Playing the Card

So, today was treatment 20 of 33. I'm almost two thirds of the way there!

It started as most days do, leaving the house at 8:15 and driving to the hospital. The techs were running a little late today, but all that means is that instead of getting on the table around 8:35, I was there at my scheduled 8:45 time. I met with The Zapper, as I do once a week. I got my coffee (today's flavor was Creme Brulee, which was yummy).

As I walked into the parking lot lobby where I validate my parking pass, I noticed that the automated machines were out of order. You see, normally I get a voucher at the radiation clinic. When I put the parking ticket into the machine, I use the voucher to validate the ticket so that I can leave. The machine cancels the voucher and returns both the ticket and the voucher. As you may remember from my last blog post, I save the vouchers and write the day on them and then line them up on my desk. Every day it's my way of telling myself that treatment is over for the day, work has begun, and I can live a normal life for the next 22 hours or so.

So, today the machine was out of order and I had to talk to a "real person" to get my parking pass validated. I knew this was trouble. As I walked up to the window, I asked the clerk if I could keep the voucher.

"No, I can't, because it isn't going to do you any good."

"Well, I know, but the machine usually gives it back and I save them."

"I can't give it back to you because you can't use it any more, it won't work."

"I KNOW..." and then I was upset. Instead of speaking logically, I knew that the best way for me to get my damn voucher was to play the card. Instead of fighting to stay composed, I let tears well up in my eyes a little...

"I come to radiation EVERY DAY and I save these vouchers to keep track of how many days I have left. These are IMPORTANT to ME."

And that took care of it. For about 5 seconds there I don't know if I made myself cry (which I SWEAR I have never done), or I just neglected to stop myself from crying. Either way, I got my damn voucher back, and now it's in its rightful place on my desk with "day 20" written on it.

Hello, Stranger!

[ducks as everyone reading this throws rotten tomatoes]

Okay, that's over.

Yes, yes, I know it's been quite sometime since I've posted. Quite frankly, not much has happened cancer-wise. Today was my 15th radiation treatment, and I have 18 more to go. I've been very busy at work (in a good way), and by the time I get home I haven't felt much like blogging.

I do like the routine of radiation. I get up in the morning, get ready, then head off to the hospital around 8:15. I take the same route (there's really only one way to get there), drive up to the 3rd floor of the parking garage (because there are more empty spaces up there) and park my car. I walk down the stairs, across the drive, and into the big revolving door. Head to Elevator B, Floor B, check in, then head for the changing room. I have to put on a hospital gown on top, but I get to keep everything else on. I grab my book (which I usually don't have time to read) and put everything else in the locker.

Then, if they're running early, the radiation techs are waiting for me and I head straight into Room 3. Otherwise, I'll sit in the waiting room for 5-10 minutes. Recently, I've been talking to another patient, but for awhile I was by myself in the morning. When I get into Room 3, I lie on the radiation table and then the leveling begins. It usually takes between 3-5 minutes for them to line up my body on the table using the tattoos and lasers. Once I'm where I belong, they leave the room and the zapping begins. That part lasts about another 5 minutes. Every other day I have a wet towel that they put on my skin that increases the dose to the area.

Then I leave, put my clothes back on, head up to the 1st floor and get a coffee. I put my parking ticket in a machine, along with a voucher I get for radiation, and then I'm on my merry way. I keep track of the parking tickets and write the day on them so I know how many treatments I've finished. They're all lined up on my desk at work:

So far, my skin is in pretty good shape. It's a little pink. It was worse last week, but I found that one of the creams I was using (recommended by the radiation clinic) was irritating my skin. It was pretty thick and goopy, so I think it wasn't letting my skin breath. I switched to something lighter, and my skin was visibly lighter about an hour after I put it on!

Today they marked my skin for the "scar boosts" that they'll be doing at the tail end of the treatment. It involves 5 doses to the area around the incision. In order to plan for it, I got sharpie markings all over my chest. It looks like a kindergartner went a little crazy on my foob (faux boob).

Anyway, I'll be getting to sleep. It's a big day tomorrow!