…and only 27 more radiation treatments to go!

During this last week of 2017,  I started my radiation treatments at Princess Margaret Hospital. Compared to chemo and surgery, radiation is a breeze! The treatments are quick and painless. The most annoying thing about the treatments is that I have to wear a nose plug. And it’s really just annoying…there is no real discomfort. You may be wondering why I have to wear a nose plug…

In a previous post I mentioned that I have to hold my breath during treatments as the radiation is being applied near my heart. By holding my breath, my heart will be pushed away from the area being treated. Well, I don’t have to hold my breath all by myself. I am hooked up to a breathing apparatus that helps me. I’m attached to this machine by a device that looks something like a snorkel. This snorkel-like thing goes in my mouth and this is what I use to breathe. Once I take a deep breath, the machine helps me to hold it, and the nose plug makes sure that I don’t accidentally breathe through my nose. The nose plug is basically a clothes pin that keeps my nose closed. So, yes, annoying!

The treatment itself is pretty quick and easy. So far, each of my appointments has been about 30 minutes end-to-end, meaning from my arrival to my departure. Of course, my treatment unit has been on time this past week as it is quieter during the holidays. This may change next week!

Once I am in the treatment unit, the longest part of the process is actually the set up that is done by the Radiation Therapists. They have to make sure that I am correctly positioned on the table and perfectly aligned with the machine. This is where the tattoos come into play! Once everything is ready to go, the treatment itself is only about 5-7 minutes in duration. And it’s only that long because the maximum time for me to hold my breath is 25 seconds. I do need to some time to breathe!

All in all, the radiation treatments are going well. It is a commitment, as I go to the hospital on a daily basis…weekdays only! But this is okay…I am getting lots of exercise as I walk to PMH each day…even with this ridiculously cold weather. (For my non-local friends, we’ve been hitting temperatures of minus 20 and lower, BEFORE the wind chill factor. We broke a 57-year old “low temp” record on Thursday!)

As far as side effects are concerned, the main ones will be fatigue, skin discolouration and possibly blistering, but I won’t really notice these until after the second week of treatments. So I have nothing to report on these right now, but I do have something to look forward to! By the way, for those of you who are wondering, I am not actually radioactive 🙂

It’s official…I’m all inked up. Yep, last week during my Simulation appointment, I was the recipient of four tattoos. Of course, each tattoo looks like someone made a dot on me with a ballpoint pen, so it’s not really as exciting as you might think. But they are permanent! These are the tattoos that will be used during radiation to ensure that I am correctly positioned for each of the 30 treatments.

And speaking of radiation, I have good news. My treatments are starting on December 27th. That’s right… we are kicking off this next phase tomorrow morning! I was pretty excited to find this out as it’s about a week earlier than I expected. The sooner this begins, the sooner it will be over 🙂

My post-surgery rehabilitation is going well. I’m pretty diligent about completing my daily rehab exercises, which has paid off as the physio therapist has given me the green light to move forward with the pre-radiation treatment process.

I recently had my first major consultation with the radiation team at PMH. I met with my Radiation Oncologist, her Fellow (a doctor in training), and an Oncology Nurse. I will be having a total of 30 radiation treatments: 25 to the entire area of lymph nodes and breast, and then an additional 5 treatments only to the breast. But before all of this can begin, I have a few appointments that will help determine the treatment plan.

The first of these appointments is a CT Simulation that is scheduled for this Wednesday. The CT Sim is a CT scan where the Radiation Therapists gather the information needed to start the plan for my radiation treatments. Their goal is to be precise as possible with the application of the radiation in order to ensure that the correct area is being treated. The CT Sim will determine the positioning of my body during radiation as well as the area to be treated. In order for all of my radiation treatments to be in exactly the same area, the RT’s will make marks on my body – some will be with marker and some may be more permanent. Yep, that’s right. I may be getting my first ever tattoos on Wednesday morning!

The other appointment that will take place before radiation begins is a Breathing Clinic. You may be thinking that I should already know how to breathe! However, because the treatments will be applied to the left side of my chest, I need to avoid any radiation to my heart. In order to protect my heart, I will have to hold my breath when the radiation is being applied. Holding my breath will inflate my lungs, thereby pushing my heart away from the area being treated. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for the clinic to be called the Stop Breathing Clinic!

Assuming that all goes well at these two appointments, I will be starting the treatments sometime in the first week of January. It takes the Radiation team about two weeks to develop the customized treatment plan that will be used to kill any possible remnants of cancer in my breast and lymph nodes. Once they have their plan in place, I will be off to the races.

And in other fun news…my eyebrows are starting to grow back 🙂 …I just have to get through this awkward stage where it looks like my eyebrows have a five o’clock shadow!