I'm a quarter of the way through my radiotherapy now - 8 sessions down.
Radiotherapy treatment is mostly faffing around with machines. I get to
lay on a bed with my arm above my head, hand slotted into the mould
they made on my first visit. Once I'm all lined up they dim the lights
and the serious faffing starts. There's a green laser sight which they
centre on my tattoo and then they have to move the bed 3.9cms proximal
and 1.6cms left. Then then shunt the bed up until I'm 5.5cms below the
machine and put a squidgy pad over my hand (I think they call it a
bolus) and place a metal plate to limit the area that gets zapped. Then
the radiologists put the lights back on and run for cover while the
machine goes beep. The actual zapping only lasts a minute (I count the
59 beeps) and then it's all over for another day.
Well, except
for the bit where my hand gradually gets a little bit more achey every
day. It's so sore now, and definitely swollen. I'm having real
problems with using my hand at all now. I had the review with my
consultant today and she says that judging by how badly my hand is
responding already there isn't much chance of completing the six weeks
of treatment - I have no idea what that means in terms of how it effects
the chances of the cancer coming back.
I'm now on
anti-inflamatories and extra moisturising creams to try and stick it out
for as long as possible. She also referred me for extra blood tests
because I'm falling asleep all the time which could be the sign of
something else going on rather than just side-effects.
There is
one good thing - I've found Wallace Cancer Care so am getting to have
some alternative therapies and relaxation classes which are really nice,
aside from that it's all incredibly grey and boring. I shall be so
glad when it's over and life can get back to normal again.
