Chemo disposal

Sad, but true
Unfortunately, the chemo that leaves our body is still very toxic. I know that the nurses at he infusion center where I received chemo would tell visitors of patients that they might want to use the restrooms outside of the infusion center, due to the residual toxins in the bathrooms there. A friend and I joked about the blue gowns the nurses wore to mix the drugs. She laughed, but did say they are to protect the nurses from the toxins. And when they mix the drugs, they do it under a hooded vent so none of the fumes escape into the room.
There are a lot of pharmaceuticals in the water that enters water treatment facilities. Studies show that they can't get some of the materials out of the water with current treatment measures. Hormones from birth control pills are one of the issues. Although the chemo we excrete is toxic, it falls under one of the common catagories we in the environmental field use..."dilution is the solution." The toxins from our excretions likely become diluted enough in the system so as not to be much of a problem. The bigger concern would be for family members using the same facilities we do.

Hissy_Fitz said:

I got Taxol and Carboplatin.
I got Taxol and Carboplatin. During one infusion, I got up to go to the bathroom and the connector in the IV line pulled loose. Chemo fluid started pumping out like a leaky radiator. My clothes got wet, the floor - everything. All I could do was stand there and yell, "HELP." (I did kink the line, like it was a garden hose.)

They broke out Haz-Mat kits and went into bio cleanup mode. They didn't just put on the blue paper gowns - they suited up like they were dealing with the black plague.

They washed everything down with sterile solution, then some kind of neutralizer, then more sterile solution. I had to take off my pants and shoes and they gave them to me in a red biohazard bag and told me to wash them ASAP - alone - and use two rinse cycles.

It was exciting, to say the least. I thought gee....all this is case a spoonful touched someone's skin, yet they are pumping me full of the stuff.

Carlene

Mustard gas
Did you know that the first chemotherapies were derived from mustard gas, the exact same material used in chemical warfare? I don't know how different the modern form is from the kind they used in the 40's.

dreamer007 said:

chemo disposal
mustard gas?????
holy crap! guess i will be doing some searches on that subject

there were not any spills during the times i got chemo, but one time a
patient's relative picked up some debris off the floor, and one of the
nurses was very emphatic about leaving junk on the floor, told that person
to wash the hands...
she got her message across in such a professional, kind way ... most of
the chemo nurses in that center are like that... you give respect, you get
it back

I think for the nurses, it's the daily exposure, year after year
I think a lot of the extra precautions and required protocols the chemo nurses take are OSHA requirements and related to their daily exposure to this stuff, year after year. I know I worried about the after-care staff when I had my radioembolism, because although the nuke-med staff and surgeon in the operating room were all in lead aprons with thick plexiglass shields between me and them, in the recovery room when I was still extremely radioactive, they were in scrubs. They did try and keep their distance unless I called for them or the monitors showed me in distress, but I did feel I was putting them at risk. They said they consider it a hazard of the job.

I'm reading a great book: "The Emperor of All Maladies," by oncologist Siddartha Mukherjee. It's the history of cancer treatment and you'll be AMAZED how long ago cisplatin and taxol and cytoxin were all developed. Lots of what we use today has been used for decades. The book gives you lots of information on how the drugs were developed and what they're made of. I know it sounds like a 'dull read', but the insights into how oncologists feel about their patients and about cancer actually brought tears to my eyes several times. You have to be up on your basic 'cancer-lingo' to follow this book, but I think most of us here know their cancer vocabulary all too well. I know this book helped me understand the rationale behind adjuvant therapies and I like to have the historic perspective of it all. Just my recommendation.