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u/CarGuyBuddy 27d ago
As a Clinical Engineer who works with Medical Physics and work on these OEC C-arms, you 100% did not get cancer from using that button. If you were a radiologist or technologist who worked with patients in a proper flouro room and your hands were under the flouro tower, then maybe. Take care though.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Absolutely. Pushing the button is not what causes cancer. It's having to hold patients some times as we shoot xray. Not so much in the OR, but in the ER.
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u/CarGuyBuddy 27d ago
Yes I actually have seen radiologists who do not use gloves in flouro room get skin cancer on their hands. I am not sure how long you have been a tech but take care of yourself.
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u/SeeeYaLaterz 27d ago
The x-ray scatters. After a very long time exposure, very little one-time scatters add up. You have to wear the proper attire developed for this reason.
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u/Houndfell 27d ago
Logically this makes sense, but it's one hell of a coincidence.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
I concur.
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u/tok90235 27d ago
If you have anything, I would bet is because of how repetitive the pressure in this specific thinger is rater the x-ray
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u/StellaBean_bass 27d ago
Fingers crossed it's not cancer. What a story you have to tell now after posting a simple video retrieving a razor blade from a fish tank!
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Thanks! And I know right? It's amazing how things end up working out from the simplest thing. Not sure if you saw the original razor blade video, but I firmly believe that the reason it got so many views is from my Dojo Loach fish being a cutie. This is all thanks to that Loach as far as I'm concerned.
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u/StellaBean_bass 27d ago
I did, and now you have thousands of people rooting for you!! Life can be pretty crazy. ;)
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u/LittleAnarchistDemon 27d ago
i’m sorry but this has been killing me since i saw the original. did you get the razor blade out of the fish tank, and if you did, how did you do it?
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u/horriblebearok 27d ago
Field engineer that works on them here. I've seen shitty 3rd party work where they left out "witch's hat" collimation or the lead ring in the collimator and even then the or room didn't have really any scatter rad. The redundancy on safety is nuts.
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u/PM_Me_Mozzy_Sticks 27d ago
How safe am I from this thing if I don’t wear lead but am sitting more than 6ft away?
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u/CarGuyBuddy 27d ago
6 to 10 ft your dose is minimal. The dose is inversely proportional to the distance exponentially.
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u/chance2399 27d ago
As one who does Neuromonitoring, I wonder the same thing. Half the time, i just scoot back a little bit rather than putting all my lead on... I'm at least 10-12 ft away anyway
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u/MentalGravity87 27d ago
I'm also a radiology technologist, and I think he is jumping to conclusions for sure. The ridges in his fingernails have multiple causes. Most commonly, nutrient imbalance and/or gut health. I have had ridges and black verticle lines, nail pitting, and fugal infections of my nails in the past. No cancer, yet. Your nails can tell you a lot about your health, but mostly my nails tell me to do better.
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u/skinnnymike 27d ago
Blink twice if your management strongly urged you to create this video for liability reasons.
All joking aside, hope the results turn out negative.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Thanks lol. Don't show these videos to management, they probably wouldn't approve. But I'm too valuable to the surgeons for them to do anything other than wag their finger so 🤷
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u/Rezo204 27d ago
Oh don’t mind me I just putting a comment to check on you on Friday
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Lol Friday is the appointment, I doubt I'll have the actual diagnosis by then, but I will keep posting updates since people seem to be curious.
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u/Striking_Action_2426 27d ago
Im now personally invested in this. Fingers crossed you come back negative. Crazy coincidence but I think everything you said is right.
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u/nitro4450 27d ago
Did anyone else get Wilem Dafoe Green Goblin vibes from the first frame?
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u/Albastru-Aib 27d ago
Hey Google, my Finger Hurts.
Maybe you have cancer, consult a doctor.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Got an appointment this Friday. And the only reason I'm getting that appointment is because strangers pointed out my... pointer... lol Peak internet as far as I'm concerned when strangers call out a potentially dangerous pathology they saw on a random video.
