I began radiotherapy on Wed, July 25th.
I will have 25 days of radiotherapy, every day for five weeks (except
weekends).
The first day, a nurse showed me the ropes.
I have a pigeon hole where I store my over-washed, blue hospital robe and ever-so-attractive
white hospital gown. It is here I come every day, collect my gear, change in a
side room and put all my belongings in a little plastic carry thing; the type
you see at Foodland.
So far, I haven’t had to wait, there has
been someone waiting for me once I’m changed. They escort me into the room
where the machine lives.
The
Machine
I’m in awe of her! (I don’t have a name for
her yet and am happy to accept ideas.) She’s a marvel of engineering and
technology. The pictures below are similar models and illustrate how she
rotates around me.
The folk in these pictures look way too
comfortable. I have to be positioned with my arms over my head in stirrup-like
holders. The staff fiddle and pull and push until I’m in exactly the right
position. I am aligned with my tattoos, lasers, rulers and the machine itself to within
a millimetre.
Once in position, the process only really
takes a few minutes. There’s a thick skin-like mat that is placed on my chest which
has something to do with the depth of the radiation. I go off to my safe place
and relax until I hear, ‘Deep breath Kristina’. I take that deep breath.
‘Perfect. And hold…’ Ten or so seconds later I hear, ‘Breathe normally’ and so
I do. This is repeated a number of times while the machine turns to the angles
and measurements it’s designed to, for me.
When it’s all over, I have been in the same
position, as still as possible, for between 30 and 50 minutes. Now comes the
hardest bit of the day, getting up. My shoulders seize up in that position for
that long and it takes me a little time to get my arms to my side. They hurt so
I can't use them to help sit up. There is also a ledge under my bottom to stop me
from sliding which makes sitting up really difficult. I get a bit of help from
the staff who use my gown to help me sit up. Chemotherapy and surgery have left
me without much core muscle strength and I’m embarrassed by it. But that’s the
worst of it.
After the treatment, I am fitted with film, which helps keep moisture and oils in my skin and promotes healing. It
doesn’t seem to stay on me for more than 24 hours so over the weekend, I
lathered the site in Sorbeline as prescribed. I learned today that I'm not supposed to get it wet. I'll try keeping the water off it and see if it lasts a bit longer.
I'm lucky to be able to stay with a friend nearby a few days a week. The daily commute would be too exhausting.
Four days down, 21 to go.
I’ve got this.
Barbarella?
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