Day 26 – My Healing Journey

The first few radiation treatments took a bit longer than normal; it took the technicians more time to get my body perfectly aligned into the right position while lying in the body mold. Each visit, they would place me, then take pictures trying to match up the “X’s” they had marked on my breast.  Then they repositioned me, took more pictures until they got it just right.  Surprisingly, the radiation itself only took a few minutes. 

I had done some research on different side effects from radiation and was extremely concerned about my heart and my lungs because they told me that there was a possibility of radiation damage since the beams were so close in proximity. They explained that they do everything in their power to just hit the specific target. They also have you take a huge breath in and hold it until they do the radiation; this expands the distance between the radiated spot and the vital organs around it.   

My first two technicians had a little bit of trouble getting me in the right position. They moved me up, they moved me down, they moved to the right, they moved to the left, it was exhausting but they finally figured it out. 

The same two technicians were there on day two and had a similar issue but I was relieved to have two new technicians on day three and they were able to get everything lined up in 10 minutes and do the radiation treatment so I was out of there in less than a half an hour .

Days three, four and five went off without a hitch and I was pleased to think that we were finally in a little bit of a routine. Thankfully I only lived 10 minutes away from the clinic; add to that the fact that I worked for myself and didn’t have to take time off work every day.   

I met with my radiology doctor at the end of the week. You could clearly see the beginning of what looked like a suntan on my right breast. It was a little tender to the touch like a light sunburn but I was armed with all the creams and the soothing blue cream for me worked the best .

I was extremely pleased about the fact that I was not any more exhausted than normal as I had anticipated being wiped out like my brother-in-law.  Happily this was not the case. I had made it through week one unscathed.