As I’ve watched, read, and grieved about the news concerning the people suffering in Japan after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, I’ve been especially empathetic with their plight from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant leakages. As the evacuation zones have grown, so has my concern with their fears over this silent but invisible threat.
You see, when I had thyroid cancer back in 2004-2005, I was treated with the same radioactive iodine that is leaking from the Japanese reactors, “I-131.” I had the same fears that the Japanese now face on a daily basis, yet my high dosage was “treating my cancer.” The concern that all cancer patients have to face is this: is my treatment protocol more risky than the cancer itself? Swedish Nuclear Medicine, where I was treated, receives their I-131 radioactive iodine from a nuclear plant in Canada.
I remember sitting and crying in the office of my nuclear medicine doctor, saying, “I feel like I am drinking poison!”
He listened patiently to my fears, trying to reassure me. “But it’s a medicine that will destroy your cancer, Mrs. Taylor,” he said. That was little comfort as I prepared for my hospital stay. I called the nurse a few days prior to my treatment at Swedish Hospital to see what kinds of things I could bring to my hospital room.
“Mrs. Taylor, I don’t think you realize what is going to happen. You can’t bring anything with you that can’t be thrown away or quarantined for six months after treatment.”
That statement gave me even smaller comfort. I had such trepidation about all I had to undergo. My other discomfort was that I had to go off all my thyroid medications for a month, so I felt very tired, then extremely annoyed, then totally blasé. I ended up like a drunken sailor with slurred speech. My mind felt fogged up and unable to process simple thoughts. It was humiliating, to say the least.
I was instructed to be on a special low-iodine diet of only fruit, veggies, and home-prepared meat, as I could not have any iodine. Iodized salt was in everything I love to eat, I quickly discovered. My body had to be starved of iodine so my thyroid cancer cells would absorb all the radioactive iodine (I-131) that the nuclear doctors were giving me orally. It was a forced physiological and emotional depression.
One early fall evening, just before I was hospitalized, I was watching the sun set behind white, broken clouds, admiring the rays of golden light beaming down onto Puget Sound, and the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Cathy, everything that happens to you first comes from My Hand; you can trust me for all that you go through.”
“Send out Thy light! And lead me, Father, lead me,
Beyond this darkness, sorrow, and unrest.
Send out Thy light! And guide me, worn and weary
To the calm shelter of my Saviour’s Breast.”
Clewer Manual
From then on, I knew I could face the radiation with courage. I’d had a word from the Lord, and I could trust Him through this.
So with my bags packed, we were off to the “Blue Spa” at Swedish Hospital, as I liked to call it. Wayne and I were escorted to a lead-lined room with sign “Bio Hazard” on the door. The room boasted a beautiful southern view of the city of Seattle. My doctor arrived, and after reading off a list of instructions, he said, “Tell that man he may leave the room.” So Wayne left me there, sitting on my bed in my pretty hospital gown.
Five docs lined up in the doorway with their white lab coats on and their Geiger counters in their hands, along with pens and notepads. They all stood behind a moveable lead shield, three inches thick. A metal cart had been wheeled in with a lead cup, covered by a lead brick on top and surrounded by three lead bricks. My doctor began to instruct me slowly, in a low monotone voice. “Mrs. Taylor, take the lid off the cup…now take the pill in your hand…put the pill in your mouth…swallow the pill with the water.” All the while I could hear the Geiger counters clicking away as the docs wrote down the readings on their notepads. Then they just stared at me for about 20 seconds and finally said, “Good-bye, Mrs. Taylor.” They closed the door and I never saw them again.
With weary eyes I scanned my room and saw blue plastic everywhere! It covered my phone, remote control, mirror, tray, pillow, floor, mattress, TV, shower, and sink. There were also orange stickers everywhere that said, “Bio Hazard” or “Radioactive.” I was told not to go off the papered walking paths or even touch the door! When the nurse brought my food, she opened the door very quickly, slid the tray in on the floor, and then hurriedly shut the door. She said, “I just love thyroid cancer patients! You’re so easy, as I just put you in here and never see you!”
When you’re hypothyroid (too low), you’re always cold. So as I was shivering in my bed, I called for an extra blanket with my plastic-covered phone, and one just came flying through the air from the nurse.
But God. What was to be a dreaded day became a most glorious day,
as the Lord was incredibly sweet, tender and very near. I yawned and yawned, eyes watering, with tears streaming down my face, and I asked, “Lord, do you even keep all my tears when they are radioactive?” I mused on the Lord’s faithful ministry to me as I thought of all the help from the Body at Calvary. It was truly extraordinary. We received three weeks of meals, help, cards, flowers, and thoughtful gifts.
After the radioactive iodine treatment, I lost my sense of taste and smell. The former has come back totally, but my sense of smell only 75 percent. After 30 hours in forced isolation, the doctor came with his Geiger counter, checking my levels of radioactivity, and then he finally released me to my home with strict instructions: no planes, ferries, or any close contact, because I would set off the radiological alarms in these public places. I came home to bed and continued the isolation with separate beds, laundry, dishes, and no close interaction with anyone. I told Riley and Nick they had to stay away, but they didn’t, so I said very seriously, “If you come near me, you will suffer a low sperm count for the rest of your lives!” They both ran like frightened cats.
I was alone…but never really alone. Being extremely exhausted already from no thyroid meds, the radiation laid me waste. I felt so sick and could hardly talk. My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen Thou me according unto Thy word (Psalm 119:28). Like the followers in Luke, I “hung on every word of Jesus.”
My husband called me a “Dirty Bomb,” but I corrected him and said I was a “Dirty Blonde.” Slowly, I came back to my life, thrilled to be able to perform the simplest chores, and so eager to labor again in all the areas of my life. Oh, I could hug and tickle my kids again! I could think and communicate clearly, and I gained my life and energy back.
According to the website “Pathophilia,” the radiation from the Fukushima Nuclear plants on March 16 was 10 millisieverts (10 mSv) per hour, or 10,000 microsieverts (10,000 microSv) per hour. By comparison, in just one of my two doses of 150 millicuries each of radioactive iodine (I-131) there was 10-15 rads, or 150 millisieverts of radiation. But God knows. Radiation can’t harm my soul. He walked me through it all. I trusted Him then and do so now. My heart for the people in northern Japan is that they, too, would know His comfort during their great time of trial.
