Radio Ga-Ga

TGIF!! It's funny how fridays have a meaning again, no radiation for two days! Three weeks down and one to go. This is starting to feel like going to work every day and that's a feeling I really don't miss right now. Even though being strapped down from my face for few minutes each day isn't that bad.. Only thing that sucks is the optimistic time-planning in the radiation deptartment. I've been to 15 treatments so far and I'm quite sure a maximum of 3-5 of those have been exactly at the given time. Either they're running late for some reason, sometimes early and a few times the place has been crowded because one of the radiation machines is broken. At one point this week two of them were out of service. With 5 radiation rooms and patients dropping in every 10min that can screw up a daily schedule quite badly! Also I've managed to get in a few minutes late (max 3min) a few times which means they pick the next one before me and I get to wait 10min. This also happens if you arrive at the exact minute you're supposed to get called in. Old people usually arrive like 30min in advance so I've lost my turn at least 3-4 times so far. At least I get to feel young in the waiting area, I think I've seen one person that can be categorized as the same generation as I am. Cancer isn't that popular among people in their 30's, weird huh?

Anyway, only side-effect I've felt is a soar throat. Both tubes! The trachea is in a constant state of feels-like-I'm-getting-a-flu and the esophagus is just short on lubricant. It hurts like hell when I swallow dry, hot, cold, coarse or acidic foods or drinks. It started some time last week and has been getting worse every day. So it's making eating and drinking somewhat restricted, maybe I can lose weight now? ;) (I wish!) Now that I think about it my skin has also been slightly reddish after the treatments but not anything like a sunburn.. yet! So not much left now. Every day I get in, wait for a few minutes to half an hour, get called in, take my shoes and shirt off, jump up on the motorized bed, get strapped down and get scanned and radiated. Takes about 5-10min once I'm in there! They also have to align me perfectly with my four tattoos and this takes some effort from the poor nurses who have to pull me back and forth on the bed. It helps a little bit that they have a sheet on a somewhat slippery surface, but still, I'm no lightweight. To make it easier for them I've quite well mastered the position I'm supposed to be in, Tuesday and Wednesday they didn't even have to touch me! I just found the exact position myself. They found it rather impressive. We're talking less than millimeter range here! But yeah, 6 treatments left and I'm a free man!

Here's a picture and a video of how the machine works: