Radiation!

So, every day, Monday through Friday, I have the pleasure of driving to the hospital and going for my radiation treatment. I have already had 15 treatments and will go today for my 16th (this puts me at about the halfway point).

The good news is, the radiation department has such a great set up. There is hardly any wait and I am in and out very quickly. The first thing I do when I get there, is swipe my card.This is how I check in. After I swipe my card, I go into the woman's changing area. There are cubbies there, one for each patient, where we keep our hospital gowns.



This way we don't need a new gown each time we come since we are there daily and only wear them for about 10 to 15 min. it seems wasteful to use our new gown each time. I get into my down and wait for the nurses to come get me. (I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 min. which is really nice)

Me rocking my gown from Annie and Isabel and my arm warmers (because I'm always freezing there)

The nurse walks me to the actual radiation room. I lay down on a table and they line everything up just so. I have four tiny tattoos that they use to line me up in a very specific positions. I get two doses of radiation that target the lymph node area (one from the top and one from the side.

Then the nurse comes back in and covers my right breast with a bolus. The bolus is this rubber-like thing that helps concentrate the radiation on my skin instead of allowing it to go deeper - which it would do if the bolus were not there. I get an additional four doses of radiation – two from the p and two from the side. Each radiation dose last from 4 seconds to 12 seconds (at least in my head when I'm counting one-one thousand two-one thousand etc. those are the numbers I come up with). And then, I go get dressed and make my way home.

I'm usually there for about 15 to 20 min., so not too long. Every five days they also take pictures to make sure that I'm still being lined up in the correct position to get radiation. And on Wednesdays I stay and meet with the doctor. He checks my skin to see how it's holding up, goes over any side effects I'm having, and just make sure that things are running smoothly.

Everyone there is great – the nurses, the Dr., all the other staff. And they run the place very efficiently. But, I can't lie. I will be so grateful when I get that last radiation treatment and don't need to be there every single day!