Day 195 - Zap

Radiation #1 is history!  My wonderful mother-in-law came with me, and we arrived at the cancer center a few minutes after 3.  Since we had a few minutes before my scheduled appointment, I showed her around a little bit and introduced her to one of the receptionists in my oncologist's office who I always enjoy chatting with. It may seem strange to show someone around the cancer center, but it's been a pretty big part of my life over these past 6 months so I wanted to give her a brief tour.

My radiation appointment is scheduled for 3:15 every day.  I was called back almost immediately today, was told that they were running about 30 minutes behind schedule, and that I was going to see the doctor for a few minutes first.  Ok.  The doctor will see me once a week so starting on day 1 seemed like a good idea to me.  Kathy came in with me and got to meet my radiation oncologist and chat with me while I waited.

The tech that I spoke with on Sunday during my radiation dry run told me to keep my skin very dry and steer clear of lotions and creams unless I need them.  That sounded a bit wrong to me, and the doctor confirmed that it was wrong.  She encouraged me to keep that area very well-conditioned and recommended some lotions for me to try.  Interesting that I was told two different things there, but I'll go with the doctor's advice.  The gift shop in the cancer center sells a variety of lotions for radiation so we picked up a highly recommended one on the way out.  I'll give it a shot, and will try something else if I don't like it.

After I saw the doctor and waited for a little while, we were walked back to the women's lounge (sounds so spa-like) where we waited some more.  On non-doctor days, I will go straight to the women's lounge, disrobe up top, put on a shirt-gown, and wait for the radiation tech to come and get me.

I was walked back to the radiation room, got on the table and was moved around a little bit and lined up according to the stickers and markings on my skin.  They took a few images to make sure that everything was perfect, the doctor came in to double check, and the zapping commenced.  The actual zapping took very little time.  I am radiated from two different angles, and each one took less than 20 seconds.  There is a buzzing sound (much like you hear when getting an x-ray) while the actual radiation is being administered so it was a bit unnerving but only lasted for a few seconds.

I swear that I could feel some kind of tingling feeling on my skin, but the techs insisted that the feeling was in my head. We'll see.  I shouldn't feel anything, but I really think that I did.  1 treatment down, 32 left to go. I will say that I hope that they are not running that far behind on a consistent basis.  If they are, I am going start bring working with me.

Henry helped me celebrate my first treatment this afternoon.

1 link gone, and LOOK AT MY HAIR!!