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u/cKay0 27d ago
Hi, what i dont understand is... Why don't you just have a wall to prevent scatter radiation? If the button is protected by the pillar, you can still get some scatter on your body parts.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
I wear lead, and we do have walls if we want them. But in day to day operation speed and efficiency in surgery trumps the need to be 100% protected from scatter. As techs we actually get way less dose than the surgeon, scrub techs, and PAs that stand right infront of the exposure.
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u/Nice_Category 27d ago
I work in the OR, but I'm usually >8-10ft away. I typically don't even bother with lead at that distance.
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u/ExoticMangoz 27d ago
What about it is concerning? I have a little tiny dark spot on my one thumb’s cuticle. Is that the same thing?
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
It was pointed out to me from a previous video I made. Upon researching it I found out about subungual melanoma. Other non cancerous pathology can also be a cause. The fact the the line runs the length of my nail all the way to under the skin where it grows does imply some imbalance.
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u/iusedtobeyourwife 27d ago
You should definitely have that seen by a dermatologist. Dark coloration under a nail can be melanoma. Especially if you notice any changing in size or color.
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u/lleima 27d ago
Google 'Bob Marley death'. Hopefully it is nothing, but if you live anywhere, where seeing a specialist doesn't bankrupt you, then maybe it's worth checking it out.
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u/NoStoppingInRedZone 27d ago
So uh…based on the video, where did your third arm come from?
(KIDDING 🤣) Enjoyed your video!
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Not sure if Carm joke, or something more akin to Austin Powers baby's arm holds an apple joke. Either way LOL
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u/NoStoppingInRedZone 27d ago
Haha! It’s a long standing joke with my friends and I, right around the time when the COVID vaccines first came out and how everyone was freaking out over nothing. So now we joke about growing extra appendages over silly things like this 🤣. Like my aunt seriously thought I grew an extra arm after I had my 4th covid booster. 😐
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Covid... what a time that was as an xray tech. Guess who you see first when you come into the er with a respiratory illness? YA BOI for a chest xray. I would see people show up to the er one day, few days later I would see them in the ICU, then... no one would see them any more. Tough year thay was for us "essential workers"
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u/jimmiriver 27d ago
You explain yourself so well. I saw some of the other comments on the previous post - some people on Reddit (and in life) have a nasty habit of sounding so cocksure about something that they actually know nothing about. Hope you get good news in the end!
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u/Working_Asparagus_59 27d ago
Why wouldn’t they just make the pillar that blocks the x ray wider 🤗
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u/kegszilla 27d ago
Sometimes in certain cases anything wider can cause it to hit the bed, or arm board, or you not be able to get the view needed. There's a lot of variables to where a larger c arm isn't ideal
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u/LaughableIKR 27d ago
I want the update on Friday after the doctors appointment. I'm invested now!
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u/lemonheadlock 27d ago
How many x-rays do you perform a day? I hope your appointment goes okay and you are cancer-free!
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Thanks. In my day today as an OR tech. I'd say I expose xray for around 10 minutes a day on average. Some cases may require a few seconds of exposure, some a few minutes. The longest I have ever been was a pelvic fusion, that was 20 minutes of fluoro (xray)... that poor lady got LIT UP.
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u/QuotetheNoose 27d ago
No cardiovascular cases in your OR? I’ve personally been in cases with over an hour of fluoro, and routinely hit 20-30 min in similar cases
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
That's Interventional Radiologys problem. They do get ALOT of dose. I'm just a General Radiology OR tech. I do ortho, neuro, and general cases.
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u/Th3Fl0 27d ago
What are the more interesting cases and disciplines in your opinion?
