For a homeschooler, everything is a learning experience, so I can’t resist the opportunity to turn this into a science lesson. For my kids and yours, here are some random facts about radioactivity:
- When you’re radioactive, you give off radiation.
- Radioactive iodine 131 has a half-life of about 8 days. (My friend Stephen told me this.) That means every 8 days, the radioactivity reduces by half. In approximately 80 days, all my radioactivity will be gone and I’ll lose my superpowers.
- RA 131 is measured in millicuries (mci). I received 50 mci.
- Because I’ll be radioactive for so long, I have a special piece of paper to carry around that says I’ve received a therapeutic treatment, in case I set off any radiation detectors. Really.
- When it comes to exposure, time and distance matter a lot. The farther away I am from someone, the more time I can be with them. One foot away isn’t very good; 6-7 feet is ideal.
- Anything that touches my mouth is considered highly radioactive—forks, spoons, cups, napkins. Therefore, toilet paper is my textile of choice. It can be flushed, and it’s good for wiping all kinds of things.
- I have to flush the toilet twice whenever I use it, just for good measure. (That’s probably more than you really wanted to know.)
- My trash is radioactive. I’ll need to save it for a few weeks to allow the radioactivity to dissipate. Otherwise, it could set off radiation alarms at the landfill, and then Homeland Security would have to ferret me out. (If this happens, I can show them my piece of paper. The one Stephen gave me.)
- Plain water washes away radioactivity. (I like to use soap too.)
- I can’t eat corn on the cob, chicken on the bone, whole apples, or anything I would put up to my mouth but not consume all of.
- It’s safe for me to be around adults 3-5 days into the treatment. (Stephen said 3. My written instructions said 5. Ken prefers 5.)
- I can’t hug children or pregnant women for 8 days, except I have given my kids some very brief hugs.
- Sorry, I don’t glow in the dark. Nor do I have a nuclear symbol on my chest.
- To protect my armchair and mattress from radiation, I covered them in vinyl, which I’ll discard at the end of this.
- Except for books I own, I’m only reading digital versions so I don’t contaminate the paper. My iPad can be wiped off, but a contaminated book has to sit idle on a shelf for a couple of months…not practical for a library book.
- I do all my own dishes at a separate sink. In a few days, I’ll wash all the bedding, clean the rooms I was in, and wipe down everything I touched while radioactive.
- I haven’t spent any time on Webkinz World this week because I didn’t want to contaminate it, Bekah. 🙂