I have just started my radiation treatment for breast cancer. I have completed chemotherapy to kill the cancer in my body. I have had a bilateral mastectomy to take the tumors out of my breast and now I am going through radiation treatment to kill any cancer that may be in my chest area that surgery can not have gotten. You can't see little ditsels of cancer on a scan. Radiation may take care of this. We'll know in 5 years.A day in treatment:
8:05 am backing out of my garage with two kids in tow
8:26 am park at Andrea M.'s house to drop the kids off
8:36 am heading to the Cancer Agency
9:20 am parked and buying $3.00 worth of groceries from Safeway to earn 2 hours of free parking (I have many cans of beans in my pantry)
9:37 am check into my radiation unit
9:38 am changed and finishing a puzzle in the waiting room
9:54 am get paged to come into room # 6
Positioning me (8 numbers are called out and they use a sharpie marker to draw lines on me - every time!) They use the three tattoos to get me positioned perfectly. After the table is moved and they have pushed, pulled and tugged me by millimeters I am ready.
4 positions of the machine. One behind, one in front, one from either side.
6 zaps of radiation. (2 zaps at different levels from the sides; one at 6 and one at 10, which is a higher intensity). The technicians leave the room after every adjustment of the machine.
10:11 am I am off the table
10:13 am changed
10:16 am in another waiting room at the end of the hall
10:17 am go into an examination room for an appointment
10:25 am Dr. W. comes in
10:33 am she leaves after I learn that I can go swimming with my kids but only with a T-shirt
10:37 am out of the Cancer Agency building
10:43 in the parkade
10:48 heading home
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