Radiation Casting

Today I got 'fitted' with a cast for my radiation therapy.  I wish I had thought to bring my camera because it was a quite interesting process. 

The first thing they do is have you take everything off from the waist up, put on two gowns for modesty purposes and then go into the CT room and take it all off (Not sure why we even had to put on gowns since we never use them and just strip right in front of them anyway...).  You then have to sign two pieces of paperwork that says you are allowing them to do all the stuff they are about to do to you.  The next step is for them to take a 'before' picture of your face (Do they think you're going to change a lot during 7 weeks of treatment...they did that before chemo and I DID change a lot so it make me wonder...hmmm). 

So now they've got all the administrative stuff out of the way and they have me lay down on a table that has a bar vertically running at the top of your head.  (This will from this point forward be called the evil bar.)  This table slides into the CT scanner after they have you all set up.

Setting up is a process in itself.  The first thing you do is lay down on this crinkly plastic covered pillow looking thing and put your hands over your head and hold onto the evil bar.  Then they mold that pillow around your shoulders, arms, hands, and head by sucking the air out of it.  The pillow maintains your body shape and allows you to relax during radiation without having to worry about holding still.  The cast will definitely keep you from wiggling around.  To clarify why I call the bar evil...you hold onto that bar through the entire process and it makes your shoulders hurt and the cast cuts into your hands that are wrapped around the bar.  I just projected all the cause of my pain to that bar.  8-) 

After they have JUST the way they want you, they start marking crosses all over your sides and chest area.  Then they run you through a preliminary check of the CT scan to see if it captures what they want it to.   They roll you back out of the CT and made some adjustments to the way you are laying.  Then roll you back in to check again.  This process goes on until they have you laying perfectly to capture (whatever it is they capture) in the CT scan for real. 

The next (and the last) thing that they did was give me a permanent tattoo.  It is just one dot in the center of my chest that the radiologist will use each day to put me into the correct position for the radiation.  So, now I feel like a 60's love child with her first tattoo...HA. 

They also gave me some documentation that tells me basically that I'm going to be fatigued from the radiation and to rest when I need to and not overexert during the treatments.  Yadda yadda yadda.

On another note:  I found a flower on the plant from my father's funeral in July.  (YES...amazingly the thing is still alive...I never touch it...)

It's hard to see, but it is the white leaf and budding thing at the center bottom of the plant.  So...not only have I not killed the thing, it is insisting on thriving in spite of my inability to care for plants.  Go figure.

By Grace Alone -

-T