Radiation Treatments

    A few weeks ago, I had my initial appointment with the Radiation Oncologist. At that time, they took a CT scan and marked the areas on my body where the radiation would be given. I had to be careful these last few weeks, not to wash off the areas on my skin where they marked me.

   I had my first treatment Monday. For the next eight weeks, I will have radiation Monday through Friday from 7:30 in the morning, lasting about half an hour . Thank goodness I have the weekends off. Only two weekends a month will I be able to sleep in. The procedure is painless.  First I change into a hospital gown then I walk down a hall to an area where the staff and physicians sit to monitor you and set the machine for radiation. I state my name and birthdate before staff takes me to the treatment room. When I lay on the treatment table an look at the ceiling, it’s beautiful and calming. It was  painted with trees, leaves and butterflies. They raise my left arm and position it in some sort of arm holder. Then they line up the marked areas on my upper body with the machine, turn on a little music and begin the treatment. It’s painless. They said in a few weeks I may begin to see some side effects, such as skin tightness and redness to the area treated. They recommend using  a good lotion for that.

   So, that’s what I’ll be doing for the next eight weeks. One nice thing is, after I have my treatment in the morning, I have a driver from the hospital take me to my work. Isn’t that cool?  This way, Greg can just drop me off in the morning for my treatment and just head to work without waiting for me and missing any work himself.

   The next step is this….Around the end of October, I will have another MRI of the liver to see if the lesions have grown. I need to set up an appointment with a pain specialist soon because of my issues with pain from the peripheral neuropathy. The Oncologist increased the Morphine I’m taking but it’s not doing the job. Sometimes, I cry even after taking the pain medication so this may not be the right kind of pain medicine for this.  

 LeAnn