Today, July 12th, is my very last radiation treatment. For the past 33 weekdays (I started the day after Memorial Day) I have had a 3:45 doctor's appointment (with the exception of some that were earlier in the day). I could make no vacation plans because then I wouldn't be there for my appointment. Most days I would have to go straight from work, which meant no relaxing on the sofa after 8+ hours of work. I have had to lay on a board shirtless while radiation techs adjusted the giant machine around me 33 times. I have what looks like sunburn all over my right breast and for a good week I couldn't move my right arm without pain because the burn had gotten so bad under my arm. But....
I have secretly loved radiation. Despite all of the hassles, it has been a fascinating experience.
Let's start with radiation itself. It's so mathematical and exact. The techs have to make sure you are perfectly lined up each time (using tattoos and lasers) and they have numbers and angles they use to do this which go straight to this math nerd's heart. The burn has perfectly straight edges which just shows how exact my treatments are each day. I would ask a lot of questions (probably too many) about what all the numbers meant and I would spend each treatment counting how many seconds the machine ran to try and figure out how long my treatments actually were. (25 seconds on each side) I was always interested in how people with other types of cancer (like the sweet lady before me who has cancer behind her nose) got their radiation.
The doctors, nurses and techs at Lakeshore Area Radiation Oncology Center are awesome. They are warm and welcoming. They get to know you. They get excited for you and root for you. They remember every fact about you that you ever tell them. I guess that's kinda easy when you see someone 33 times, but still it amazed me. There is no other doctor's office that I would look forward to going to 33 straight days.
I realized after chemo was done that I didn't take advantage of getting to know others that were going through the same things that I was. I was kinda standoffish. I didn't want to own that I had cancer. I didn't want to hear people's stories because they scared me and were realities that I didn't want to face. Radiation has been a while different experience. Probably my absolute favorite thing has been talking to the people in the waiting room and hearing their stories. You trade stats, Jenn: stage 1 breast cancer, 4 rounds of chemo, lost my hair, 33 rounds of radiation. You see the same people most days which is nice. I sat next to a lady for 2 weeks before realizing that it was one of my friend's aunts! Once in a while a new person will start and you get to hear all of their stories. The funny thing is, I'm one of the few that lost their hair. Some never had chemo, others had a type that didn't make your hair fall out.
Some people stories are much sadder than mine. Like the lady who broke her leg and when she was in the hospital they discovered stage 4 lung cancer. Or the woman who had beaten stage 3 cancer two years ago only to have it come back even stronger.
Radiation was a total mystery to me 7 weeks ago. Now, I'm completely fascinated by it. So much so, that I may have researched what it takes to be a radiation tech.... :)
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