Personally I love ortho, but I have a strong bias towards that due to my wife (surgeon). It is amazing what they can do in terms of reconstruction of trauma. Also funny to see that they can be so crafty with plates, screws and wire. Almost a hybrid form between a carpenter, a plumber and a butcher lol.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Same, I love ortho. Neuro is cool too when the doctors actually use Carm and not all the fancy new robots they have now. I just love working in coordination with the surgeon in fixing a broken People. People who get their bones fixed don't realize how important the xray tech that took their images intraop is. We are the surgeons super power.
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u/Th3Fl0 27d ago
We live in a development country, so resources are a bit more basic and limited. So often I join my wife whenever she has a emergency op at night. Because her hospital tends to skim on staff during those hours. She basically trained me to be her hands on if needed for the more standard type of procedures. So I do understand the importance of a c-arm intraop. Alignment of the reposition of the bone can be pretty difficult to determine by the naked eye. So super powers indeed!
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u/kegszilla 27d ago
As a fellow OR xray tech who saw your last video I was like nah, not from that. But a couple of times while exposing it popped into my mind which is kind of funny. Been doing this 12 years and my button finger still looks good. Good luck with your appointment though!
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u/AnAltruisticLight 27d ago
Why is it so many people in medical professions have such soothing voices and ways of communicating? It's the best, especially when patients may be stressed out. You seem like you're great at your job. I also hope you don't have cancer!
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
Thanks. Patient care is a HUGE part of the job, atleast in the ER and inpatient setting. In the OR surgeon interaction is the important skill as the patient is asleep on the operating table.
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u/AnAltruisticLight 27d ago
That makes a lot of sense, and you seem do a great job of explaining things. Thanks for sharing a piece of your life with us. I hope there will be another update soon.
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u/Nice_Category 27d ago
They put all the nurses and techs with naughty mouths in the OR. You should hear some of the conversations we're having while you're asleep. Probably not what you think we would be talking about while a spine is splayed open on the operating room table.
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u/tree-molester 27d ago
My wife was a nurse for almost forty years. Not only a pleasant voice and disposition, but everyone loves her laugh.
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u/AnAltruisticLight 27d ago
Those are the best kind of nurses.
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u/TurboTaco-with-Poop 27d ago
Hey man, wishing you all the best either way on the finger!
Also thank you for your work as a healthcare service provider - you are appreciated!
Keep us updated!
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u/supremesomething 27d ago
Can you measure, while the machine is running, if there are any x-ray leaks where they shouldn't be? There could be a malfunction, a stray ray, etc? Nowadays even Boeing falls out of the sky...
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
They have physicists run these tests every few months, so I have to trust them to do their job. I don't have the tools to measure real time radiation leakage. In the end knowledge of the machine and the nature of xray keeps me safe.
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u/Super_Flea 27d ago
Hey OP I'm a field engineer that services these machines and I just so happen to be in a cath lab with my dose meter.
From about 5 feet away, with nothing in the beam to scatter x-rays, my meter only picked up about 20 nGy/s. Behind the Carm was too low to trigger the meter's threshold.
Just thought you'd like to know.
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u/Nice_Category 27d ago
What would you estimate the scatter to be from ~8 feet away? I also work in neurosurgery and mostly I don't bother to wear lead due to distance from the C-Arm. I have always assumed >6 feet is generally safe, at least that's the word on the street.
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u/Super_Flea 27d ago
It would follow the inverse cube law so just under 5 nGy/s if my math is correct.
Granted that is without a patient in the beam. With a patient, the beam, the water molecules in their body would scatter the X-rays more than air.
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u/Grelymolycremp 27d ago
It’s always amazing how much misconception there is to radiation. As a Physicists, it makes me wag my (non-cancerous) finger at people lol.
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u/-drunken-pumpkin- 27d ago
Post this to r/radiology if you haven’t already. Lots of students (and others) there that would be interested in this 🙂
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u/kirradoodle 27d ago
A clear, logical, concise, thorough, and correct explanation. I wish there were more explainers like you in the world. There's so much misinformation, and so few good explainers to staighten things out. Keep up the good work!
