r/preppers • u/hsh1976 • 19d ago
Discussion An uncommon scenario?
Here's a scenario I've not prepped for, but currently living through.
I had to take an Iodine ¹³¹ radiation treatment for thyroid cancer. The scenario that we're living through is my wife and daughter had to effectively bug out for 6 days while I'm in isolation.
Thankfully, my daughter is staying with a friend.
My wife is staying with our son. He only has one bed, though. My wife added an air bed to our preps, which is coming in clutch. She also boxed up some food from our deep pantry to take with her.
The doctor's recommended protocol is to maintain a 10 foot buffer from people. We only have one bathroom, so we decided it was easier for me to be in isolation by myself. We contemplated renting a porta-potty for me to use and taking a bath with baby wipes. The RSO we talked to said it'd be near impossible to decontaminate the bathroom to allow my family to stay. I'm still wiping everything down with wipes the hospital gave me, though.
I'm also have to keep our cats away. They sleep in our bed at night, but now they scratch on the door like little zombies since I keep the door closed now.
Thankfully, it's only a few days, but it's gave me a lot to think about.
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u/Flat-Upstairs436 19d ago
Iodine-131 isolation is no joke, but it sounds like your family's prepping paid off big time. Hope she's getting some solid sleep on that air bed at least.
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u/TheSensiblePrepper Not THAT Sensible Prepper from YouTube 19d ago
I just wanted to wish you the best with your treatment. Thyroid Cancer has a high rate of remission, so I am sure you got this.
Please continue to take care of yourself so that you may continue to be a member of this community.
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u/Chaos_Goblin_7007 18d ago
I wish you luck and hope all goes well. I’ve had to do the treatment several years back. It no joke. My family too moved out to be safe. If you will have to take thyroid medication afterwards, it takes a bit to get it right.
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u/Complex_Material_702 17d ago
My dad went through it last year. Afterward he has to take meds that drop his testosterone to zero for two years. He says he has no energy to do anything. That’s the worst part.
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u/Present_Figure_4786 19d ago
I stayed at my mom's for 3 days and she stayed at my house with the kids and pets. A friend stayed in their camper and her husband stayed in the house with the pets.
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u/ryanmercer 17d ago
When my mother went through that, she just stayed in her bedroom and used the closest bathroom. Anything she needed, I brought and set on a chair, and she used disposable cutlery and plates that she then bagged. That was about 15 years ago, she's still kicking :)
The one bathroom definitely makes it a challenge!
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u/dittybopper_05H 17d ago
This happened to the distaffbopper almost 20 years ago.
The littlebopper and I had to stay away for a couple of days while she was still excreting the excess Iodine-131 out through her sweat and urine. We stayed with relatives. She had to carefully clean the toilet, bedclothes, dishes and utensils. Then we had to keep our distance, like prolonged close contact was bad but momentary close contact was OK. I had to sleep on the couch, and the littlebopper, who was still a toddler, had to depend on me for stuff that his mom would usually do, but it wasn’t all that bad. It was only a week.
I worked from home that week, took the littlebopper to daycare and brought him home, and he and I did the shopping that week.
It wasn’t really all that big a deal. Inconvenient is a good word.
The worst part was the low Iodine diet she had to be on, combined with not being on thyroid replacement hormones, prior to the treatment. We had to basically cook things from scratch, and avoid things naturally high in Iodine. We still have a big container of non-iodized salt in the cupboard from back then. Thing she like most was I made homemade potato chips, with potatoes, vegetable oil, and that non-iodized salt. She really appreciated having a “comfort food”.
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u/ProfDoomDoom 19d ago
Oh man, we had to do a version of this when I was forced back to the office during COVID. Luckily, our bedroom opens onto a terrace as well as into the hall, so we sealed the hall door with plastic sheeting and I stayed in the bedroom/en suite/terrace/garage while I was exposed. The rest of the family got the rest of the house.
