Sunday, September 5, 2010

And now for the Radiation...

Connie has been regaining some strength since her last chemo treatment. On Friday she had a visit with Dr. Thomson, a very tall Dr. who reminds me of a childhood friend's dad (Kendall Wahlquist/Fred Wahlquist). He came into the room and was curious wether or not we were going to go ahead with the treatment. Last time we talked he told us that she was in a grey area. We assured him that we are going to do everything to give her the best chance possible. With that he set Connie up to have a scan and to get a few tattoos. Found out that a few is 5...one on each side of her and three on her front side. Lasers use these tattoos to consistently line up where the radiation will be pointed during the treatment. There should be no variation from one treatment to the next. Treatments begin the week of 9/13 and last for 5 weeks. The 13th is a dry run, and the next 25 are live. No treatments on Sat & Sun! Side affects will be a loss of strength (but not as bad as chemo) and possible redness in the radiation area which can be helped by a number of ointments, etc.
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1 comment:

  1. dream quilt createSeptember 6, 2010 at 4:50 AM

    Hi Connie,
    It sounded like you did extrememly well with chemo, considering.........you did way better than me!!!
    To me, radiation is really nothing compared to chemo. I didn't really notice any side effects because I was so wiped out from the chemo. I think you will breeze through it :) The first time for me was a little scary. I didn't have any practice runs. They put you on this huge table and with a remote control, they maneuver the top of the machine around until the lasers match your tattoos. (I had 11). Then they leave the room and watch you on a tv monitor. You hear a few weird sounds from the machine. This was the part that was scary to me, because you're all alone in this huge room. After that, I knew what noises to expect from the machine and got used to being alone.
    I know you will do wonderfully, you are on the tail end!!! Congrats

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