Radiation Therapy

I had my first radiation therapy appointment today. It went well. Today’s appointment was longer than the rest of them will be because they had to set up the treatment, which (for me) involved getting back into the CT-scan position they’d molded for me, and having them line me back up with LASERs along the points they’d marked on my body last time I was there.

They took new X-rays, drew a grid on my torso, and double-checked everything before finally having me get dressed again and go to wait in the actual radiation area. During the first part it was cold in the room and my tech guy was freezing, but I had comfy hand-knit socks to keep me warm. Thanks, Ra! I’ll have to alternate between warm socks for the next three weeks.

When I was ready for my actual radiation therapy (which will be the only part I’ll have to do from now on), they had me lay down in the same position again. Two cute nurses/radiation techs arranged me until I was lined up properly. Dr. Yeh came in to check on me and things, and told them to go ahead with the therapy.

The radiation therapy itself is indistinguishable from just getting an X-ray – they leave, the machine goes MMMM for a few seconds, and then they come back in. After they zapped me from above, the radiation machine rotated around the platform I was on until it was under me. The radiation techs made some measurements to make sure everything was good and then zapped me again.

I’d heard both that the first few days were the worse, and that the end will be the worst. Dr. Yeh said if I was going to feel nauseated I’d know immediately, but besides some no-food and stress-induced butterflies, I feel fine. I’m still taking today off just in case I feel sick later, but so far, so good. They’ve warned me I’ll feel fatigued, but I’m so lazy, how would I know? *grin*

"A secret message… from my teeth!" -- The Tick