Radiation

I start radiation in about a week and a half. My first dose will be on Wednesday, March 28. This is Tom's brother's birthday. I only note that because it seems like a lot of my firsts/lasts have landed on birthdays of relatives. Of course, when you have as many relatives as Tom and I have, well, it's probably not that unusual. My first chemo was on my cousin Aaron's birthday. My last chemo was on Tom's older daughter's birthday. It's just a coincidence I wanted to note.

So yes, March 28th will be my first of 33 doses of radiation.

I will receive these daily, Monday through Friday for about seven weeks. The first 28 will be very localized, pointed pretty much directly where my tumor was. The last five will be more general, pointed at my left side. It is these last five that could cause the most damage to things like my heart and my ribs.

I've been told that I need to begin a heart-healthy lifestyle when radiation is over in order to protect my heart, which could very well be damaged by the radiation itself.

I was also told that the radiation will weaken some of my ribs. I shouldn't be surprised if, a year from now, I'm coughing and feel a painful pop. It will just be my ribs cracking. Nice.

The biggest issue, though, according to my radiation nurse and doctor, is skin damage. They gave me some cream I am supposed to apply three times a day after the radiation is administered. This will help ease some of the burning to my skin.

When I took the donuts to my chemo nurse last Tuesday, I mentioned that I start radiation in about two weeks (from then.) I said that the nurse and doctor said it wouldn't be nearly as bad as chemo had been.

Kyla, my chemo nurse, said, "Don't believe everything you hear."

Huh. Okay then. Obviously, I will report often on how it's going.

I've watched more than my share of YouTube videos lately. One in particular was very helpful regarding radiation. I will be going back to that one in the next few days as I prepare for radiation to start.

So yeah, that's where we are right now.