3/17/02 - First week of radiation

Strap me and zap me!

Well, I survived my first week of radiation. It was, as a recent cancer survivor told me, "a breeze."

Here's the procedure:

  • I go to the Cancer Center at 11:10am Mon-Fri (actually, 11:40am on Fridays -- gotta get my yoga fix!).
  • I take off my shirt and put on a gown.
  • They call me in for my treatment.
  • I lay down on the table and they strap my neck back to better expose the area to be irradiated.
  • They line me up to the machine using my tiny tattoos. This involves minor adjustments to my shoulders and arms.
  • They put a "blocker" in the machine that limits the radiation field to the proper portions of my chest.
  • They leave the room and the buzzing begins. It lasts for about 45 seconds.
  • The machine then rotates 180 degrees and they zap my back for about 45 seconds.
  • The lights come on and I'm out of there.

The procedure takes about 15 minutes from the time I enter the Cancer Center to the time I leave. It's quick, painless, and every 5th one is free!

Here I am strapped and ready to be zapped:

On my first visit, they marked my chest to show where the radiation would be sent.

They found that the above pattern was the best for the areas where I had previously had cancer. Before determining this, however, they tried a few other patterns:

I'll have three more weeks of this on my upper chest. Then I'll take a break for a few weeks before they do four weeks on my belly.

Science is fun!

Have the grooviest of weeks.

m
MAINJOURNALSCRAPBOOKRESEARCHCONTACT