Radiation, Post 2 of 3

"I never thought I'd get a Tattoo..."

There is just too much information to fit one blog post about my Radiation appointments and conversations over the last week.  This is post 2 of 3 posts total, to get you caught up.

Another CT Scan

I couldn't believe that I was able to get an appointment the next morning for another CT Scan.  Turns out that the Radiation therapy department has several CT Scan machines.

When I arrived on Thursday morning, I was taken back to the changing room by a different Nurse than Nurse Stella.  She showed me the ins-and-outs of the changing room.  Each day that I show up for Radiation in the future, I will show my handy scan card, then I will start in this changing room.  I will change into the gown, lock up my belongings and the nurse will come get me for treatment.  Since I will need 35 treatment days of Radiation, this system will streamline the process.

When I got into the CT Scan room, I met 3 more nurses/technicians.  I got onto the roll table that was sticking out of the CT Scan machine (like I've done this before or something - hahaha).  The techs worked around me to lift my leg, prop it up on various foam wedges, line it up with the lasers, etc.  What I though was really handy is what they used to mold my leg in place.  They had a large square vacuum bag filled with these tiny foam balls.  They are able to use it to mold it around my knee area and press a button that sucks the air out causing the bag to harden and therefore creating a temporary 'mold' that my leg rests in.  They wanted to make sure that I was very comfortable and started taking photos of how I was positioned.  Turns out that I will get a CT Scan each day prior to my Radiation Therapy!  Its important that they are able to re-create the same position and it is important that I am comfortable too. They then called in Dr. Dutton so that she could review the position.

Dr. Dutton is very hands on, which I like.  She was to sign-off on each step before my treatment.  Dr. Dutton came in and proceeded to line up my knee with various lasers then took various measurements with rulers.  How high my leg was, how far in the lasers are on my knee cap, etc.  Then she gave the ok for the CT scan.  Before I had the scan there was a moment that time seemed to pause.  Where I looked at each person in the room (5 total), and thought wow..  each person is in this room to take care of me.  They have been put into my life to see to it that I kick Cancers Ass.  My eyes welled up with tears.  I choked them back as I thanked each person for helping me,  I wanted them to know how grateful I was, and still am.  The scan was relatively quick in comparison to other scans that I've had.

While Dr. Dutton was in the CT Scan room I asked her if we were going to wait to start treatment in January or next week.  She quickly responded that I will need to start as soon as possible.  She talked with my surgeon and I have a very aggressive cancer.  She told me that they aren't going to take any chances.  Before I even got to ask her about going on our trip she was already gone.

Tattoo Time

Now it was time for the part I was least expecting... time for 4 tattoos.  My nurse came over with an ink vial, full of black ink. The vial had a hallow needle sticking out of it.  I know I've mentioned it before but, it is so very important to have the Radiation machine lined up in the exact same place day after day, that the nurse needed to tattoo 4  black 'dots' onto my leg.  These dots line-up with the laser's cross-sections that were projected down onto my knee area during the scan.  They will use the dots, photos, and measurements to re-create the same position each day!!  Another fact, each day that I come in for my treatment I will have a CT scan to line everything up accordingly before my treatment.

Here are some photos of my tattoos.  The fourth dot was done on my incision, and for obvious reasons, it hurt the most!

(Just the black dot int he middle is the tattoo)

Dr. Gottchalk's Phone Call

On Thursday night, I heard from Dr. Gottchalk, he is my original Radiaiton Doctor from UCSF.  He seemed irriated that he had to call me to find out what was going becuase he had not heard back from Dr. Dutton.  I explained to him what was going on with my treatment so far.  He told me that he will talk to Dr. Dutton personally so she can preform the treatment plan that he recommends.

I also talked to him about having a gap in treatment for our trip.  He looked at his calendar and started reviewing the dates with me.  He told me that I will be having a break for treatment on news years day regardless so technically, I would only be missing 5 days.  He told me that it shouldn't be a big deal.  He told me that after talking with Dr. Dutton, that he will let me know.