First Radiotherapy

I’ve had a good week, or a bad week in one respect.  I kept forgetting to take my tablets as I keep forgetting all about Deirdre. I love it when friends pop in for a coffee and I’m always so busy with the wedding that Deidre is a distant blip on the horizon. For some reason this week I decided to polyurethane half the wooden furniture tops to protect them from water stains. Deirdre is spurring me on to get all sorts of domestic stuff done while I’m able.

Forgetting to take the tablets reminded me how effective they are. I’d start to feel a little queasy as my body was building up to expunge the chemotherapy drugs, but as soon as I took the tablet, it would settle. I also forgot take the steroid tablets at the designated times earlier in the day which would allow me to sleep at night, so I would go to bed so buzzing with energy. I’d have to get up and tick off a few more items off my wedding spreadsheet, but I did end up shattered later in the week. I’ve resolved to become a much better patient this week.

So…….radiotherapy every day for over 4 weeks! Hmmm! I’m being fried! My dearest sister Toni drove up from Dorset to stay a few days to drive me in. At least it frees up the phone at home as we can generally talk for hours. Now that I’m in treatment, parking is free at Exeter RD&E and we can park very close to the oncology centre. It all went very smoothly as the roads are empty with the school holidays and my sister chatted away merrily to the patients and partners in the waiting room.

Radiotherapy is a bit like experiencing a Star Wars theme park. I lay stretched along a long narrow bed in a large darkened room with my arms fixed above my head staring up at the barren ceiling. The nurses either side of me gently moved me into position using my tattoos and green laser lines to line me up correctly. Since they are going to deep fry Deirdre, they must get it spot on as there are other rather useful organs lying close by, namely heart and lungs! When I think of collateral damage, I used to think of American bombers making mistakes, but now I want my heart and lungs undamaged if at all possible, so I spent the whole 20 minutes not moving a millimetre.

A huge metal disk over 2 foot across rose up the side of me like a some menacing spaceship positioning itself to fire. It creaked and groaned its way into position as the rest of the machinery in the room whirred and hummed around me, beeping occasionally with lights flickering various signals. I stared straight up at the green laser cross of light directly above me. I barely breathed. Obviously I couldn’t see any x-rays, but as time went on I started having to swallow mucus forming in my throat. It was a little disconcerting as I didn’t want to move, but this reflex will increase as the treatment continues, so I might as well get used to it. Fluids build up in my gullet and I just have to swallow them down.

Finally the nurses came back in and it was all over. I was relieved, but not in any pain. For a few hours afterwards, I could feel a strange sensation in the area they’d treated, as though it was tender, but it wasn’t. I was tired going home, but then I hadn’t slept the night before as I designed the seating plan for the wedding. Today I felt like a real cancer patient for the first time as I’m firmly in the system now. But that’s good as the fight it on. I WANT treatment every day. I WANT whatever is is they need to throw at me. I WANT Deirdre GONE!!!

Toni drove me back to Neil’s surgery on the way home as I needed a blood test before chemo tomorrow. Neil was there working as a locust (giggle…I meant locum..Neil spotted it)  so we caught up with our morning, I had my blood test, and then we headed home. I was tired for a couple of hours as Toni and I sat in the garden chatting. But then normal life resumed as I had to talk to the electrician who’s wiring up the hot tub tomorrow. I wish I could be home to make sure he understands our requirements, but alas… The next chemo beckons.