Desperate to Be Quarantined
When Cancer Treatment Made Me Radioactive, I Was Terrified I’d Expose Someone—But the Hospital Sent Me Home
I walked through a hospital door marked “Nuclear Medicine Department” knowing that when I left, I’d be radioactive.
It took just a few minutes for the doctor to administer a dose of 100 millicuries of radioactive iodine, or I-131. He wore a surgical mask, gloves, and a heavy lead apron. He removed the pill, with tongs, from a cylindrical canister and dropped it into a paper cup. Then he backed out of the room. “As soon you’re ready,” he said from the hall, “make your way out of the hospital.” …
