As I have often said before in these pages, Cancer sucks, I highly recommend not getting it.
I'm not sure if it's the extreme hypothyroidism, the radiation, or the mixture of the two; but I pretty much feel like I've been stuffed into a burlap sack and severely beaten with medium sized hammers.
Why medium sized?
Because they hurt a lot, but don't break anything, and no one hit, is enough to distract you from all the others.
The nausea isn't actually bad (I've been able to eat, drink, and keep everything down), but the joint swelling, aches, headaches, muscle weakness, and general malaise... Not fun.
Honestly, I'm having a hell of a time getting up, moving around etc... Seriously, I'm weak as a damn kitten right now. Grunting when I pick up my laptop, and needing to brace myself and push off with my arms just to get off the couch.
I'm kinda uncoordinated and fuzzy too. I presume thats from the hypothyroid.
One thing I KNOW is from the hypothyroid is that lovely combination of extreme fatigue with inability to sleep. I managed a not very solid 3 hours last night (or rather, this morning. 5am to 8am) even though I was exhausted. I tried to nap twice during the day, and managed to zone out for a half hour or so each time, but couldn't actually sleep.
I'm fuzzing out, and getting foggy, quite a lot.
So, that's all the subjective bad news.
The good news, is that the radiation is falling off pretty fast. So much so that Mel will be able to sit in the same room with me tomorrow.
I'm going to graph out a couple doses here from today:
Date -- Time -- Delta -- Distance -- Dose uSv/h
9/14 0800 18 0 >1000
9/14 0800 18 2 360
9/14 0800 18 3 65
9/14 0800 18 6 26
9/14 0800 18 12 14
9/14 1200 22 0 >1000
9/14 1200 22 2 290
9/14 1200 22 3 52
9/14 1200 22 6 24
9/14 1200 22 12 13
9/14 1400 24 0 >1000
9/14 1400 24 2 260
9/14 1400 24 3 45
9/14 1400 24 6 23
9/14 1400 24 12 9
9/14 1600 26 0 >1000
9/14 1600 26 2 240
9/14 1600 26 3 40
9/14 1600 26 6 22
9/14 1600 26 12 9
9/14 2000 30 0 970
9/14 2000 30 2 210
9/14 2000 30 3 34
9/14 2000 30 6 17
9/14 2000 30 12 7
9/15 0000 34 0 900
9/15 0000 34 2 150
9/15 0000 34 3 24
9/15 0000 34 6 13
9/15 0000 34 12 6
You can see that I switched up to four hour data reporting, from 8am to midnight, with the notable (in bold) exception of the 1400 reading, that being 24 hours after my dose (I gathered every two hours, just because I had nothing better to do. It'll be in my spreadsheet and graphs at the end of the process)
Now, the first thing about this data is I can't say enough how strongly radiation falloff is correlated with frequency and volume of elimination. The more water I eliminated (actually mostly gatorade), the more radiation I eliminated. In fact I tested before and after, just to see the difference, and it was as much as a 10% in less than five minutes. Since all my previous measurements were post elimination, I decided to make all of them post elimination. Also it's clear that the longer you go between eliminations, irrespective of volume, the greater the dosage in the elimination.
A few things are notable about these results.
- The slope of change shallows out very quickly. When you see the graphs, it's going to be a very peaky curve.
- On wakeup at 8am, general radiation levels had fallen about 20-30% from the 2am measurement; and were less than half what they had been 12 hours earlier at 8pm.
- At the 24 hour mark, I was still showing over 1000uSv/h touching my torso (I was at 1600 immediately after dosage); but otherwise the radiation levels at 2, 3, 6, and 12 feet were all less than 15% what they had been after my first full measurement.
- Also, the 24 hour mark was where I first fell below 10uSv/h at 12 feet; the maximum recommended long term dosage for healthy non-pregnant adult; just barely, but below. Some time tomorrow I'll fall below 5uSv/h at 12 feet, the maximum for my pregnant wife; and below 10uSv/h at 6ft.
My first full measurement was at 1600 yesterday, so comparing 24 hour intervals we see (0 is touching my torso, 2 is holding the meter at arms length):
Distance -- 9/13 ------ 9/14 ----- %change
0 >1000 >1000 UNK
2 >1000 240 UNK
3 800 40 95%
6 600 22 96.5%
12 480 9 98.1%
That's a very substantial, and very nonlinear falloff. It's also not directly proportional, not very close to inverse square, and not really on any kind of consistent or predictable trend line slope except "down".
Basically, from my own personal results, you can't make any linear regression analyses to plot future dose numbers with any kind of accuracy.
That said, it looks like it'll be safe for my wife to sit across the room from me early tomorrow (Saturday), and probably 6ft away from me late tomorrow. Unfortunately, it probably won't be 'til Monday or tuesday she can sit on the other side of the couch from me; and it probably won't be for a couple days after that she can sit next to me on the love seat.
As for sleeping together...
Well, I finally fell below 1000uSv/h touching my torso at about 8pm; but the slope of change is pretty shallow. We won't be able to sleep together until that dosage drops at least to 5uSv/h, and in theory it would be safer to wait til it drops below 1uSv/h (we tend to sleep pressed up against each other. Maximum exposure). At the slope I'm seeing right now... It's going to be at least a week... Probably more like two (the trend line is 12 days from dose to get under 5... but as I said above the trend lines are inconsistent).
Oh and you definitely want to be using your own toilet for at least a week as well. That change slope is very shallow too. At the 24 hour mark, I was still eliminating at over half the initial elimination dosage.
One thing that I've found the guidelines are overcautious on though, is your dishes, silverware, and disposable plates and cups. They're not taking on any significant radiation to dose back out; though admittedly it's only been a day, and dosages are cumulative. So with multiple uses over several days, it may build up. I'll test it. Same thing with the sheets, towels etc...
That isn't to say these items aren't picking up some radiation, they certainly are; but it's not a lot, and they don't hold on to it long once out of my immediate presence.
Metal objects however... If you carry change in your pocket during this process, you definitely don't want anyone taking it into a federal building for at least a couple weeks... maybe longer.
I'll have Mel do a residual test with me out of the room on m sleeping position, my laptop, the contents of my pockets etc...
And that was day two...
