Radiation is done! 4 weeks, 5 days a week! No zapping or sizzling sounds. The first 3 weeks were of the entire breast and lymph node area, the last week was just of the tumor site and actually took longer. But even the longer days I was in and out within 15 minutes. Curious about radiation? I give a rundown below.
Every day Ryan or Anna came and got me in the waiting room (today I had my entourage), I changed and always put my things in the orange locker. (For Nolan's hair.)
Then there was another waiting space with Wine Enthusiast magazines from last fall...but they were always so fast, I never had time to tuck in. I should have taken a picutre of how thick the door and walls are to the radiation room. It is, in fact, also the storm shelter! This is the radiation machine. I laid on the "bed" (plastic board covered in a sheet) and it moved up and could adjust if I was not perfectly aligned. The gray machine that Ryan thinks looks like a giant stand mixer, moved around me, and has arms that must move around me.
While treatments never took a long time, of course my brain was occupied. I counted how long each scan/beam was. (This week 15 seconds in 3 different places, last week 35 seconds in 3 different places and a couple 5 second ones...although those might have been x-rays.). There was always good music. I was determined to remember today's song, but I can't. The day it was Solitary Man it made me giggle because indeed it doesn't get more alone AND I love Neil Diamond. The rainbow changing ceiling was entertaining, you can't see the cross with the laser to help with lining me up and adjusting as needed. I had to be in the other room on the day of the weird computer stuff....the ceiling was not as pretty.
Anna and Ryan were the stars of the show, though perhaps they would say that was me....but I just laid there. The first week I started with Ryan and another woman. Then he went on vacation and she moved downtown. And I can't remember the "substitutes" names either! I know one was Robin. Anna and Ryan were wonderful, I feel like I don't know enough about them, and our time is over. I know Anna has a 14 year old at Johnston and Ryan has a 9 and 11 year old and they just went to Glacier National Park. He recommended the Grinnell Lake Hike. I thought (last night when I wasn't sleeping) that I should have gotten them a thank you. It's never too late.
We hugged, which was less weird than I was expecting being braless. They let me take a selfie, gave me my certificate and guardian angel pin and it was over. My parents and Jason's sister met us for a yummy lunch and toast at Cooper's Hawk.
After lunch I had a nap and then started the blog, and took a break to meet Susan and Jennifer for celebratory margaritas. Jennifer asked me if I wore this shirt in celebration of my 4 tiny dot tattoos. I didn't even think of it! Jason and I joke that I channeled Mike Tyson last year for my first tattoos (microbladed eyebrows), and this year my tattoos are 4 radiation dots. I've been in touch with one of Nolan's former art teachers who is now a tattoo artist...for something teeeeeeny tiny off of the dot on my right side. I thought about an M or a cardinal or an outline of "Captain Don't F$&% With Me." Stay tuned. Key words- teeny tiny.
So what's next, besides a possible tat? Well, next week I have an OBGYN appointment, therapy, a PCP appointment, eye and hair appointment, and my dad is having his shoulder replaced and I'm scheduled to have labs and my first shot of Lupron. (Oh! We found out my mom is the carrier of the clotting gene!) So the blog won't stop. I'm not sure if there's ever really an "it's over!" "I'm done!" point to this cancer treatment/diagnosis? The tumor was removed on May 15, so maybe then I was cancer free, and everything else I do now is preventative? I'll see what my OBGYN has to say about that on Monday!
As always, thank you for your love and support! No one should have to do this, but if they must, may they never be alone.
