Treatment #3 - 7/30/09

Another uneventful day in radiation land and I'm still feeling fine.  I did take a nap when I got home this afternoon.  I wasn't planning on it, but the cat insisted.  I'm taking Chinese herbs specifically blended to support people receiving radiation as an adjunct to the treatments and hopefully that will help support me through this.

Treatment #2 - 7/29/09

Today's treatment was uneventful.  I'm felt fine with the exception of some low grade nausea this morning.  The only strange thing that happened all day was that my granddaughter had a seizure just as we got to the front door at home this afternoon.  It didn't last long and she didn't even fall over.  She's fine now.  That's the second one this month.

Treatment #1 - 7/28/09

Well I really had my first radiation treatment today.  Yesterday it turned out to be just x-rays. I don't know if they told me that was going to happen or not, but if they did, I didn't remember.  On the way there yesterday we got stuck in a massive traffic jam.  It turns out that a gas line had ruptured just ahead of where we'd gotten stopped and they weren't letting any cars through.  I had to end up (at the direction of the police) backing up and turning around to take an exit I'd just passed.  It made us 20 minutes late for the appointment (and no that's not why I didn't get a treatment yesterday).  Today there was no traffic mishaps and in fact we were a little early.  When I got on the table for my treatment the table didn't want to work.  How many little signs is the universe sending me that maybe I shouldn't be doing this?  After a few minutes of turning things off and on the got the table to move and got me into position.  The treatment took less than 10 minutes.  It didn't hurt and I don't feel any effects from it yet.

And that boys and girls was my day.

First Treatment - 7/27/09

I'm off for my first radiation treatment this afternoon.  Only nine and a half weeks to go.

Been There, Done That - 7/21/09

I still haven't heard from the Radiation Center as to when my treatment will begin.  They said last Wednesday they would call me in a couple of days once the treatment plan was complete.  I figure they probably didn't start the planning until Thursday, so its only been a few business days.  I remember from when Warren had radiation treatment that they have physicists who do the planning on these things, plotting all the angles to ensure that all the areas that need treatment receive it.

It sure feels like "been here, done that" to me.  The difference is, this time I'll be the one on the table.  I decided that I needed to find a different way of thinking about this experience.  A way that would sustain me and keep me strong.  An image came to me of molten metal in the smelting process.  I will use the image of the radiation as the heat that will burn off the dross (the impurities) leaving me stronger in the process.  That image feels like a strong place to center myself from in all this.

I can do this.

Nine and a Half Weeks - 7/14/09

Yesterday I had my consult with radiation oncology.  They recommended that I do have radiation because my tumor had penetrated more than half way through the uterine wall and into the vaginal cuff.  This they told me greatly increases my risk for a recurrence of cancer in those areas of my body, even though all of the affected tissue was removed during surgery.  The risk is increased due to the proximity to small lymph cells (or at least that's what I think she said). 

That being said, I will have five and a half weeks (Monday through Friday) of daily radiation to the pelvic area and then an additional four weeks of once a week radiation that will be more directed to the area where the cervix used to reside.  Tomorrow I go for the simulation.  They'll do a CAT scan and mark my tummy with little dots that the machine will use to line up to assure accuracy of the treatments.  I was told that after the sim, it will take them several days to plot out the treatment plan.  I suspect that I will begin next week some time.

There of course will be some side affects to this treatment.  I'm hoping that most of them will be temporary and just a minor inconvenience.

Nine and a half weeks will put me to the end of September and then whatever time on top of that to get back to some semblance of normal.  I guess I won't be going to Florida this summer, and by the time I'm well enough to travel, it may be the heart of winter in the Pacific Northwest.  I was really looking forward to doing some traveling too.

There are no guarantees in life.  Perhaps if I'd have taken care of this when I first started having a problem, I wouldn't have needed this additional treatment.  I can't go back and change the past, and I certainly don't think there would have been time for me to have had surgery in the months before Warren died.  So I'll do what needs to be done now and pray that this will take care of the future as well.