Our Cancer Journey Week 26

Today, Kathy had her first radiation therapy session.

I drove her to the appointment out of concern for the unknown - would she feel pain?  Would she be fatigued?   Would there be any post treatment side effects?

The radiation oncology staff carefully aligned her body in the linear accelerator using the tattoos she received last week.   She'll be receiving 25 doses of radiation to the left breast and 8 to the left axilla.   Today's was to the left breast.

The actual treatment only lasted 3 minutes.

Post treatment she felt no burning and no pain.   She was given a moisturizing cream to apply to the skin in the case of dryness or irritation.

After the treatment, I took her to lunch and we discussed the next 7 weeks.

She'll be driving into Boston every weekday.   Treatments will typically be 3 minutes within a 30 minute appointment slot.    Daily dosing means an intense 42 days of medical care.

Side effects from radiation are a bit hard to assess since Kathy is still feeling a bit fatigued from the chemotherapy and surgery she's experienced over the past 6 months.

Her mood is good, her numbness is improving, and her free time is spent caring for the chickens/guinea fowl and planning the herd of Alpaca we'll be bringing to our farm this Summer.

So far so good.