RADIATION IS FINISHED!

Yahoo!  I should have posted this blog last Thursday - my last radiation session but I was too high following and have been rather low since.  I bought various bags of chocolates and put together a basket of them for the techs in celebration of being finished.  They were a great group of people and worked tirelessly at preserving my Sharpie marks from water, soap, sweat and cream that all tried to eradicate them.  Brown eyes came out to the waiting room to get me on my last day and so I got to give them to him. He was giddy with chocolate for breakfast:)  They made me promise to only run into them at music festivals and other fun venues in the city and never, ever to darken the door of the radiation room again.  I agreed wholeheartedly. 

I still don't get the radiation thing.  I have a burn on my back from the radiation going right through me!  I'm burned from the inside out:(  I was allowed to miss some days but not others....????  It took no time at all once I was all aligned on the grid (not even enough time to fall asleep), I didn't feel a thing and yet I'm burned all over, my right arm hurts - inside - and I'm so damned tired!  There was a bell that I could ring to celebrate the end - but the radiation room didn't give me that kind of vibe.  Plus I got in trouble from doc Genest:)

On my second last radiation day I was also scheduled to see Doc Clemons and do my clinical trial bloodwork and shot, etc., etc.  I didn't have any pharmacology appointment in my phone however so I checked in at the radiation desk to see if they could find out for me.  When I spelled my name another clerk came over and told me that Genest was looking for me and that when I showed up they were not allowed to let me leave!  They paged him right away and the clerk shortly came to find me to tell me he was running over.  Yikes!  I went to an examination room to wait.  I felt like I was back in elementary school.  When Doc Genest came in he was in a hoody and cords and his hair was all over the place.  My God, he had actually run over!  I started right off with, "I hear that I'm in trouble - but I was fine so I didn't want to waste your time."  Genest just laughed and told me that he preferred seeing healthy people anyway.  We just chatted about how things had gone and what I could expect over the next couple of weeks.  Sadly, the skin will worsen over the next two weeks and the fatigue will continue for up to three or four months.  This last part is very worrisome as bluesfest starts July 4.  I need to be able to dance for at least two hours a night, ride a bike for about 40 minutes and drink a reasonable amount of beer over the course of the evening - plus walk around schlepping my festival chair everywhere.  I need to get alot of naps in between now and then!  Genest and I have a follow up date for September (I talked him out of one a month from now) as long as I promise to call the unit if I have any opening of the skin or blisters develop.  Eww.

Clemons gave me a script to start me on hormone therapy - for the next 5 years.  He also signed me up for two more studies - one on my treatment generally and my preferences for side effects of treatment - like would I prefer a regime where there was a 90% chance of baldness and loss of eyebrows or one where I have severe nausea for a week following each chemo session that is so bad that I end up in the hospital for several days each time.  That is a no-brainer of course.  Who thinks these things up?  Anyway, all I have to do for that one is answer on-line surveys every now and again.  Then he signed me up for a two year study to follow me on the hormone therapy.  I didn't have to meet with anyone so it won't measure whether I get more cranky and moody with hormones - but after I agreed to do it I found out that I have to collect the packaging from my scripts in a baggy for the next year.  Seriously?  Is this just a sneaky way to monitor whether I actually take the stuff?  Are they worried that I won't?  It's enough to make me cranky - and moody:)

And time for just one quick rant - what is with the snow tires this year Ottawa?  On Wednesday heading to the hospital I counted 14 cars with snow tires still on in a drive that takes less than ten minutes.  People, it's the middle of June already.  It was 30 degrees yesterday.  Take them off already!  They are made of softer rubber than All Season and they basically melt in this hot weather.  And one more - when you're picking people up from the hospital - turn off your engine.  I know that it's warm out - but please don't idle.  There are sometimes sick people in that place.

Radiation Update Number Two

Last Monday I was told by one of my radiation techs that I had to go and see Doc Genest.  So, early Tuesday morning Debbers and I set off to walk to the hospital.  As luck would have it, another doctor was covering for Genest and it was very busy - but my radiation room was running forty minutes behind schedule so it all worked out.  The doc gave me a script for some steroid cream as my skin had begun to itch somewhat.  He also pointed out to me that my back was slightly burned as a result of the radiation  - it goes right through the body and burns the skin on the back too!  I had no idea.  This radiation stuff is really freaky.  It was great having company to sit and chat with as the wait was long and would otherwise have been extremely boring.

I didn't go with Logan to the CSSRA Regatta b/c of my treatments (a huge thanks to Doug and Marijke who drove a van full of boys after the school's Music Night Performance - leaving around 23:00 and driving through the night) and then on Friday morning I got a call from the hospital that one of the machines was down so my treatment was cancelled for the day!  When I went in at 07:30 this morning I was told that breast cancer patients can miss one day of treatment so when a machine is down they are the first to get cancelled.  Huh?  One day?  I don't get treatment on the weekends and I missed a day due to a stat holiday - when I asked about that I was told they don't count.  I truly do not get the radiation thing - totally bizarre.  As a result of missing Friday, one day has been added on to the end of my session so my last day will now be Thursday, June 7.  I cannot wait until I can sleep all day long. 

At a session last week the techs were re-doing my markings and discussing whether to tape or not tape.  One of the marks on my abdomen ends at a freckle and the techs were talking about just using the freckle as a marker and put that into the computer file in case I lost the Sharpie mark.  Brown eyes referred to it as "an inferior freckle".  When he said that I of course was all over them, "That is a mighty fine freckle, thank you very much!  Who are you calling inferior anyway??!!"  I was trying not to giggle too  much as I'm not supposed to move.  At the end of the session one of the other techs came in and as she was lowering the bed so that I could get off she started to explain what they had meant by the term "inferior".  I stopped her saying, "I know what you meant - I was just razzing you guys for fun!"  "Oh," she responded, "We were discussing it during your treatment and we were worried that we had offended you!"  Ha!  My gosh that was funny - I really did laugh then.  "Nope, you have to do alot more than that to offend me."  The poor techs - they really are super and because of their diligence and good work I haven't lost any of my markings and haven't had to go back for anything to be recalibrated.  Looking forward to Thursday:)