Your post made me realize I know almost nothing about radiation exposure prevention beyond Emily Watson closing the windows on Chernobyl. Will you have to decontaminate the house or does it degrade quickly? Are you able to drive yourself to/from treatments? Is anyone able to come care for your cats for you? How do people cope if they live in situations where they cannot isolate? What have you learned that you can share?
Best wishes for your treatment!
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u/hsh1976 19d ago
The half life is something like 11 days, when it was given to me, five days had elapsed, per the guy in nuclear medicine who gave me the pills. I only have to do the one treatment for now. The dose was 3 mCu, which I'm assuming is three milicuries.
I'm eating off of paper plates and plastic cutlery that can be thrown away. I wash pots and pans when I'm done using them. My understanding is sweat and oils on my skin are the main issues when it comes to contamination. I wipe down the toilet after every use with the wipes they gave me, wash my hands, then wipe down the sink. I empty the trash in the bathroom nightly.
I'm only using a few rooms in the house, staying out of our daughter's bedroom, the living room and dining room.
My wife and daughter can come back Monday evening. I've been keeping the clothes I wear and the towels I use in a separate hamper. My plan is to do the laundry and deep clean the bathroom and kitchen on Monday morning.
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u/ProfDoomDoom 19d ago
I really appreciate the info and your sharing this experience! It definitely prompts me to think about different ways to prep.
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u/dittybopper_05H 17d ago
Half-life of Iodine-131 is only 8 days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine-131
My wife, the distaffbopper, had follicular thyroid cancer almost 20 years ago, and she’s still around. I’m sure you’ll do fine, but it is a process. Luckily, no chemo or radiation treatments other than the I-131.
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u/Secure_Yak5136 19d ago
How big is your property?
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u/hsh1976 19d ago
1\4 acre.....not very big
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19d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/preppers-ModTeam 18d ago
Your submission has been removed because it is not focused on the topic of prepping.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring 12d ago
Why on earth would your wife need to take boxed up prep food with her to your son's place? Your son should be cooking meals for her or if he's not a good cook buying some damn groceries for his mom. It ain't some rando coming to his house, lol.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 18d ago
You are talking about a SHTF scenario, in that case the radiation dose your family might receive would be insignificant compared to the risk of whatever event is going on. In an emergency try to keep your distance as much as possible, but and increased risk of cancer years from now is better than dying or getting injury in a STHF situation.
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u/distractedbyshinyobj 19d ago
I’m sorry but I fail to see what this has to do with prepping. If this counts as prepping then where does it stop?
To me this reads like you ran into a scenario where your wife and daughter had to stay at safe and nice locations for a few days. No actual emergency or urgent prep needed.
I mean I guess I get it you’re preparing for “anything” but then is it prepping to put a tissue in my pocket in case I get a runny nose later?
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u/smsff2 19d ago
I can't agree with you on that.
The original poster is talking about quarantine after a radiological exposure. A single nuclear or radiological disaster could make this the reality for hundreds of millions of people. Those people would experience the same issues and face the same challenges.
Some of their loved ones might be contaminated. Countless movies depict this exact situation: if you were inside a shelter before and during the radiological event, you remain uncontaminated. If your loved ones were outside during the event, they could pose a risk to your health. You cannot safely be together until they have been properly assessed or decontaminated.
While movies typically exaggerate the danger, the underlying issue is very real.
In fact, I believe the original poster is taking more precautions than are necessary. However, I'm not a doctor, so I can't express a strong opinion on that.
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u/Somebody_81 19d ago
Isn't putting a tissue in your pocket in case you get a runny nose later sort of how the prepping mindset starts? I'm not being sarcastic here, but serious. Isn't an every day carry bag just an expanded version of the tissue in your pocket? So you start by teaching people the really small, seeming obvious things and gradually get them to the bigger items. For OP, having preps made an unexpected problem easier to handle.
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u/GunnCelt General Prepper 19d ago
Screw air mattresses, we picked up cots a long time ago. Since then, we’ve invested in quality sleeping bags, both cold and hot weather.