1 down, 32 more radiation treatments to go! Today was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. Parts of it were creepy, but I found ways to cope. I went in, got into a gown, walked to a back waiting room, and waited for my therapist to call me back. Went into a cold room with a big machine. This room was decorated with Christmas lights and pretty pictures all over the ceiling and the machine. The therapist is a youngish rapster looking dude and he has two nice, young female assistants. They will be the ones I see most of the time. On the machine they did some more drawing on me with a black pen- I ended up with a big square around my breast and a bunch of x's and dots on other areas of my chest. They took more digital pictures with a camera (just what I want- pictures of myself taken when I'm exposed and marked on) And they took a bunch of xrays to mark my position, then I got radiated, then more xrays. The actual radiation part goes twice and lasts about 30 seconds. At the end I got my tattoos- three little dots. The needle really hurt! Made me re-think getting a real tattoo. The room was cold and the people kept speaking in codes- calling out different numbers. It was all very clinical and not at all warm and cozy like in Dr. T's office. So, I'm not going to get my nurturing from the place or the staff. I decided to close my eyes and meditate. I repeated these words with each breath: "I am loved, I am healed, I am protected". Not sure why I picked those, but that's what came to me. I was on the machine for maybe 25 minutes today and by the end I was very relaxed. As I was laying there I thought about how I've been wanting to start meditating, but haven't started yet because I never take the time. I think I'll use my 10 minutes a day on the machine to meditate. Tomorrow I pick up an herbal spray from the naturopath that is supposed to help prevent burning. I saw the acupuncturist today and she said she can help with my night sweats and my digestion problems (my tummy has been upset for the last week or so).
All in all, I feel like I'll be ok. I've got people to help me with side effects and I think the remaining 32 days will go by fast. I've decided to do extra self-care for myself for the next 6 weeks. I'm going to reward myself each Friday- maybe with Sweet Life, maybe with coffee- whatever I feel like. And, I'm planning on trying to begin running next week. I walked again today and felt great. Today was my first day with no pain killers. I'm tired now, but not in pain! I plan to walk the rest of the week, then on Monday I thought I could bring my running clothes to radiation, put them on when I'm changing out of the gown, and go straight to Alton Baker Park. Even if I can't actually run yet, I think I'll feel more motivated wearing the clothes. Maybe I'll just start mostly walking, and add running in for a few minutes at a time. Today I feel hopeful, like I can get back in shape and like I can get strong again. Today I feel happy!
2 comments:
Krista, I'm glad it went better than you thought it would. I think you'll find the number 32 will dwindle down to 10 then 5 then 0 pretty quickly!
Getting tattooed can be a very relaxing experience, once you find the right head-space. I'll have to ask mom how long she waited before she got hers done, I know it wasn't right after treatment.
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