Radiated on purpose as an infant in the 1950's, cancer developed years later
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Thanks for adding to the ever-lengthening list of people who misguidedly had their thymus radiated as infants and are now being diagnosed, as senior citizens, with cancers in and around the same area. Medical science failed us and left me with what I consider a healthy skepticism about supposedly "safe" tests and procedures today, especially, although not exclusively, if they involve radioactivity in any way.
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I've been thinking since reading your post, JodiC55, although I could ask this question of pretty much everyone who has been diagnosed with some sort of cancer as the likely result of infantile thymus irradiation. How was your cancer discovered in your much-later life? How does someone find, for instance, parathyroid adenomas?
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One more thing... While wondering if irradiation of my thymus, as an infant, continues to keep me on edge about other cancers showing up, now that I'm 68, I've also become aware that I'm in the fourth paternal generation to have heart issues. I was given an exercise stress test by a cardiologist and he said I had a minor irregularity at my peak heart rate. No big deal, he said, but then wanted me to take a nuclear stress test. As a result of the misguided irradiation when I was a baby, and the cancer issues that followed (thyroid), I'm very reluctant to undergo any other medical intervention or test that involves radioactivity. To my friends who had the thymus irradiation as an infant, how concerned are you about tests and treatments that involve more radiation? Bottom line: I said no to the nuclear stress test.
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I was radiated in 1953 after being born 3 weeks prematurely and having an "enlarge thymus". My mom said
I frequently "stopped breathing" and she freaked out. My parents took me to "the city", which was Oklahoma City
not far from where I was born. I received 3 treatments. I also received radium treatment on top of my head and
on my left side for two hemangiomas. I'm 69 years old now and so far so good except that my thyroid is full of
tumors, which have been benign on biopsy, but I don't trust it and think I should just have the whole thing removed.
My question is: Would they also remove my parathyroid glands and are they as susceptible to cancer as the rest
of the gland? Would I then have to take calcium supplements for the rest of my life? Any answers greatly appreciated and blessings to all who post here.
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Ah, yet another "enlarged thymus" irradiation victim check in. It still astonishes me how cavalierly the medical profession embraced radioactivity as a viable and "harmless" treatment or diagnostic option. And for newborns, no less. In my opinion, lamentably, physicians today remain just as cavalier about it. We're no patients, we're profit centers. Okay, rant over. I had my thyroid removed in 1977, 24 years after my thymus was irradiated. The surgeon didn't touch my parathyroids, but that's not to say tumors (cancerous or otherwise) might not still develop there. I highly doubt a surgeon would remove parathyroids without a good reason, but I also suspect unnecesary treatments and tests are done with impudence, these days. It's essential, I think, to address the possible parathyroid issue with your doctor and I'd also recommend securing a second opinion. As far as calcium, my understanding is that parathyroids regulate calcium in the bloodstream. So, if yours are compromised, the concern would be that you'd be experiencing high calcium (and phosphorus and magnesium) readings in a blood test. If your calcium numbers are out of range on the high side, there may be something amiss with your parathyroid glands. I check my semi-annual blood test results carefully to make sure all my numbers are in range. All that being said, I'm no doctor, but I've learned to be relentless about educating myself and advocating for myself. Some of my doctors have appreciated my investment in my health, but I'm sure I'm considered obnoxious to some others. Now I have a question, with tumors on your thyroid, even benign ones, is it functioning properly? Are you not having any related problems? My thyroid cancer was malignant and I had weight/metabolism issues throughout my childhood. Stay in touch and keep us all updated, please!
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Hi, thanks so much for your good advice. To answer your question; yes my thyroid "seems" to be functioning well enough. Numbers are all in the right range but I'm cold all the time and quite tired. No evidence (at least on blood tests) for hypothyroidism. I'm getting more opinions from some better endocrinologists soon. I'm thinking that even though it seems normal now, it may not stay that way and my sister, who is a doctor herself, and who also has thyroid issues (for different reasons) thinks taking the whole thing out would be the best thing to do and is what she would do in my position. I'm still weighing all the evidence but hearing everyone's stories in this forum is very encouraging to me. Thanks again.
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Hello. I was saddened to do a search and find that this topic remains active. I was radiated in the US, west coast, as an infant, after spending much of my early months hospitalized with upper respiratory infections. It was for chronic mastoiditis. I was diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, autoimmune disorder, in my 30’s, had thyroid nodule, hurthle cell adenoma, and partial thyroidectomy, age 40, thought to be direct result of radiation. Also, in 2012, breast cancer. My breast surgeon thought the radiation may have been a risk factor. I would rather have had the mastoiditis. Hmm sorry to see you all here.
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It is sad, isn't it? And angering. The irradiation of my supposedly enlarged thymus when I was a newborn has adversely colored my perception of medical science and professionals my entire adult life. Six, seven, eight decades after such "safe" treatments were administered, cancers in the head, neck and chest area continue to be diagnosed and quite are reasonably attributed to the irradiation. Even more preposterous is that medical professionals still seem oblivious to the risk of using radioactivity in diagnostic tests and treatments. A cardiologist recently instructed me to get a nuclear stress test after a "minimally abnormal" exercise stress test. I declined the nuclear stress test after reading articles in several medical journals linking exposure to radioactivity, in the measure the test calls for, to an increased risk of cancer. No kidding. A nuclear stress test, I learned, packed about the same radioactive punch as 400 chest Xrays. Yet, they've come to be prescribed as routinely as the classic, "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning." It's unconscionable, unethical and reprehensible, but we continue to be assured that such tests are "perfectly safe," just like our parents were assured decades ago. Educate yourself, question everything and self-advocate.
