21 replies to this topic

[quiltdiva]

I would like to start a discussion on airport body scanners. Having CML, and knowing that in the past, extreme radiation has led to CML, what is the opinion of this group on going through the airport scanners? Are the rads enough to worry about, twice in one week, once in a year? I am flying to NYC in May, and while I am not looking forward to the body patdown, is that the preferable choice? Should we avoid any optional radiation when possible?

Thanks to all for this great discussion place!

[Trey]

You get a dosage of about 1/1000th what you would get with a dental Xray.

[SunNsand]

Trey -

We are exposed to small doses of radiation from something throughout our lives. Does radiation break down after time and disappear from the body or is it accumulative through the years?

SunNsand

[cherylannes]

Well actually, if you link to this article, you will see that not even the experts agree how much radiation we are exposed to with these scanners:

http://www.businessw...day/650935.html

Additionally, if you are a frequent flyer (like me) then you have to factor in the radiation exposure that happens from cosmic radiation when we are flying at high altitudes.

http://www.hps.org/p...ialflights.html

When I was first dxed, my husband who was and still is in the airline industry found out that there was a good support group for leukemia patients for airline pilots.  One captain called me up to offer support and explained his transplant procedure and how after two years he had finally been able to go back to work.  He mentioned that quite a few airline personnel, pilots and cabin crew, developed various forms of leukemia.  His was AML.  The article is dated, but it supports what he was saying to me.

http://aje.oxfordjou...143/2/137.short

From my perspective, I worked many years as a sales rep/marketing manager/product specialist/ for injectable contrast media and nuclear medicine isotopes and consequently found myself in all the major radiology departments across North America and Europe.  I am pretty sure I am "allergic" to radiation ;-)

So, because I am a frequent flyer, I do not go through the scanners, and enjoy chatting with the person doing the pat down on me and telling them why I cannot go through the scanners...They always invariably tell me that their managers have said they are not at risk at all.  I tell them well, you are standing here near the scanner for 8 hours every day. If it were me, I would ask my manager to let me were a personal dosimeter and track my radiation exposure. The point is that all of this eventually adds up, we go for dental x-rays, CT scans, do we know the amount of radon in our homes?

It is important to consider all of these things....

Hopes some of this helps...

[SunNsand]

cherylannes -

     You bring up good points. I had a friend that was an x-ray technician back in the days when they would just stand behind a small wall. Her feet were exposed and she developed cancer in her toes. A couple of years ago, my daughter's job used to require she stand in during certain x-ray procedures and she wore the apron for protection and a dosimeter.  The problem was, in my mind, when she would travel from one facility to another, she wore their facility specific dosimeter. So she wore three or four different ones a day, they never tracked her total exposure because they were different companies. She changed jobs so that's one less worry off my list, at least for now.

SunNsand

the worrier

[Trey]

I will not try to explain the entire electromagnetic spectrum, but we are just talking about xrays here, a form of ionizing radiation.  Xrays do not linger in the body.  The lingering types are generally in material form such as plutonium, cesium, strontium, etc which can be ingested by eating or breathing them in.  And we get more background radiation from the natural universe (sun, space, earth) in a day than from an airport backscatter scanner.  And a one hour airplane flight exposes a person to about 30 times more radiation than the backscatter x-ray scan the person received at the airport.

http://www.radiation...ckscatter-x-ray

People can choose to worry about whatever they want.  This isn't one I am going to worry about.  

[PhilB]

I'm definitely with Trey on this one.  The scan is a lot safer than the flight in terms of radiation and both are much less of a health risk than eating the airline food.

[Marnie]

One should also factor in the appearance of the pat-down guy.  If he's a young, good-looking hunk, then one should definitely go for the pat-down.  If he's a strange-looking guy with an ostrich plume in his hat, run screaming for the scanner!!

[Trey]

To follow your logic, do you have a theory about women who want to be patted down?  Just askin'

[Marnie]

No logic involved. . .probably lots of theories out there, however.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get my father-in-law, the colonel, to stop kissing me on the lips whenever we visit. . .I get the heebie-jeebies just thinkin' about it!!  Flying out there for a visit at the end of the week.  Any advice???

[Susan61]

Its funny that you mentioned Nuclear Isotopes for scanning.  I just had to get a Nuclear Stress Test this past Thursday, and never had one before.  I was just wondering about he radiation you get with that. Is it the same as all the other tests we get

[Trey]

Doesn't your neck swivel?  I would imagine you could turn your head fast enough that all he would get was a hairball.

[jrsboo]

@ Marnie:  Tell him your onc has recommended no kissing on the lips, that your immune system is compromised, and how you are sure he doesn't want to hurt you in any way...........much as you love him, a peck on the cheek is much safer for you.

Oooooh, tell him that your TKI's are transferable through saliva and you don't want to give HIM any of the drug, as they are very dangerous (when I first started, there were big warnings on the bag the bottle came in, that no one BUT me should touch them or the bottle itself)  this is of course just an exageration on my part to get him to stop kissing you, I don't think you can transfer the drug through a kiss.  But the bottle warnings are real.

Just two off the top of my head.  Need more?

  Caroline

[PhilB]

Hi Marnie,

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Before entering the house pour a six-pack of beer down your neck.  As he closes in for the kiss just let rip with a belch.  Problem solved.

[akjones]

Raises the question about dental x-rays. I refused during my last visit, my dentist was very understanding. My logic is that I'm willing to risk a tooth ache versus another mutation. I looked at the air port x-ray data and don't refuse, but I do tend to get in the line that doesn't go through the x-ray if I have an option.

[helenet]

Caroline,

You bring up a good question with the warnings that the TKI's come with.  My gleevec always comes from MEDCO in a plastic bag that states "danger-chemo therapy" in large black print with a bright yellow background.

When traveling through the airport I always take the bottle-- but not the bag-- for fear they will not let me travel with the meds.  Is gleevec really that dangerous? They seems very innocuous to me!

[GerryL]

My Glivec just comes in its box like anything else you get in the Pharmacy.

Gerry

[jrsboo]

@ Helnet: I think I remember the doctor telling me (or me reading the package insert) that the drugs can be passed through the skin, so that only YOU should be handling them, and I think that that is why the pharmacy has the special warnings.   By the way, I also use Medco, but for the cancer drugs, they have a specialty pharmacy called Accredo (you can find them online--they are a subsidiary of Medco), and they bend over backwards to get you your drugs faster and keep on top of everything you need.

Caroline

[Trey]

This is not the normal labeling, but is based on warnings that pregnant women should not handle Gleevec.  Lawyers running amok.

[Susan61]

I also get my Gleevec from Accredo Phcy Medco.  They ship them in a plastic bag with another bag inside that bag.  In the summer they ship it in ice packs to me.  I have been very pleased with their service.

I guess it depends on who you get your Gleevec from.  Every pharmacy is different.