Brachytherapy help please!

[CascadiaHoney]

NC for this as it's very identifying.

My FIL has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thankfully his prognosis is excellent, but he will be having brachytherapy to treat the tumour.

My FIL is planning to come and visit us this summer (3-4 months after insertion of the brachytherapy beads). He will be staying with us for two or three weeks, as he lives overseas. I understand that he should avoid prolonged physical contact with our DC, and we can manage that.

However, what I am really concerned about is the possibility of radioactive contamination of our home, in particular my 10-year-old DD's bed. We don't have a spare room, so when FIL visits, my DD shares a room with her siblings and FIL has her bed. If he is spending eight hours per night in her bed for several weeks, will her bed be contaminated with radioactivity? Could this be a danger to her, spending ten hours a day in bed after he's gone?

Another thing I'm worried about is if one of the brachytherapy beads falls out in our house and lies undetected, or worse, is found and played with by my children (the youngest is only four).

I think I'm particularly sensitive to the possibility of contamination because my DH has a medical condition that can be treated with radioactive iodine. He was advised not to have this treatment because of the danger to our young children. Contamination of the home environment was a real issue with radioactive iodine - he would have needed separate eating utensils, clothes washed separately, to sleep alone etc. If such precautions were necessary for radioiodine, why not for brachytherapy?

I really don't want to make FIL feel like a pariah, but I have to put the long-term health of my children first!

Would you suggest FIL postpones his visit, or stays in a flat rather than with us, or am I worrying about nothing?

Thank you for reading all this!

The brachytherapy seeds are totally sealed, so there is absolutely no chance of your FIL contaminating anything - its very different to the radioiodine treatment for thyroid conditions, which is not sealed and goes through the whole body. For the prostate the seeds have idine in their core and then a titanium shell. These are placed very carefully just in the prostate under ultrasound control. Although in the first few days there is a risk of a seed coming out in wee, by the time your fil visits you his body will have put scar tissue around them all.

He can hug your children, play with them, but not sit with them on his lap for long periods, or sit next to them like you would squash up on the sofa. Sitting next to them at the dining table is finr

Thank you CMOT! That is reassuring. But what about my DD's bed? Would that become radioactive, after FIL had slept in it?

No, not at all. Think of his treatment being like a tiny x ray tube in his prostate - radiation comes out, but theres no trace of it left anywhere.

I thought you only needed to take precautions (no long cuddles with children) for 2 months and then basically after 3 months almost all the radioactivity is gone, so I think if your FIL is not coming until 3-4 months after the procedure you don't need to worry at all.

Your're right OntopoftheSunset, though obviously it depends on the information the FIL is given by his care team. This for instance is the patient advice from Guys which says 2 month restriction on close contact.

At 3 months half the radiation is gone, but the levels on patients skin is low to begin with - so though its not gone, the amount anyone else gets is very very low

Thank you very much for that. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable about this visit now.