Today I had my treatment planning for radiation. Essentially I spent half an hour learning about radiation, and then two hours getting positioned for treatment. I know it sounds odd that it takes two hours to get positioned, but the idea is that the position has to be a) reproducible and b) comfortable for 30-40 minutes at a time. Oh yeah, and it has to fit in the machine. It took quite a long time to get my arms positioned correctly. Then they took some images with the CT machine and gave me my tattoos.
Yes, you read that correctly, I have tattoos now. Four dots around my breast that make a square (or diamond I suppose). They will help reproduce the exact same position for the radiation from appointment to appointment.
Now that they have done the positioning, and taken the additional images, my doctor will take all of that information, put it together with the information they had before (from the MRI, mammogram and PET scan) and using a fancy computer system, design my treatment. They can do crazy things with these beams. This will take about three days.
On Friday, I will be going in for my "simulation" appointment. Essentially they will take me through the process, step by step, exactly as we will do on treatment days, all the way up until the point that they would beam me with radiation. Then, on Monday, I begin treatment five days a week.
I will have 26-28 treatments, which means I will be done sometime between October 31st and November 2nd. I'm holding November 4th as my "done by" date, just in case. That is a Friday and I figure I can be sure we will be done by then.
Here we go again. My side effects should be mild- they say my skin will react like a sunburn and I might feel fatigued. Nothing like chemo however. If you have thoughts and prayers to spare, please think of me over the next several weeks. See the radiation being effective, eliminating any rogue cells that may still be in my body. See my body taking the radiation in for its purpose and sustaining my health beyond that. See my future scans being clear- for the rest of my life.
Congratulations Karey!!! You are about to embark on the final stage of kicking this cancers ass!! Stay strong and watch the days fly by! Of course we all still have prayers and healing thoughts for you... and since I have some spare time now, if you ever want some company for any of your appointments please don't hesitate to ask!! Love you!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteI am so proud you came this far! Radiation might seem like a breeze compared to chemo. I used a lot of almond oil on my dad, the only 'burning' he had was on the back directly opposite from the front radiation sight. Almond oil cleared it right up :) my thoughts are with you! Stay strong!
ReplyDelete-Jenny