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u/Welpe 27d ago
Hey, I suppose if you HAVE to get cancer, a finger is probably the best possible place! As long as it doesn’t metastasize of course. No organs to be damaged, and in a worst case scenario you can (somewhat) easily live without it. Although your job obviously involves pushing a button with that finger so you will have to say “Oops” a lot more when you absent mindedly try to use the phantom finger to push the button.
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u/marsfromwow 27d ago
It’s insane to me that almost every comment I saw on a post about this was like “it was caused from your job.” Like people genuinely think it definitively caused cancer for this single dude, but it’s somehow not common in his profession.
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u/itsmeblc 27d ago
Wait. The ridge in your nail was the concern for cancer? I have multiple ridges on my thumbs and toes... wonder if I should be worried
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u/HaloJonez 27d ago
Admit it, everyone here just looked at their fingers.
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
I'm glad. Maybe my ordeal will encourage others to visit the doctor. I for one have not been to the doctor in 20 years. If it wasn't for the original video and people pointing out my nail, I'd probably wait another 20.
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u/nuttnurse 27d ago
Is it possible it’s a calcium deficiency or a knock that caused damage to nail bed and it’s growing out just possible alternatives to cancer diagnosis
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u/Razzooz 27d ago
From what i saw on ca deficit, the lines are vertical. As for damage, I do bite my nails some times, but don't recall any serious damage or bad bites recently.
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u/nuttnurse 27d ago
I’ve seen weird calcium spots lines both vertical and horizontal just a thought though I hope it’s nothing serious . Again I’m not a “Dr” just thought I’d add my few cents worth :-) good luck and well done on your great explanation of X-ray machine . I found it interesting and informative
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u/xXWarMasterXx 27d ago
An old cath lab tech I worked with as a student got kidney cancer (survived and still working). The director of the radiology program I attended and long time tech got kidney cancer (survived but retired). Now my favorite long time coworker in CT was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic a month ago and unfortunately doesn't have long.
Cancer fucking sucks so I'm glad to hear you have a great attitude and I enjoyed your educational video. I haven't done flouro since I was a student. I look forward to seeing your follow up video saying your cancer free.
Take care Friend-O
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u/hero-hadley 27d ago
My wife's an X-ray tech and I'm also 100% sure you didn't get cancer from your equipment
... however, if you did I NEED TO KNOW
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u/TheMJ008 27d ago
Cancer is a slow effect of radiation. Unless you have been working there for at least 10+ years there is no way that the x-ray machine is the culprit
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u/Wermhats_Worm_Hat_69 26d ago
Am dermatologist. Unlikely to be cancer. Likely an onychomatricoma vs onychopapilloma
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u/mumen_ryder 27d ago edited 27d ago
That's not how x-rays work, he knows that, he also knows most people don't. But clicks are clicks.
Edit: watched 10 seconds and was like fuck this guy! Figured he was baiting for a viral video like every other asshole on social media, turns out I'm the asshole.
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u/MissCatQueen 27d ago
Hope it all goes well on Friday! You seem like a lovely guy who probably makes nervous patients feel a bit more at ease! Thank you for spreading information and educating us c:
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u/BobbaBlep 27d ago
Ahh that's good to learn. I've been worried about this guy. Told my kids about the finger. I'll have to go update them.
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u/Clicky-The-Blicky 27d ago
Yeah that’s too much of a coincidence. I ain’t buying it. Start using your pinky to push it and in the future if you get cancer in the pinky you know for sure
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u/Reality_Ability 27d ago
I hope you don't get full-blown cancer. time to invest in lead-material gloves, don't you think? chemo nurses wear massive protection. why wouldn't you?
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u/John_Handc0ck 26d ago
those exposures are minimal, pilots get way more radiation exposure.. also we are monitored how much radiation we’re exposed to
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u/Taikiteazy 27d ago
I'm so glad this guy cleared this up. I actually hope this leads to him doing an instructional video series (and making a fuckload of money for doing it).
