technologist with the Geiger counter, came in, pulled out his tape measure and gave me my reading. 6.8 I was cleared to go.
I had to leave everything in the room. The clothes I wore, the books I was reading, the food I had brought...they were all "hot."
My mom picked me up...where I'll be isolation (relatively) for the next few days. Have my own bathroom, eating off of plastic/paper, and continuing to drink A LOT.
Went to bed immediately, got 5 hours of sleep (well, not immediately...had to, uh, deal with some stomach problems!--one of the side effects, I'm told).
Now, back on my feet. had a nice, iodine-rich diet, and am feeling better. A few more days so that the radiation levels go down a bit more and I can safely be near the kids.
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