6-17-10

First radiation treatment was this morning. Here is my recap:

They showed me to a dressing room, I put on the gown and there was a locker with a little key just like at the bowling alley. I kept my boob and my purse and my shirt in the little locker and there was a handy dandy wrist strap to keep the key on. This system impessed me...I should get out more.

They took me to the mad scientist lab looking room, put me on the table and situated me in my custom made pillow that is molded to my head and my arm as it lays over my head. This sounds more comfortable than it is, there was something that felt like gravel under my skull and you can't move, it got pretty irritating.

I joked about how small my tattoo were and I wanted a redo, they said there are no do-overs and then they examined me closely trying to find the damn tattoos that are so small, they couldn't find them either. There was about 20 minutes of X-rays, I stayed still and the two arms of this large machine moved around me. It felt like a scene from one of the Alien movies. At one point, the arm comes really close to my face and I can see inside it. At I am peering in, metal teeth slide apart to reveal this abyss inside.

Just when I thought I was done, they tell me the Xrays are finished and the zapping will start. This was similar to the Xrays, arms moving around me, pausing and buzzing, the buzz was just much longer with the actual treatment times.

The was also a period of sharpie markering on my chest, I have some strange looking map thing drawn on me. There is also a taped area that is where they line me up for next time, so little bulls eye is protected by tape.

I did remember to ask, I am scheduled for 25 zaps. This is fewer than I was originally told and the zapper said I am getting a stronger dose. So that is less zaps but a more concentrated variety.

We'll see how that plays out, my reality is that I am not going to feel bad, even with the concentrated doses.

The hardest part (in my mind) is going to be remembering to show up every day.

I need to put up some post-it notes.