Holly's Notes and Condition

Finished Planning Appt - Start Radiation Therapy Monday

I made it through a really tough , 1 1/2 hours of contortionist arm placement and lying completely still, as (6) people worked on checking and rechecking and having x-rays taken and more aligning and more x-rays and then finally - (8) more tatoos. That was my planning appt for radiation therapy, where they align the CT images with x-rays and then line up with lasers exactly how they want to position me for radiation.
I can only imagine how much tougher it must have been before they had such instant results and could make such minute and subtle changes. My arm and shoulder were completely 'dead' by the time they finished and my neck and lower back weren't far behind.
Thank you to Carla, Michael, David, Brian, Nancy and Dr Chou for making sure that everything is exactly how we want it before we proceed and working with such coordination of purpose.

The tatoos themselves are nothing more than a small dot of ink - however, today, I look like a mapping project with 'X's and lines in ink drawn pretty much all over the upper right side of my body on the front, from the base of my neck, down to the bottom of my rib cage and along my right side - some in black ink and some in blue. Not to worry, if they start to come off - they'll redraw them every day before I begin each day's treatment. Very attractive.

They get points for trying to create a little warmth in an otherwise sterile, tech environment - they have a beautiful painting of a field of red poppies, with Italian junipers off in the distance - it looks like the Italian countryside. And above the storage cabinets they have strung garlands of brightly colored flowers with red poppies being the dominant color.
It helps to mitigate the feeling that I got when I looked straight up to see red laser lights shining back at me through a small opening in the ceiling tiles. Then of course, lying there and having this huge disc on a huge mobile arm, positioned so close to my face, head, neck and chest - its hard to feel entirely relaxed.

They also got points - as the music that was playing on the CD today was Neil Diamond - so I heard his version of 'Both Sides Now' and 'Beautiful Noise' and then I heard 'Both Sides Now' again - and I knew I'd been there a long time. Haven't heard 'Holly Holy', 'Longfellow's Serenade' or 'Forever In Blue Jeans' yet , but as Carla said, a longtime Neil Diamond fan herself - I'll hear plenty of Neil Diamond music - I'm sure I'll hear 'Hot August Night' in August and it will really be appropriate. Hopefully now, I'll be done with radiation therapy - 30 doses , M-F, excluding holidays - so I'm shooting for Monday August 13th as my last dose.

I start with Dose #01 of Radiation on Monday, July 2nd.

posted by Holly @ 6:32 PM