It has started - glowing in the dark (not really)

Another day, another adventure.

I started radiation therapy for my cancer today. However, I do need to apologize to everyone for the several typos I keep leaving in these posts. No matter how many times I read through them before I click on the "Publish Post" button, I can't seem to see any mistakes. Then, the next time I go to post something and read the previous post to make sure I am covering everything, I find typos. Sorry folks. I'm doing the best I can!

My first radiation treatment went without a hitch. Everything seemed to work well and the staff at the Huntsman Cancer Institute are wonderful.

I tried to get a good picture of the sign over the front desk at the Radiation Oncology department, but it was really difficult to get into a good position with all the reflections. Sorry.

My appointments will be at 9:30 a.m. every weekday for the next 5 weeks. One of the unexpected pleasures of this is running into someone from forgotten years of high school.





The two ladies to the left here are some of the receptionists at Radiation Oncology, Susan (on the left) and Edith on the right. The first time I checked in to this department last week, Susan recognized my name and me. Turns out we went to high school together 34 years ago. Wow! This IS a small world.







This is the team that worked on me today. I didn't catch the names of the young ladies, but I met Glenn (on the right) yesterday when I came in for the dry run and finalization of calculations. They are all very nice.











Here is the mold they created last week during my first visit. See the last post for details about the unusual experience of being molded.










This mold holds me in the exact same position every time I come in for treatment. It's pretty comfortable and fits really well.










Once I am on the table and in the mold, the table is moved into position under the "linear accelerator" for positioning with laser sights using the tattoos they placed last week. These guys seem to have fun. They tend to pull out their magic markers and draw on me every time I see them. The tattoos are circled and dotted every time for sighting in.




You can see some of the marks here. There is a faint laser line running up and down, right in the mid-line of my body. Not sure if you can see it in this picture.

You can see how big the tumor still is at the top of the picture. Also, notice how little chest hair I have. I used to be pretty hairy. Not now.

The white tube going into my chest is my central IV line for IV fluids when they start chemo again. They decided to leave it in for future use.



If you look really close, you can see laser lines in this picture, lining me up for treatment. You can also see the site of the biopsy done back on February 20th. Again, you can see the central ("Hickman") line for the chemo-therapy. This requires daily flushing with heparin to keep it from clotting off.







And finally, here I am, all alone, in the dark, being targeted like a deer in a rifle scope, irradiated and actually pretty comfortable during the entire thing, so far.

I am told that the effects of radiation therapy are cumulative. This means that for the first couple of weeks, I won't feel much effect. After that, the area starts to become a little tender and the skin can become tender like with a sunburn. As the treatments continue, those effects may increase. Every individual is different. Every body reacts to the treatment in it's own way.

Oh yes, the primary tumor is irradiated from the front and then the big round thing rotates around to the back and hits it a second time from that direction. Then, everything is repositioned and the spine lesion is hit from behind as well (just in case you wanted to know).

Once again, I thank everyone for their extreme kindness and encouragement. I do appreciate the prayers and expect to recover fully.

Jim