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Good advice. The younger one is with the original exposure, and many of us were tiny or very young in the 1950’s, the greater the impact. I find I have to explain myself and radiation exposure. There should be more awareness. Thanks for your advice and support.
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You're quite welcome. Thanks for subjecting yourself to my rant! :) Wishing you the best of future health!
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I had my thyroid removed and took my iodine treatment March 18th of this year. I am wanting to color my hair but my beautician is afraid it may be to soon. Does anyone know? I know it is a crazy question but I really don’t think I would look to good with orange color hair. Thanks
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Hello, I was radiated with cobalt in 1945 for a birthmark on my neck, at 6 months old. I am 77 now and last year found a mole in the neck area where radiated. It was melanoma, removed and I am cancer free now. I did not put two and two together until I just found this blog while researching my thyroid. The doc sat me on my mom's lap to do it and she had so many cancers. I hope they draped her with a lead vest of some kind. Can't ask her, she passed away.
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Thanks so much for sharing this snippet of your life, Dee. Stories like this always stir, in me, a combination of sadness and anger. A silver lining, however, is when we connect with our irradiated kin, sharing similar experiences and offering support. Like you, I wish my parents were still around to pose questions I failed to ask in my younger days. (I'm 69.) I'm glad your melanoma was diagnosed properly and successfully removed. Over the past couple years, I've been diagnosed with several skin cancers in the area of my thyroid (irradiated as an infant in 1953). Every time I see an odd discoloration near my neck, or feel any unusual pain in that area, I consider the possibility that it's cancer from the horrifyingly misguided shrinking of my "enlarged" thyroid with radiation. Also, with heart issues in my family, a cardiologist recently advised me to get a nuclear stress test, which includes being injected with a preposterous amount of radioactive material, equal to as many as 400 to 1,000 chest X-rays, according to information in some scholarly medical journals. I passed on that test. It seems like, as long as there's money to be made, medical professionals are still playing fast and loose with radiation, even seven decades later. I wish you many more years in the best of health, Dee, and thanks again for sharing!
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Hi, Roxi. I apologize for having seen this post last month, without remembering to reply. Part of that failure, quite honestly, is because I had no idea how to advise you. I had my thyroid removed about 50 years ago, but don't recall having ever had iodine treatment. I started taking daily replacement thyroid medication (levothyroxine), but am unfamiliar with what iodine is supposed to do. In any event, I sincerely hope your decision didn't leave you with bright-orange locks... or any other glow-in-the-dark color, for that matter! Did your experience yield any solid information you might be willing to share with others who may have the same question? Either way, best wishes!
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I'd like to discuss this further with you. My concern, now, is the likelihood of getting various cancers in the neck, chest and mouth, as I age. (I'm 69 now.) I'd like to survey other adults who had their thymus gland misguidedly irradiated as infants to discover how many othr types of cancers they may have developed in their later years of life. I sent a private message to you through this forum. Thanks!
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I had this for a hemangioma on my fontanel in 1952 (newborn). Mom was an RN. She made doctors stop after 5 treatments due to severe convulsions. It caused seizures (petit mal, temporalobe & atonic seizures). I got cancer from this as an adult. I believe it was from the raw radium placed directly on my fontanel. My fontanel never grew together (never closed properly). When I was 11, a man came to my school with a geiger counter. He demonstrated on various objects, including a piece of radium. My brother said "Do my sister's head!" The scientist ran the wand over my head & it registered at a high level. He was astonished, asked "what happened to you?" I was called Radium Girl. I am very angry about this. The treatment was banned by the government a year after I was treated. A coworker met a man who did his PhD med studies on this. I wish I still had the notes on that but did six moves after & lost many items in flood.
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There have been studies. Suppressed. A coworker went to a medical conference with her husband. She told people there about my radium (raw radium) treatment in 1952 which resulted in severe seizures (radium placed on my fontanel to get rid of hemangioma). She did not believe any doctor/scientist would do that. Man at the conference told her that his PhD thesis was on that treatment, early 1950s. He found that of 52 infants treated that way, only 2 remained alive. I was one of them.
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Thanks so much for posting! I had to Google "fontanel" and "hemangioma," but it was worth it! Yours is a crazy story. It's a miracle you don't have more devastating brain damage. Once again I'm astonished (and angered) about the ways radiation was used as a medical treatment. Even today, doctors are routinely recommending tests, like often-unnecessary nuclear cardiac stress tests, that require injecting patients with outrageous doses of radiative material, according to several studies and reviews I've read. I'm still trying to find a way that allows people, who were medically radiated as children, to report on subsequent cancers or other health issues later in their lives. Even if it was informal and included nothing more than personal accounts, it would be helpful. Besides skin cancer on my neck/chest, from thymus radiation as an infant, I keep waiting for whatever new growth might be discovered in my chest/neck/mouth as I grow older.
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