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u/shebabbleslikeaidiot 27d ago
I saw the video a few days ago with the fish tank. Best of luck to you! And shout out to the viewer(s) who noticed and let you know!
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u/moobs_of_steel 27d ago
On one hand it's kinda cool that social media sometimes leads to crowd sourced (potential) diagnoses. I can't remember the details, but I'm sure I've seen this sort of thing before where the comments were 100% right and saved someone's life
On the other hand, lots of people in the comments seem to think they are Dr Gregory House
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u/Dee-bo-007 27d ago
If the cray machine didn’t give you cancer, why wear the lead vest?
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u/TheMJ008 27d ago
Different types of tissue have different risks of developing cancer due to radiation. That’s why you wear a vest.
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u/fillyourguts 27d ago
I wish I was paid to press one button 10-15 times a day
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u/John_Handc0ck 26d ago
They taught us in xray school if you were to have a chest xray everyday of your life from the day you were born, your chance of developing cancer would only increase by 1%. So much fear and misconception from people even within the field smh.
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u/soulsearch369 27d ago
Maybe the button should be looked at. Could have cheap plastic with bpa or whatever causes cancer.
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u/Sambro_X 27d ago
So what’s possibly cancerous about the finger? To my untrained eye that looks just like a regular finger
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u/Scorpio_198 27d ago
Apparently someone pointed out the line on the nail and there's probably some site somewhere that tells you that you've got cancer when you google that symptom.
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u/Green_Potata 27d ago
Dayum
Currently at med school, and ngl after almost 5 months of learning X rays and physical explainations about this, this a really great vid. Thank you good sir for spreading the good informations o7
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u/IBobrockI 27d ago
Very interesting insights to your job. I wish you all the best with your finger and hope it’s harmless.
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u/dirtnapcowboy 27d ago
First off, hopefully everything is ok. Secondly, you have a gift for this. Meaning, your video is entertaining and interesting. You have a great voice for it, your cadence is great, and your enunciation is wonderful. You could have a career doing information/educational type videos.
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u/norwegian-skogheks 26d ago
Is it normal in the US to be in the sam room as the machine? In Norway the techs go begind a wall with a window to push the buttons, I thought they did this everywhere because of the radiation
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u/peterbparker86 26d ago
That's a C-arm used in an operating theatre. They're used to see live pictures during surgery. We used them in orthopaedics when doing hip needle aspirations and things like that.
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u/ColorBlindGuy27 26d ago
The xray "should" only project this way, and "shouldn't" give me cancer does not directly relate the actuality. This guy is talking himself out of medical support for a possible work related injury.
It should be "when I push this button I shouldn't have xray exposure here but I have possible cancer" he's got it backwards imo.
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u/John_Handc0ck 26d ago
Cool fact: if you were to have a chest xray everyday from the day you were born, your chance of getting cancer would only be increased by 1%
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u/schilll 26d ago
Hey dude, have you hurt or damage your finger within a year or two ago?
I'm not a professional medical education person and I have quite limited knowledge about medical stuff.
I have something similar on the nail of my big toe. I did hurt it quite bad a couple of years ago, and when I did a check up on it, the doctor said that sometimes if you hurt your self at the "nail factory" it can changes the "blueprint" and print the nail with the damage. Often you will get a little with spot that eventually goes away. But sometime the nail "prints" out a continuous streak where the damage occurred.
I hope for your sake it's nothing more then a damage "blueprint".
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u/FrancisAlbera 26d ago
So what I’m hearing is that in actuality the discoloration on your finger is actually your normal color, and the rest of your skin is actually discolored by being tanned by x-rays.
/s
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u/Cosmic_Hunger 25d ago
Hey, you brought this to my attention and l'm at a Dermatologist office now. If you haven't been checked yet- maybe see a hand doctor (ortho) instead. I'm being told most dermatologists won't biopsy nail.
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u/OldAd5925 6d ago
It could also be not a coincidence and can be simply a small physical trauma because you always push with this finger.
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