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Brachytherapy/seed's and sleeping in the same bed ?

Brachytherapy/seed's and sleeping in the same bed ?

Please someone with a correct anwser, Rick had seed's placed 2-21-10, I can'tget the same anwser from the doctors.

We have been sleeping together for 22 year's, I am 41 year's old Rick is 46.

CAN we sleep in the same bed ? Rick has put a pillow between us, I am miserable. please advise.

God Bless
Luann

Re: Brachytherapy/seed's and sleeping in the same bed ?

Aloha Luann & Rick,
The radioactive seeds that Rick has are designed to emit radiation that will kill nearby (very close, like next to the seed, that is why they use many seeds) cancer cells and hopefully will not damage good nearby tissue beyond a recovery point. There is radiation that does escape from Rick's body, so if you were to sit on Ricks lap for hours you would receive a radiation dose. Now in perspective, every time you fly commercially you also receive a radiation dose. Both these doses are small. I believe that the recommendation is that children (young developing bodies) should not (for a couple of months) sit on Ricks lap. The reason I say lap is because if you sit next to Rick, the radiation must travel through 8 or so inches of Ricks body to get to you. By the time this radiation travels that far it is very weak.
Will this radiation hurt you, sleeping next to Rick for an extended time, yes. For the first few weeks, you and Rick could hold hands while sleeping with your bodies as far apart as possible if it will make you feel better. The point here is that no matter what any one tells you, you must do what you feel comfortable with. If radiation scares you, do not sit on Ricks lap.
I know radiation is that unseen, unfelt, substance. Perhaps your radiation oncologist could draw you a diagram of the dose from the seeds (Ricks prostate) vs. distance. When you are away from Rick far enough to receive less that 10 mrem/hr, you are safe. I'ed need to refresh my memory about this, but it seems like you get 30 - 35 mrem/hr at 30,000 feet in an airplane.
The yearly dose for radiation workers was 1.25 REM. This would be 1250 mrem. It has been a while since I was using these numbers. So I'll do some checking and get back to you if I'm off.
Joe

Re: Brachytherapy/seed's and sleeping in the same bed ?

Absolutely no problem. The only warning is not to have small children sit on his lap for the first 8 weeks.

Re: Brachytherapy/seed's and sleeping in the same bed ?

Aloha Luann & Rick,
Well, I was off a bit on the radiation doses. 3 to 5 mrem for round trip air cross country. Radiation workers are allowed 5000 mrem/year. The gov site I found says that the average dose/year is 300 mrem/year and that depending on where you live sea level (lower), Colorado high country (higher) you could get 1700 mrem/year. If you are exposed to standard diagnostic medical radiation procedures, you could add another 10 mrem/year for infrequent to over 100 mrem/year for frequent. Medical exposures are specific for each individual. Back when my father had dental x-rays (late 1930's early 1940's), all his teeth were replaced, the dose was high enough to have many facial skin cancers removed in the 60's and 70's.
Still, Ricks radiation exposure to you is very low due to the type of radiation that the seeds release and the half life of the source. If you two spent all your time touching, you might double or triple your yearly dose in that first 2 to 3 months. If you receive radiation treatment for any cancer, then Ricks dose to you is very minor.
Hope I have not made this more confusing than it is. Please do not worry about your exposure.
Joe

Re: Brachytherapy/seed's and sleeping in the same bed ?

Luann,

Published studies show that there is no risk of radiation damage to other parties with brachytherapy. The warning about young children is a 'boots and braces' approach in the views of radiologists.

What is termed the 'half life' of the pellets inserted into Rick's gland is usually about three months - you can check on the seeds he got with the radiologist to find out the precise time - and certainly after that there is nothing to worry about.

It is not clear just when Rick had his procedure. You say 2-21-10 which I understand to be the US way of writing 21st February 2010 - which is almost three weeks away, so I guess you may have the date wrong.

The one aspect where there might be a problem is if a seed works loose before healing is complete there is a remote chance that it might be expelled with ejaculate. for this reason some doctors recommend using a condom for some short time after the procedure.

Hope this helps you and Rick to put your minds at rest. Tell him the pillow isn't neccessary:-)

All the best

Terry in Australia

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