3 Down, 28 to go!

No, I'm not going to do a daily countdown, but maybe occasionally I'll post a countdown number. I wanted to clarify some things as I've gotten a number of questions about how often I go for radiation. It is Monday through Friday with the weekends off, so 31 sessions will take 6 weeks and then 1 more day into the 7th week. That is of course assuming that there are no missed days for weather or illness, and that they don't monkey around with the time (which has been known to happen). The other question I have gotten a lot is if the side effects hit you right away or take time and it's the latter. Right now I feel great and while I don't know for sure when the side effects will hit, it's probably somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd week. I've been warned by others who've had radiation to the para aortic area that it causes extreme nausea (however I am not sure if that will be the case for me or not since I have having a more pinpointed radiation beam) and extreme fatigue. We'll just have to see how it goes for me since everyone is different. One thing I am concerned about is the anti-nausea meds really wipe me out, so if I need to take those I will have fatigue on top of my radiation induced fatigue. I told A. to keep his late mornings free starting the 3rd week in case I need to be driven back and forth (I told him he could bring the laptop and sit in a coffee shop and work while I was in there), and also pick up time for Z. from school. If he gets a job and starts working before I'm done then we'll have to work something out with friends who have very graciously offered to help with driving or pickup. We'll just play it by ear and see how it goes as it goes along.

So yesterday I waited a half hour after my scheduled appt. time to get into the radiation treatment room, then had the ct (and one film) and the treatment and was out about 20 minutes later. Today I waited only 15 minutes after my appt. time and had the ct and treatment and was out in 15 minutes. I counted these last two times and the machine goes into 6 separate positions and has between 10 and 15 radiation "bursts" in each position. I've had no coughing problems, sucking on a lozenge is working very well.

When I got there Tuesday the woman that checks me in tells me that they are "back to having everyone put on gowns" and asks me to change out of my clothes and into a gown. I didn't argue with her but instead went to the tech who is at my machine and asked him if it was necessary for me to change. He said no, I was fine. The field that is being radiated is above my belly button and they need about a foot or so of clear skin so all I need to do is pull my pants down a few inches and pull my shirt up a few inches and it's fine. For me to get changed is a big ordeal since I wear compression pantyhose which are a royal pain to get off and on, not to mention that sitting there in a stupid hospital gown is psychologically more difficult. So in the waiting area I am the only one besides patient's friends and relatives who is in their street clothes.

After radiation yesterday I went and picked up my ct scan on cd in the hospital and walked a few blocks away to pick up my PET scan on cd (both to bring to Fox Chase for my appt. next Wed.). Today I went to another hospital building and picked up my pathology slides. All I have left to get now are my radiation records which they are aware of and working on. I'll probably get them when I see the dr. next week. I have to sit myself down and read all the info Fox Chase sent me and fill out all the forms.

So far the commuting is pretty easy, I leave the house 45 minutes before my scheduled appt. time, drive downtown, park in the self park hospital garage, walk through the glassed in bridge from the garage into the 2nd floor of the hospital, validate my parking card when I get into the hospital, walk through the hospital cafeteria, down the stairs into the lobby and then outside and a short walk to get to the cancer center entrance, then wander through there for a while to get to the back elevator that brings you down to the basement where the radiation dept. is. I check in with the check in person (who recognized me today so I didn't even have to give her my name) get my pink parking card (which gives me another $5 off, the last 2 days it's only cost me $1 to park for over an hour), use the bathroom and walk down to the waiting area. I'm usually sitting in the waiting area by my appt. time, maybe 5 minutes before.

Yesterday I left the hospital after picking up my scans, drove to Whole Foods and picked up something for lunch and then drove to the Wellness Community and ate my lunch before my support group began at 1pm. Today I was done with my rad and was on my way to use the bathroom before I left when I recognized a former neighbor of mine (from 3 houses ago, way before Z. was born back in the late 1980's) and stopped to say hi. Ends up his SIL has pancreatic cancer and was in getting some pre-radiation procedures done so I didn't meet her, but chatted with my neighbor and his BIL for a while. I told them all about the Wellness Community and gave them my phone number as he asked if his SIL wanted to talk to me if she could call me. They both felt that the Wellness Community might be just the thing for her as she's been having a really difficult time with her diagnosis. They are actually from New Orleans and are up here for treatment (surgery and radiation- they'll go back home for chemo and any further treatment, apparently my hospital has an excellent pancreatic cancer surgeon) so they won't be around that much longer, but it's still probably worthwhile to check it out. They both looked really shell shocked. My neighbor asked me if it was harder or easier going through this a 2nd time (I didn't mention that it was really my 3rd). I told him that a lot of the fear was absent this time since I know what to expect.

Wow, it's 2pm already, my day sure goes fast now, it's almost time to go pick up Z. from school. Tonight is another support group meeting, my gyn cancer group which meets one evening a month. The last meeting was in November only I completely forgot to go (my memory these days is bad). I've put an alarm on my computer calendar for an hour beforehand and told A. to remind me too, so hopefully I will remember to go tonight :-))