Dress Rehearsal

Today was the dry run through the radiation machine. Its actually pretty simple. I need to get there a few minutes before my appointment. When I get there I go back to a waiting area near the entrance to the room the machine is in. They have lockers there to put things in. Fortunately they are big enough to contain a laptop computer if I bring one.

When they take you into the room with the machine they put you on the table and position your shoulders under these braces. Then they put the mask on and attach that to the table. It takes a minute or two to get everything positioned and tightened up. After that they leave the room and operate the machine remotely. In my case because it is the head and neck area that is being targeted I don't need to change into a gown or anything. Also once the table is up in position it is the machine that will be moving around me to target the radiation beams. Once the machine is done the unhook me, lower the table and I am finished. All in its pretty straight forward.

For tomorrow because I am getting chemo therapy as well they will not use the drug that protects the saliva glands. That drug can also cause nausea and they don't want to hit me with too much at once.

For tomorrow I will check into the hospital at 8:00 in the morning. The first part of chemo is giving me fluids to hydrate me. The radiation treatment is scheduled for 10:00 AM so they will unhook me from the IV and bring me over to the radiation treatment area. Fortunately they are on the same floor and just a 1-2 minute walk away. After the radiation treatment its back to the chemo room. I did check out the chemo area at the hospital. Each station has a separate arm chair and appeared to be separated by a partial wall. I spoke to one person there and they said that they do have TVs as well. It appears to be a lot more convenient to have my chemo treatments there when I have radiation scheduled as well. I may ask if I can have the other two chemo treatments scheduled there while I am having radiation. The only reason I am there tomorrow is that the medical oncologist office is full up tomorrow.

Now all of the prep work is completed and tomorrow is when we start to attack the cancer. I am not looking forward to the treatments but I am glad to finally get going. The sooner I start the sooner I am done.