Radiation Time

First off I wanted to show off the coolest shirt I own. A friend of mine from BayBimmerz sent this to me. It's been my motto since day one! It also happens to be a a logo that his sister in law is using to sell shirts which proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

On Friday May 30, 2008 I went in for my simulation appointment. They put me in the PET scan machine to take exact measurements of where they want to do the radiation. After they did the measurements they marked three areas on my body with the tattoos. The three little tattoos are much better than my original thought, which was that they would tattoo the outline of the entire radiation area.

They then made my mask. This was a simple process of putting a wet plastic net over my face and then clamping it down to the table. They let the net dry and harden while clamped to the table. Pretty simple but strange! There are no holes cut out for my mouth or nose so I’m breathing through the small holes in the net. It is also extremely tight on my face, tight enough to leave net lines all over my face.

On Wednesday June 4, 2008 I went in for my first radiation appointment. They place me on the table, clamp down my mask and get me into position using lasers as a guide off of my tattoos. They then use a marker to outline the entire area they are going to radiate. They only mark the front even though they will be radiating from the front and the back. After this initial set up they take some more images so the doctor can make sure I am the exact position he wants me in. It takes four people to get all this accomplished! After all this they begin the actual radiation process. This is over rather quickly; I would say no more than 10 min. The machine starts on top of my chest and then circles around to my back. That’s it! Pretty fast and most of all PAINLESS!

When this was complete I met with a nurse, who happened to be the same nurse that gave me my first chemotherapy! It was cool to see her and talk about all the crap I had been through since I always had other nurses. She went over my side effects again and went into details about the possible fatigue, skin irritation and throat problems I may have. The skin irritation will be just like sunburn and can be treated like one with aloe. My skin will also be very sensitive and I cannot scrub it while washing and cannot wipe it while drying. I need to pat the skin while cleaning and drying. This is only for the area that is getting radiated. I’ll also need to stop drinking ice cold drinks, hot drinks and spicy food if I start having irritation or pain in my throat.
Again since I am only going in for 3 ½ weeks these problems may not occur and I’m really praying they don’t!

Here are some pics of the mask and me on the radiation table about to get RADIATED! The last pic shows the outline they drew of the area they are going to radiate.