We have to catch a flight for a getaway and we are concerned about the airport scanners. What do you do? Do you let you child go through them? How can we avoid having the kids having to go through the scanners?
I have never thought about this and Lauren's onc and NP have never said anything about not letting her go through. Do you mean the full body scanner as opposed to the regular walk through metal detector? Lauren's been flying every month for the last year...Good luck with that one. Probably depends on the airport. The Kansas City one is really militant. They must get awards for who looks through the most pieces of luggage, etc. I'm not sure you'll be able to get out of it but a lot of airports don't make everyone go through the full body scanner. I don't think I've been anywhere that makes everyone go through the scanner, but we haven't been to NYC for a few years.
We go through the airport scanners, and we've flown quite a bit throughout Aidan's treatment. We live in NJ and have flown out of Newark and JFK. I don't think you are going to be able to get around it though...
What are your concerns? My daughter went through airport scanners plenty while on treatment.
I want to avoid body scanners. I want to minimize risks (esp. for our kids) wherever and whenever. Btw, I have found that it may be possible to avoid the body scanners by agreeing to a pat down instead.
Thats a good question but i dont understand why your concerned, is it bcause of the port a cath or why? we went to Sacramento California from LAX and my son was as bald as he could be wearing a mask and I was in front of him with a Clorox wipe haha... My husband said they were afraid to ask me to go in the whole body scanner. They didnt even pat me or him....
I don't like the idea of giving my kids Total Body Irradiation (TBI) ;-)
I know your reference to TBI was tongue-in-cheek, but I don't want some of our newer parents to worry that the small amount of radiation emitted by these airport scanners is in any way, shape or form comparable to the amount received in TBI (nor do I want people who have received or have had children receive TBI think that we're downplaying the seriousness of what they went through).
It is admirable to try to restrict the amount of radiation to which your child is exposed. But everyone should keep in mind that the amount emitted by these scanners is negligible, especially compared to the radiation we are exposed to on a daily basis. In fact, the amount of radiation emitted by these scanners has been estimated to be about the amount received by any of us during one to two minutes of flying time (we are exposed to far more radiation when we fly, merely because of our proximity to the sun). Radiation is, unfortunately, all around us (if you wait for a train for one hour in Grand Central Station in NYC, you will be exposed to approximately 6 times the amount of radiation emitted by the TSA scanners, as Grand Central Station was built with a type of stone which emits radiation).
None of which means it is ridiculous to educate yourself about the radiation to which we all are exposed, or to try to limit exposure. If someone is worried about the TSA scanners, by all means ask for a pat-down. I have no problem with that -- it's a personal decision. I just wanted people who might be casually reading this thread to be aware of the amount of radiation emitted by these scanners, so they can make an educated decision about whether they consider it a risk or not.
Yes, that's was not a serious comment on TBI/airport scanner. TBI is serious stuff for folks who have to endure it.
In both Memphis and Knoxville we only have to go through the xray machines and not total body scanners. They automatically wave us to those instead ![]()
