Finding my voice

Today I went to my radiation appointment and I had that moment--you know the one--when you're on the bed and you think either these techs are getting this really wrong and the previous techs have been doing it right OR these ones are doing it right and the others have been..dead...wrong.

After the mishap with overdosing me on a med earlier--I have learned to speak up when I think something is wrong.

I looked at the tech, she had her marker in her hand and she was literally drawing all over my leg, and tummy.  I said, the other techs didn't do that.  It's making me really nervous.  She asked me why the marker was making me nervous.  So I explained, 12 treatments into this, you are the first one to do this!

She told me that they were marking me so they didn't have to move the bolus (*) between treatments.  They would place everything, get it all lined up then head out and hit me 3 time with the radiation as always.

Oh, I said.  That makes sense.

They walked out and did 2 hits of the radiation.  Then, just before the 3rd one in she walks to move the bolus.  It didn't work, the bolus is just not big enough.

The interesting thing about the bolus I have learned:  it helps bring the radiation up to the surface of the skin.  So without it--does it go right through you?

On hairy note: my scalp was a lot less painful today.  When I took a look at it--ta-da!  Little itty bitty BROWN/BLACK hairs!  They are super fine, not like the coarse, thick hair that didn't ever leave my scalp.

I have a new perspective on short hair.  My hair is short.

My eyebrows are almost all in, my eyelashes are now almost the normal length.  I never dreamed I'd be so happy to see hair.

On a completely unrelated hair note--Jamie moves in today.  She just texted me that she is just getting off the ferry.  We are all excited that she has decided to come here.  She has a full time job at an area Starbucks and she is going to be saving money for school.

God is good to us, we hover around the "empty-nest" but never quite becoming "empty-nesters".  That suits us just fine!

(*) Bolus: a mass of scattering material, such as wax or paraffin, placed between the radiation source and the skin to achieve a pre-calculated isodose pattern in the tissue irradiated.