Radioactive

Today was the setup appointment for my CyberKnife sessions. I was told it would be a full day, but ended up leaving the hospital after only 3-4 hours. I met the nurse who I'd usually be dealing with on treatment days (she's wonderful) and we talked about the schedule. Treatment sessions will last about two hours each - there is a stereo in the chamber and I was told I can bring in any CDs I want. Time to make some mixtapes!

I got fitted for my mask, and had a CT scan and MRI. They do these scans at a finer detail to make sure they don't miss any little tumor "seeds" that they can target during sessions. The mask wasn't bad, the MRI was annoying... You do what you have to do. You carry on, or you don't. Those are the options, and I choose to carry on!

It was established that sessions would begin in July - but I've since gotten a phone call and radiation begins next Tuesday. I will likely have two consecutive sessions next week, two more the following week and then a fifth the following week. It's not exactly jam-packed. During radiation therapy, I will not take chemotherapy medication. I will not resume it for three days after radiation ends.

All in all, today wasn't that stressful but I'm still pretty tired. The weather decided to warm up and even our ground floor apartment isn't impervious to 90 degree heat and the humidity. It's gross, I feel slow and exhausted. I'm doing laundry (don't worry, I am not lifting anything heavy) and then plan to take an extremely cold shower.

I'm curious about how radiation will affect me. Most things I read say that side effects with CyberKnife are minimal and don't usually show up for weeks (as the tumors start to dissolve/die) if at all. I'm anxious for business as usual.