Friday, January 25, 2008

Radiation Level Detection

This part is technical--so skip it.

I am taken into another room, where they have a probe that is used to measure the base level of radiation in my neck compared to my knee. Presumably the neck, where there still is remnant thyroid, would concentrate more radioactive iodine than m knee. They print a paper strip that shows a line graph of the radiation eminating from my neck and then do the same at my knee. The knee has very little muscle, no glands, and no organs, so it is a good place to just check the base level of radiation.

Both of these levels are compared and then used by the doctor to evaluate the effectiveness of radiation in my body, verifying the validity of the full body scan. If there is no radiation or not enough in my body, you could assume that the scan--if it came up inconclusive, could then be attributed to an insufficient level of radioactive iodine.

She said that Dr. Halkar would visit with me in 15 minutes to give me the results of the scan.