Round 2

Today was day 20 of my radiation and day 1 (of 5) for my second round of chemo.  Willie went to my radiation appointment and the radiology tech invited him in to see my special room and machine that zaps me each day.  I've been wanting a photo of this contraption.  So, here it is in case you've been wondering too.  The round thing above me rotates around my pelvis radiating me in 10 locations starting at the bottom (literally) on the left side and moving all the way around to the right side (bottom).  A lot of times I count how long it takes the "zaps" last from 15 - 25 seconds each depending on the location.   After they they place me on the table they move me to within tolerances so that the red lazers line up with my tattoos and then they get out of the room and proceed with the radiating.  You can see that my medical terminology is getting soooo much better now that I've been going for 4 weeks.  All I can say is that I am sure it's working well and the radiologist says my burns are much better than usual as are my side effects.  I'm am a model subject.  I knew I would be.

Preparing to be radiated

After the radiation, Willie and I waited for my mom to join us and 8:30 to roll along.  I got in much quicker than the last time.  It was smooth sailing.  I got weighed, blood pressured, port accessed, blood drawn and then met with Dr. Gregg.  I'm glad to say that was uneventful.  I'm not having any real issues or concerns and as a result, I didn't have many questions.  She told me that I was doing better than average which made me super happy.  Then we went into the therapy room where I met with Erin again and she hooked up my saline, then the steroid (which helps with nausea) and then the mitomycin and 5FU (pack, affectionately called "Hummer" because of the sound it makes every 30 seconds).  I was out of there by 10:00 and off to work.  Willie and my mom off to do their fun things, not work.  The coolest thing was that Erin thought I was like Wonder Woman with my treatment.  That's just the way I like it.  I told her that I was that for Halloween last year.  I'm going to really prove it this year.

Love my warm blankets and juice!

Below are the blood counts from beginning (baseline) to today.  The first column has the averages of what is normal.  Then mine are off to the right under the date columns.  I only look at a few of them:  WBC (white blood count), RBC (red blood count), HGB (hemoglobin), Platelets (platelets).  I am back in the normal stage on all of these now.  Interesting to see how they have fluctuated.  I like how my blood pressure and pulse was SO much higher on 6/11/12 (first chemo day) because I was so nervous when they took it.  Now, the process isn't unknown to me, so it's much lower today; normal.  Check out the counts at the "nadir" which was my low counts on 6/25/12 to today.  Lookin' good.  I wonder what they'll be on 7/23 when I get the next one done?