On Monday, I had my radiation planning session. It involved creating a mold that will be used daily to position me in the machine, a CT scan and then marking my body with x's for the radiation process. I am referring to this radiation portion of the treatment as the "laser beam" portion. While this is not the technical term by any means, it makes it more friendly when discussing it with Marilyn & Spencer. And me, truthfully.
Knowing I will be enduring weeks of radiation sounds much more scary than "laser beams". It's all semantics at this point anyway. My Oncologist also performed follow up tests to make sure my internal incisions are healing well enough to begin treatment next week. He says, we are good to go!
Now he is formulating a plan with the Radiation Technologist and the Radiation Physicist to determine the dose strength and timing schedule. It will either be 25-28 sessions depending on how high of a dose my body can handle at a time. They have to review the scans to check bowel, kidney and bladder placement. It is all very interesting to me, and I am soaking up as much info as possible.
Then I met with the Radiation Nurse to discuss side effects and preparing for the radiation treatment. This is where it all starts to get unpredictable. Everyone reacts differently. While there are a few guaranteed side effects- extreme exhaustion, urinary issues, bowel issues- we do not know the extent of them or the other side effects that will come into play. The radiation will be aimed at my abdomen and pelvic area, so the biggest concern is long term damage to my kidneys, bowels and bladder. This will be closely monitored during treatment, but there is no indication of what will transpire in the future due to the radiation exposure.
BUT my biggest concern right now is eradicating the cancer from my body... so that is priority numero uno.
Fast forward to today and we had even more wonderfully unpredictable discussions with the Chemo Oncologists.
For my stage of cancer and with the lymph node involvement, it has been found most successful to hit the cancer with radiation and chemo at the same time. While it rocks that it will be the most effective to kill the cancer, it will suck for me. Combining the radiation and the chemo creates a combination of side effects, because I am not just enduring one type of extreme treatment- I am undergoing two, simultaneously. From what they said, all side effects will be magnified.
Today we went through chemo training class to prepare. There are technical parts, physical parts and safety parts that all factor in to this portion of the treatment. It was an abundance of information and thankfully my trusty cancer sidekicks- Mom & Hunter were both there to hear it all too. My brain is a bit overloaded at this point, so I am very glad to have all of us hearing this.
We discussed practical parts of how the treatment will go. I will have 6 weeks of chemo, on Wednesdays for about 5 hours. I will also have a radiation treatment on these days too. We start next Wednesday, October 10th and should finish November 14th. As long as my body is able to handle the doses, side effects, etc.
The chemo portion is very unpredictable as it is essentially poisoning my body to kill the cancer. The most important component is making sure that it is not damaging other parts of the body too much during this time. They said my chemo (Cisplatin) is very hard on the kidneys, so blood work will be closely monitored to make sure they are handling it ok.
There will be infusions of fluids for 2 hours before the pre-chemo drugs are infused and then 30 minutes for that and then an hour for the chemo infusion. Once again, I am fascinated by the science behind it all. I am also VERY thankful that my mother has 40 years of pharmaceutical experience and is a true asset when discussing the cocktail of medications I will receive during treatment and at home.
They discussed the side effects in-depth and the plan to combat them. Summary: it is going to suck. And it will most likely last for 4-6 weeks post treatment. Everything varies by person, so they can go over the general side effects but it also varies quite a bit person to person.
BUT my biggest concern is eradicating the cancer from my body... so I will deal with all of this and know that the pain is just a reminder that I am alive!
I am down to less than a week until all this begins, so I am making lists and doing everything possible to prepare... at home, at work, at school. And I am also trying to do as much positive thinking as I can.
One of my nurses told me, cancer will consume your life, so do anything you can to create a positive environment... have some fun, take your mind off of it and just remember to enjoy life.
So I am going to.... adding some "fun" to my to-do list right now. :)
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