First radiation treatment

Finished the first treatment of radiation therapy. It didn't take long. I got there early and waited a bit until it was my turn. Luckily, I don't have to change into the hospital gown. I got a little shock while waiting when the little old guy before me went into the room with the back of his gown open!

I laid on the table and put my head on the little clear plastic positioner at the left of the picture. They put my specially made mask over my head and clamped it down to the table. I can breathe through it but I can't see. It's so tight that I can't open my eyelids. They did the quick CT scan for positioning, then the actual procedure. It was only a few minutes. I couldn't tell what was actually happening, I could only see when large things blocked the overhead light. Thank goodness for ativan. Otherwise, I probably would have had a panic attack in the machine.

It was over in about 15 minutes start to finish. Repeat 32 more times. The longest part was probably finding a spot in the parking garage and then waiting for my turn.

I'm still struggling with the insurance company about delivering my meds. So I wasn't able to start the chemo today. If it gets delivered tomorrow afternoon, I'll start it Wednesday morning. The chemo oncologist said that is fine, since the chemo is really to help make the cancer cells more sensitive to the radiation, so it's most important at the end for the "harder to treat cells". I do have all the other meds; anti-nausea, antibiotics, pain killers, and anti-anxiety.

Grace and Liam start school a week from today. I'll be walking them over before I go to my appointments. So far, I'm confident I can drive myself. We'll see how it goes as time goes on.