New one for me

Something happened to me that has never happened before and hopefully will never happen again.. I set off the radiation alarm. When i say i set off the radiation alarm, i mean I set off the radiation alarm. Not my load of scrap, me.

Here is how the event went:

This past Saturday I took a load of metal to the scrap yard. I drove on to the scale as usual, stopped to be weighed, and the weigh master came outside and told me to back off the scale and drive slowly back onto the scale. The first thing I think is the scale might not be working right or something. So I back off and drive slowly back onto the scale. She comes out again and says "you are setting off the alarm and back up and drive slowly back onto the scale." So I'm thinking huh, I wonder why. So I follow orders, back off and drive very slowly onto the scale and stop. This time the yard boss comes out and says "your setting off the radiation alarms." Im thinking thats weird I have just normal, run of the mill scrap. Then he asks if anybody has been to the hospital recently. It took me a second, then I remembered having a medical test done earlier in the week. I replied with a yes. Then I had to get out of my truck and walk my radioactive ass across the weigh scale while the yard boss drove my truck to get weighed (to document the fact there was no radioactive metal being left in the scrap yard.)

So on the tuesday morning before this I had blood taken out of me and sent to a lab. At the lab the tech's separated the White Blood Cells from the rest and dyed them with indium. Tuesday afternoon I had the WBC put back in me. 24 hours later I had to lay in a scanner for an hour while pictures were taken of the inside my entire body to see where the WBC went.

I won't know the results for a few more days.



I went to the scrap yard today, a solid week later, and I still set off the radiation alarm. Getting across the scale was much easier this time... End of story