Tattoos!

Today I met with Dr. Halligan. (Radiation Oncologist). Karen came with me. They put me on a belly board and ran me through a Catscan. This was to get me set up so that they would know exactly where to aim the radiation. They put very small tattoos on the side my hips, on my lower back, and one just where the butt crack begins. This will be used for reference points. They were also checking to see how I fit into the belly board. (It is something I will lay face down on every time they radiate me.) It provides a place for everything above my waistline to ‘fall’ into while the machine is on. This way they will radiate as little extra as possible. Most of my bowels, etc… will be out of the way. My bladder, rectum, prostate, and lymph nodes around the rectum, and such will get x-rayed. They are after the rectum and the lymph nodes. Mr. Halligain did mention that I had the best ‘placement’ on the belly board that he has seen in 4 years. Meaning that everything they would want in the belly board was in the belly board. This will save some extra body parts from getting radiation.

Then we went to the Chemo Infusion floor. They used my port for the first time to draw some blood. Since I will not be sitting down for an IV drip for my chemo they referred me to Greatland Infusion Pharmacy. They will come by once a week while I am getting my radiation treatment to refill my chemo cassette. I will wear it a fanny pack, over my shoulder, or in a backpack, (my choice) that contains a pump, and bag with the chemo. This will be on 24/7. I cannot unhook it. When I shower it needs to go outside of the shower, but still be attached to me and my port. One of my cats is a bit of a chewer, so I think I will have to sleep with a shirt on and keep all of the hoses out of site.

I will have radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and chemo 24/7 for all of the six weeks. After the radiation is over, I will go in every other week, for 5 months. I will sit in the infusion room for this, I will wear the fanny pack with chemo for 48 hours, and then come back again 2 weeks later.

My treatment will begin the day after Memorial Day. (May 31^st) I will go in at 2:30 PM at the Cancer Institute at Providence. That day I will find out what times I will be coming in for treatment. I had thought I wanted the earlier slot, but again today I proved I am not a morning person, I was 10 minutes late for the appointment. So I will have to schedule an afternoon session. They did say it was easier to fill spots later in the day, so that will work for me.

Karen and I went to Office Depot and bought a daily planner, business card holder, and a couple small notepads to help me keep organized. All of the paper work is getting to be a bit much. Then we met with Rob and had lunch, and off to work for the rest of the day.

The Colorectal group that was suppose to meet once a month was cancelled last September. Too bad. I did go to the same meeting I went to last week. They meet every Tuesday. I think I will continue attending, we had another good session, and got updates on how everyone is doing.

I did meet with June George (the Surgeon) on Monday. Nothing much to report there. I will be having annual Catscans and Colonoscopies until everything keeps coming up ‘clear’, then we will taper off some. Since it was so very close to my anus, she said a simple digital exam will actually be very informative for her to check the original site.

I also had received a jury summons last week. Doctor George signed me off of that, so good timing for me. Jury duty would have been a lot better than cancer, but what the heck, got out of it for now.