Day 1 of 25

jlheuer

Jun 23

Curt used to buy me vintage pins. Now I have a reason to use this one. Phase Two in my cancer eradication plan has begun - Radiation.

Since I last updated everyone I was going to a Radiation Consult. This was with a Dr. Giouo, a Radiation Oncologist. Nice guy, very informative, very thorough. He explained the whole procedure to me which would begin with a Radiation Simulation. He showed me the CT scan images and it was very clear that the mass had shrunk from the first one to the one taken after my 4th chemo session. He was happy about this because that meant the mass had moved away from my bowel. This would make it so much safer to administer the x-rays to the tumor. Now, in order to move my bowel even further away from the zapping, I would have to drink a lot of water before my session. Why? Because a full bladder would push the intestine further away. Modern medicine always amazes me. Simple solutions enable extreme measures.

So I went through the "Rad Sim" the next day. I drank my 24oz of liquid. Some of it was Imaging Fluid. I was put on a table with black mat of thick "plastic". This plastic was molded to my feet and legs. Then I was lined up with some beams of light from both sides of my body and from above. Here is the weird part, the nurse then tattooed a tiny dot on my hips and my tummy where the lights hit. I vowed never get a real tattoo. Those three pricks really stung! I cannot imagine having Mickey Mouse tattooed on my back or a whole sleeve. Sheesh!

One of the tattoos, size of the head of a pin

So now with that done, by positioning my legs exactly into the molded plastic and lining my tattoos up with the beams of light, I will always be in the same position. They scanned me then and I was done for the day. Now they had pictures of my tumor, my bowel, my full bladder and from this they would create a plan for the computer which would direct the x-rays.

A week later, after drinking 24 - 30 oz of water an hour before (like I was instructed), my friend Marjorie drove me to the Cancer Center. Once there I was escorted to the dressing room where I donned a beautiful hospital gown and robe. I stowed my clothes and purse in a nearby locker, took the locker key and my phone and waited.

I was told I could take pictures so that is why I had the phone. Unfortunately, they were running behind so I didn't get in right away. By the time they came for me the water I had drunk over an hour ago was clamoring to be let out. I waddled into the radiation room and they got me all positioned on the table. They were going to take a preliminary scan and if everything looked good, the radiation treatment would start. The scan was done and then the nurse appeared and said, "your bladder is TOO FULL, you've got to use the bathroom." Now this was tricky. I was supposed to pee but just enough. What the heck? Ok. I did what I could. Then went back to the radiation room. I was positioned on the table, had a pre-scan, and again the nurse appeared. I had to go back to the bathroom! This time with the admonition to relieve myself of twice as much as last time but that's it. Well since I wasn't using a measuring cup it was hard to judge.

I did my best and three times must have been the charm because this time they went forward with my first ever x-ray treatment. It took maybe three minutes, tops!

The Radiation Machine. The arm with the blue circle rotates.

So it has begun. This was the first treatment with 24 more to go. I met with the doctor after this session. I will do this once a week. There wasn't much to tell since this was the first session but he did inform me that the latest scan revealed that the tumor had shrunk again. The best news ever.

As I write this I can report that today was my 2nd treatment. I had drunk about 18 oz.this time and my bladder wasn't full enough. So I had to go sit in a chair outside the radiation room and drink two glasses of water while another patient got her turn in the Rad Room. Hopefully tomorrow I will get the water amount correct. If not, this is going to be tedious.

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