ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking: we are cleared for take-off

Oh crap, here we go...


So why am I smiling?

Well, first of all, because of this fabulous haircut! Isn't it cute? And so low-maintenance, it would make you sick!

Second, I am smiling - really smiling - because I have NO MORE TAPE!!! But I'm getting ahead of myself.   I am anal; I must go in order.

I had an appointment with my radiology oncologist Dr F on Monday morning. Dr F is now my favorite doctor (sorry Dr Hanley) because no matter what he tells you, he smiles while saying it. And he calls personally to talk about test results. And he likes Harry Potter. And most of all because he makes me feel like he's really on my side, rooting for me to get better. I thought I was just going for a pre-radiation consult that morning, but when I arrived I was told by Nurse B that it would in fact be a pelvic exam. Why not? I figured; everyone else has poked around in there, why not Dr F?
T.M.I. ALERT
You might want to close your eyes, especially the men!Remember, readers, that surgery I had a few weeks ago to move my ovaries? Well it was a success, my ovaries are working fine. And how do I know this? Because I got my period. Cruelly, again, for the 4th time since diagnosis, I have ovulated. This can make for a... let's say uncomfortable exam for both doctor and patient. But Dr F was not swayed. The exam went forward, and everything was as expected.
You can open your eyes now!
When the exam was over, Dr F solidified his standing as my favorite
-ologist. The cancer center I go to has it all: ground floor, radiology; next floor, oncology; top floor, chemotherapy. It is very convenient, especially when at least two days a week I will have to visit two of those floors. Unfortunately, because of a packed schedule, the radiology staff had told me that I would have to get radiation treatments at a different office. That would be a pain on the days when I have to have chemo and radiation, or lab work and radiation - I'd be driving all over town. So Dr F worked his doctor magic and after a brief conversation with the schedulers, came back to me and said "You're getting treatments here." And as if that wasn't enough, he gave me a written prescription for massage therapy twice a week! Gotta love that!!!

Tuesday was a packed schedule. In the morning, I had to get my port checked. I was dismayed when I was told enthusiastically by the receptionist that I would be seeing Dr T. You remember him - he's the one that pissed me off a few posts ago. So it was no surprise when my blood pressure was a little high. But truth be told, Dr T was very nice and told me that not only would I not have to keep taping gauze over the site, but I could also pull off the steri-strips! Yippee! Click here to see before and after pics.

Later that day, I went to my first radiology appointment. They will be giving me external radiation from several different angles, and during this appointment they would be taking films from those angles to make sure everything was lined up right. I laid down on a table with my legs in a mold that had been made a few weeks ago. They shimmied me this way and that, and finally, I was lined up. They drew on me, took their films, and made a few adjustments. Once everything was all set, they tattooed four dots on me - one on each hip to line me up laterally, and two on my stomach to line me up longitudinally.

So instead of this	I now have this

I can't tell you what a delight it was to be able to scrub off all the ink and marker and glue in the shower this morning! That smile in the top picture? That was taken right after. That is the smile of a cyborg that feels a little more human :)

And to top it all off, this afternoon, I had my first radiation treatment. It was amazingly quick. After going through the 8" nuclear-blast door, I laid down on the table with my legs in my mold. I got 25 seconds of radiation from below and 20 seconds of radiation from above. And that was it. I was a little tired when I got home, but I attribute that more to stress than side-effect. I will have 25 external beam and 5 high-dose internal treatments and then I'm done. One down...



Tomorrow I get my first chemotherapy treatment. Nurse T called today to tell me to pack a lunch, and to reassure me that I will be fine. And so I shall!

My deepest thanks for your support! Stay tuned...