Radiation

Sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. It has been far too long and I would like to get current.

As was started in my last post, I began radiation treatments at the end of October. The first one was really bad and I ended up hospitalized, thankfully they got better after that. At first my treatments were a little difficult though they were considered the easy ones. Due to the swelling in my head from surgery, the mask that was made did not fit. They actually had to tape it down. I did find that I had received some good advice from someone at my church who had experienced a similar situation, at least she had to wear the mask too. It helped to take a nerve pill before I went in and to have your mind occupied elsewhere. It really helped you to make it through.

Not too long into the treatments, we got further test results back. We found out that I did not have exclusively the type of tumor that we thought that I had. This was very good and kind of bad news all at once. The bad news was that my treatments would be more difficult and would have to include my spine as well. The good news is, the prognosis is considerably better. I could potentially have a lot more time ahead of me. My tumor is actually a mix of 2 types and therefore more rare than anything they had previously thought. In the end though, we ended up agreeing to the more difficult course of action that gave the better prognosis. As a result, I had another MRI done and we had to make a new mask. I will include pictures of the new mask below. Radiation ended up not being so bad. There were days, like the making of the new mask, or when they needed to take x-rays that I hated, but overall it wasn't horrible. They even rearranged the schedule so that we could have Thanksgiving off.

Thanksgiving ended up being really nice. We had my Mom, Dad, Eryck, Grandma, Uncle Butch, Lisa, Eric, Chandler, Chase, Tatum, and even Eryck's mom Erin for the holiday. Mom made a fabulous meal and we all had a good time visiting. The kids even enjoyed going for a ride in Uncle Kenny's bucket truck. It was a very nice day. I really enjoyed getting to see everyone. I didn't like that I had to take a nap time out, but everyone was very understanding and the day went off very well. I was sad to see everyone go, but knew that they must.

That Monday, we resumed what became my regular radiation schedule. We would check in upstairs at JRoc (That is what they call radiation, not sure why). The ladies there were very nice. They always greeted me by name. It reminded me a lot of the theme song to cheers:

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

I really liked conversing with them a lot. Then after Eryck parked the truck we would head downstairs where we would ask for Stephanie. She (or one of the other wonderful nurses such as Mary) would give me my premeds. Once my medicine had been taken care of, I would head into radiation. This would last about 30 minutes. I think Eryck eventually read every magazine they had in the waiting room, even the girlie ones. :)

Mom did take me to some of my appointments. On one in particular, we got several pieces of good news: I did not need a blood transfusion, radiation was going to end a week early, and the wig center at the Hillman was going to donate a wig to me. They felt that no one should be without hair on Christmas and since only one would fit me, if I wanted they would give it to me free of charge. I couldn't believe it and even started crying. They gave me a $400 wig for free (after of course they received some help on the cost by charity organizations). I am continually amazed at people's generosity. As a result of how good everyone had been to me, my mom was wonderful and made cookies for the 2 ladies that enabled me to get the wig.

My time of radiation was drawing to a close. It ended on December 13, 2012, the day before daddy's birthday. Mom was nice enough to make cookies for everyone there too, she even got a marriage proposal from one of the ladies up front they were so good. :) It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I am glad that radiation is over. We even had a plesant surprise when we arrived home on that last day, my sister and her kids had come for a visit!! That will be my next post. Below are the pictures taken of me on my last day of radiation. Enjoy!