Zapped

The “Burn” step in my doctor’s “Slash-Poison-Burn” method for destroying this cancer began yesterday.

Radiation.

I was a little nervous going into this therapy. Just the whole newness of it, and the not knowing how my body will react to it made me more anxious than I thought I’d be.

And then when I show up for my appointment to a fairly empty office (at 5:45 in the evening), the two techs were men. I know it shouldn’t matter, and they were very professional, but when you’re lying on a table, with your arms above your head, completely exposed, and they keep having to touch you to reposition you…well, it was just really creepy. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, though.

The actual treatment isn’t that bad, in that nothing is painful or anything. But I do have to lie completely still for over 25 minutes with my arms positioned over my head. About 10 minutes into the radiation, my arms begin to tingle and get numb. It’s a horrible feeling, but one that I have to just try to tune out, because my natural instinct is to get the arm moving and the blood flowing, but instead I have to just think of something else.

I have 28 of these treatments, every weekday.