Next Steps

It's been almost 3 weeks since my last chemo, and I can't honestly say that I feel like I "bounced back" any. If anything, I'm more tired than before. The smallest deviation from my rigid schedule of a quiet life with lots of naps really throws my body off. The family get-together for my niece Rae's graduation was fabulous; and I took naps and went to bed early. Nevertheless, when I returned home I was very sick and threw up throughout Sunday night and then slept all of Monday.

Last week I met for the first time with the Radiation Oncologist. My perfect record of having wonderful doctors still stands -- although this doc was actually filling in for the regular doc. They want me to have the type of treatment known as IMRT, but because it's the latest and greatest, it's also the most expensive. That means they're going to have to fight with the insurance company for authorization. The second choice is 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT). There, don't you feel better knowing that? Regardless of which method is used, the tentative plan is that I'll start radiation treatment next week, five days a week for EIGHT weeks. I'm not sure when I'll re-start chemo.

Because both daughters were visiting, they went with me to the appointment. I was soooo glad they were here to be part of at least a piece of the process. 

Meanwhile, I had the second PET scan, which I slept through. I don't know the results from that yet.

I also had the "treatment simulation." This involved their making a body mold that will be be used to ensure that I'm in exactly the same position each time. They tattooed me in three places, one low on my sternum and the other two sort of in my armpits. When my arms are over my head, which they will be when I have the treatments, the three dots line up in a straight line. Just another way to line me up properly.

The radiation oncologist warned me that the fatigue from starting up chemo again plus the fatigue from radiation will be very very hard on my body. The fatigue quotient will be much greater than 1 + 1. He gave me a big packet of information, including dietary restrictions. A small sampling: No coffee, no carbonated beverages, nothing too hot or too cold, nothing spicy, nothing "rough," such as chips, no orange juice, grapefruit juice, or tomato juice. In other words, soft, bland foods.

But the Universe blessed me with wonderful daughters who are fantastic cooks, so Brena is taking time off work under FMLA and will come stay with me for four or five weeks. It's a HUGE, gigantic load off my mind, because I have complete confidence that she'll come up with tasty things to eat that meet all the restrictions. And of course, it'll be just plain fun to be able to spend that much time with her.

Though as she pointed out, we really won't see much of each other since I sleep most of the time!

And finally, I'm going to Harmony Hill's Cancer Retreat from Friday through Sunday. What a wonderful way to mark this entry into the next phase of my cancer treatment!