AWCL stands for Anxiety-Weighted Cognitive Load. It scores whether medical material is built to calm the reader first, so the rest can get in.
What AWCL scores
The difference
Before the rest of this section
One part of systemic radiation surprises people. It's here, first, so you don't meet it in the middle of something else.
You receive systemic radiation therapy by swallowing it or through a vein via an IV line. A type of systemic radiation therapy… contains a radioisotope linked to a molecule that targets cancer cells.
With systemic radiation, your body fluids, such as urine, sweat, and saliva, will give off radiation for a while.
If that line made your stomach drop, you are not the first person to read it that way. It is a real precaution, it has an end date, and it is planned for.
"For a while" is the part you need, and this page can't tell you, because it depends on which treatment you're given and at what dose. Your radiation team can tell you exactly.
Before your first dose, ask them for two things in writing: how long your window lasts, and what it means for the people at home.
The rest of this section applies either way.
Why people with cancer receive radiation therapy…