April 2, 2021
Nothing makes you feel like you have cancer more than driving into the cancer center for your first treatment.
I rolled into the cancer center feeling calm and well-rested and promptly headed for the wrong elevator. But I got to the changing room, put on a gown, and kind of wandered around reading the signs on the walls. The waiting area had the feel of a nice hotel starting to fray around the edges. It felt a little weird when a guy came out to get me and then he and another guy ended up starting the treatment. But they were respectful and professional and kept me covered when they could.
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| An IMRT Machine |
The treatment itself is pretty cool. You lie on a table, snuggled into your custom-made hold-you-in-position thing. They find your teeny tattoos and line up all the settings. That involves some pulling on the sheet under you to move you around. Then they tell you there will be some whirring and other noises, and that pieces of the machine will move. If you need anything, just move your feet a lot and they’ll see from the other room.
So that’s what happened. The machine revolved around me, zapping the Bad Boys from above, alongside, and below. It was truly satisfying.
Here’s the kind of gross (but fascinating) part– the BBs will actually start to break up. My most excellent body will work to reabsorb the debris, but I will end up coughing some of it up! The nurse who will be helping said to take a picture of it and bring in the picture, not the yucky stuff.
After, I met with Nurse Radiology, Dr. Radiology, and Nutritionist Lady. (Cancer, it turns out, often feels like a full-time job.) Nurse R. reviewed my chart AGAIN– she says once she gets to know me, I’ll just have to say, “There have been no changes since my last visit” and we’ll be done with that. She told me a lot of stuff that I don’t really remember, so it’s good she gave me a two-page printout to go along with it.
The handout is very clear: “Most side effects occur in the first two to three weeks of treatment and will stop a few weeks to months after the treatments end.” Months? MONTHS?!
Dr. Radiology gave me some prescriptions and directions for over the counter medications to ameliorate the radiation side effects. I’m going to have to change pharmacies– mine keeps not having the medications I’ve been prescribed. I plan to take every medication I am offered. Nutrition Lady also said I had to get a big bucket of L-Glutamine and take it three times a day. It’s an amino acid that does something cool but who can remember.
Nutrition Lady also gave me about 20 pages of information about protein etc. etc. She advised me to immediately start eating full fat everything– it appears that swallowing will be a real problem, and weight loss will be too. Hard to believe that today, but I guess we’ll see. She expressed excitement over the blender I bought. She also warned me that my family would try to feed me, but research shows that putting food in front of people having radiation treatments makes them want to NOT eat. Go figure. Also, hard to believe, but I guess we’ll see.
Nurse radiology also gave me helpful tips about chemo side effects. Can’t wait for those to start, lemme tell you….
All in all, a pretty quiet day here in Cancer Land. Here’s hoping yours was too.
Thanks for reading.
Now let’s hear from the Mayo Clinic:
What Is IMRT?Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an advanced type of radiation therapy used to treat cancer and noncancerous tumors. IMRT’s advanced technology manipulates multiple photon and proton beams of varying intensities to conform to the shape of a tumor. The radiation intensity of each beam is controlled, and the beam shape changes throughout each treatment.