One down, four to go

Well that's one done. Today's radiation appointment was fairly straightforward. When I checked in I received my itinerary which showed that I'd be receiving five treatments altogether over the next five business days (Monday is a holiday). Then I spent 15 minutes talking to one of the nurses about what was coming. I only had one question: can I drive myself to appointments? She said that as long as I was feeling up to it, I could, and that the fatigue probably wouldn't kick in until after the treatments are finished.

Then I got changed and waited. The overall procedure was much the same as during the preparation. The main difference was the machines: instead of being in a CT scanner, I had an x-ray and the actual radiation delivery device.

Once they got me arranged and all lined up they took a couple of x-rays to make sure that I was lined up properly. And then the x-ray retracted and the radiation device lined up on the side.

Then they asked me to hold my breath while the machine rotated about 90deg from my side to about my midsection. We took a break and then I held my breath while the machine rotated to my other side. After that we repeated the process with the machine going the other way. I think if I could have held my breath for over a minute we wouldn't have needed a break but I'm happy with only holding it for 30 or 35 seconds at a time. Apparently I did a really good job of holding my abdomen perfectly still so that's great!

I was nervous driving to the hospital. It's a big change, after all, so it's no surprise that I'd be unsettled. Also, I'd seen my family doctor for my annual physical this morning and was tired out from that. I'd have changed that appointment but my stomach has been hurting again (probably due to long-term NSAID use) and I wanted to talk to him about it. He's sending me to a gastroenterologist.

Once I got there I felt less nervous, and then while the treatment went on I dozed off a bit. Most of my next treatments are early in the morning so I'll pretty much be able to roll out of bed and go.