Forgot to post about this.
Back in January, during the whole Happy Fun Cancer Dance, part of my treatment included a CT scan. (As friends will remember, it was the worst part of the entire process for me — major claustrophobia attack, as I had to be run through twice (because I’m tall), and so spent more than an hour in a small hole.)
The other day, I was listening to NPR and heard a story (which you can listen to here) about recent studies that show that CT scans *cause* cancer in thousands of people every year, delivering dosages of radiation far in excess of normal x-rays. The NPR story said that a single CT dosed the patient with radiation roughly equal to that received by people who were one mile away from the Nagasaki bombing.
…and I was run through TWICE.
Here’s an AP Story on it, for those who don’t have time for the audio.