You know what else I am REALLY embracing? The fact that I am DONE with radiation! WOOHOO!!! I have a lot of information and pictures to share about radiation and I don’t want to bore you and dump it all into one entry, so I will start with the first part and then add on in the days to come. J (And I promise not to wait a month before I post again.)
The end of June marked the beginning of my six and a half weeks of radiation therapy. WHY do I still need to have radiation if I am “cancer-free”? Is radiation really necessary? When I posed these questions to my radiation oncologist (separate from my regular oncologist), he told me that just because they didn’t find cancer, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Well that doesn’t seem very encouraging, now does it? I really don’t like to think about that, but it’s not something that I can control, so I continue to be “cautiously” optimistic and try to focus on the words “cancer free” instead. J
The radiation oncologist (RO) also went on to tell me that people with my aggressive form of breast cancer have a 45% chance of cancer reoccurring WITHOUT radiation therapy. WITH radiation however, the rate of reoccurrence goes down to only 5%!!!! Well then….let the radiation begin!
So what is this radiation business?? How does it work? Does it hurt? Will I have side effects? How many times do I have to go, and for how long? So many questions and uncertainties running through my mind...especially because the only thing I associated with radiation was x-rays and the scary aftermath of nuclear weapons. Yikes!
First step was to develop a plan. My RO informed me that I would need a total of 33 treatments. I was scheduled to have radiation at 1:45 every day of the week, excluding weekends and holidays. The radiation itself lasted about 15 minutes and I was told that it did not hurt at all, but I could experience fatigue and sore/painful/burnt skin toward the end of treatment.
Before I could start my treatments though, I had to undergo preparations and a radiation “simulation”. Undressing from the waist up, I laid down on a table with my head resting on this “flat-rectangular-plastic-pillow-thing”. (I am sure that is the technical name for it. HA!) The nurse directed me to lift my arms up over my head and then she formed the pillow around me to support my arms in mid-air. Once I was in place, they took all of the “air” out of the pillow to create a mold specific to my body and the position they needed me to be in each time for therapy.
Precision is key. And when I say precision….I really mean it. The beams that they use for radiation are so potent and harmful that it is extremely important that you are only radiated where necessary. My plan consisted of specific areas that were carefully calculated to give me the best benefits from radiation, while trying to avoid harming any of my internal organs in the process.
In order to line me up correctly for treatment each time, they gave me 3 very small “pinpoint” tattoos (yes they are real tattoos), and they are located on my left chest wall and underneath my armpit (the side where my 13 lymph nodes were removed). I am pretty sure they are the only kind of tattoos my mom would have EVER allowed. She always used to tell me I would be “grounded for life” if I got a tattoo or ever went bungee jumping. *smile* I think that was her way of telling me that she didn’t approve of those things. I think I get a pass for my current circumstances….and no worries mom…you couldn’t pay me enough to go bungee jumping! J
Anyways….my radiation simulation occurred in the actual room where I would be having my treatments. They basically went through a trial run of having me lay on the table with my molded pillow, while using a number of red laser lights to line me up precisely where they wanted me to be. I think that there were at least 3 different laser lights hanging down from the ceiling and 2 additional lasers on the side walls….all pointed directly at me. They used these laser lights, in combination with a ruler and my tattoos as a guide to position the table and then lock it into place so that I was in the exact location for my actual treatment.
Once locked in place, they instructed me to take several deep breaths and hold them as they took some more measurements and rotated the “linear accelerator” (aka radiation machine) around me.
Now that the simulations were done and the preparations were in place, I was ready to begin my radiation treatments the following week.
Stay tuned for more info and pictures on my next blog entry, Radiation Part 2…
Love to all…
Nae
