Left Out In The Cold
I'm still defrosting from my radiation simulation this morning. You could replicate the experience at home if you wanted to know how it felt. Just set your thermostat to about 55°, undress from the waist up and lay down on your back on your granite counter top. You can put a sheet down first, we'll need that later. You'll have to find a hard plastic neck rest and something to hold your right arm over your head. You can put a pillow beneath your knees, but don't even think about crossing your feet at the ankles. This will get you in big trouble. If you have one of those leveling lasers, mount it so that the lines project across your chest. Then have your husband or wife come in and tug on the sheet you're lying on so that they can line you up. When it feels like your hips and legs are just to the left of being aligned with your spine, then you'll know you are in the perfect position. Now stay very still and don't move for about 20 minutes. By now, your nose or some other area of your face should really need a good scratching. But don't move! We're waiting for the doctor to make sure we have the radiation field correct. At this point, give your 12-year old a Sharpie and have him draw a box around your breast. Now you'll just have to imagine that you have an x-ray machine that can orbit around you and take a few snaps. Just when you think you might have frost bite on some of your, um, extremities it will finally be time to get down.
In theory, it only took this long today because they were double checking everything and it will only last about 10 minutes a day during treatment. The cold was my only complaint. I did get three more tattoos. They wanted to put some sort of tape over the Sharpie lines and have me try not to wash it off for the next six weeks so I offered to let them give me more tattoos. I don't want to be stinky because I couldn't wash in the middle of July.
I can expect some skin changes, but that will happen gradually. I probably won't notice anything for the first several treatments. It will get dry and itchy, then pink and then maybe red, and maybe more. My breast has been well photographed so they can compare the skin and monitor any changes. Also, toward the end I may feel fatigue. I need to stop and pick up a some cream to use, but other than that, no special instructions. I start next Monday at 3:30 and will go every day for approximately the next six and a half weeks. I will also see the doctor once a week, I think every Tuesday. And that's it.
Oh, I didn't get to see my doctor again today, I saw another doctor. But he said that there wasn't anything on the CT scan to worry about. I saw the x-rays that they took of me today and I didn't see anything in my lungs or ribs. Because with all of my medical training I'm sure I would recognize something if it were there.
In theory, it only took this long today because they were double checking everything and it will only last about 10 minutes a day during treatment. The cold was my only complaint. I did get three more tattoos. They wanted to put some sort of tape over the Sharpie lines and have me try not to wash it off for the next six weeks so I offered to let them give me more tattoos. I don't want to be stinky because I couldn't wash in the middle of July.
I can expect some skin changes, but that will happen gradually. I probably won't notice anything for the first several treatments. It will get dry and itchy, then pink and then maybe red, and maybe more. My breast has been well photographed so they can compare the skin and monitor any changes. Also, toward the end I may feel fatigue. I need to stop and pick up a some cream to use, but other than that, no special instructions. I start next Monday at 3:30 and will go every day for approximately the next six and a half weeks. I will also see the doctor once a week, I think every Tuesday. And that's it.
Oh, I didn't get to see my doctor again today, I saw another doctor. But he said that there wasn't anything on the CT scan to worry about. I saw the x-rays that they took of me today and I didn't see anything in my lungs or ribs. Because with all of my medical training I'm sure I would recognize something if it were there.
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Suzan