At work today for my birthday Judy, my supervisor, had brought a snack tray for the office and a gift for me. That was sweet. It wasn’t just because I have cancer. I always get that kind of treatment on my birthday at work. I called Mom to check in with her and after we chatted a few minutes and she still hadn’t told me “happy birthday” I mentioned that my supervisor had given me some pretty body butter and shower gel for my birthday. While Mom was silent on the other end for a few moments, I heard Judy saying, “Well that wasn’t subtle or anything.” Then Mom said, “Oh my God I forgot it’s your birthday!”
Things have been very crazy for all of us the past few weeks, with my brother and sister-in-law visiting from Virginia, and then us finding out I have cancer, and then last week deciding to move me and the kids into Mom’s house….so I don’t blame her for forgetting to tell me happy birthday. I just wanted to tease her.
After that I called my son David who had the day off school and work. We chatted a few minutes and when he didn’t say “happy birthday” either I said, “You know it’s my birthday. I can’t believe you didn’t say anything yet. I think you should have to sing to me now.” And then I put him on speaker! David obediently started singing, then said he couldn’t remember the words, and then started making stuff up, and ended with “You don’t smell like a monkey!” to the tune of happy birthday. Judy was cracking up.
I left work early for my appointment. The radiation oncology department happens to be behind the building I work in, so that’s nice. When they walked me into the radiation room I was told that each day I need to look at the monitor hanging from the ceiling and make sure that it’s my name that’s up there. Since it’s my birthday I teased the nurses by asking if they noticed anything up there. One of them looked puzzled as if something was wrong, and then she said, “It’s your birthday!” I told them that I’m not shy about letting people know it’s my birthday! They were sweet and told me happy birthday. I love how kind and friendly everybody is there. And they don’t mind me asking questions about everything either.
The room with the radiation machine is a very large room, dimly lit, with a huge contraption in the middle. It would kind of look like an MRI machine except it doesn’t have the tunnel. I had to lie on a really hard table face down while two nurses positioned me into place with my pants and undies pulled down so that my whole tush is exposed. First they took some x-rays, then came back in to give me the tattoos. I didn’t realize they meant a real tattoo with a real needle. It really hurt but only for a second. I got three of those. One on each hip and one over my natal cleft. They tried to clean off the blue Xs from before, and told me they would eventually wash off.
Then one of the nurses said she was going to take pictures now, and I thought, didn’t they already take the x-rays? Then I saw flashes and realized she meant actual pictures! I guess those are photos for my file. Photos of my rump! And that was it. It wasn’t an actual radiation treatment but the real treatments would be pretty much the same, without the photos. They use the tattoos to make sure I’m in the proper location each time I come in, and they just look like a tiny freckle.
I got to visit with the radiation oncologist after my appointment and he said he’d be meeting with me each Wednesday. He explained that I’d be getting 28 doses of radiation in total.
I asked him about something I saw on one of my CT scans where it was mentioned I might have a possible filling defect in my left common femoral vein, but he said he wasn’t too concerned about it. He said, “I mean, you’re not having pain or coldness are you?” And I said, “Well yeah, as a matter of fact I am. That’s why I’m concerned. For the past few months I’ve noticed a lot of pain in my left leg, and while sitting at work my left foot gets extremely cold. I have to put a heating pad on it to warm it up. And there’s a place on my leg just above my ankle where it hurts in the same place, like my skin is being irritated from the inside.” I told him it was on my list of weird pains and issues I’ve noticed lately, but that after the diagnosis of cancer it all went out the window and I didn’t think more about it. He said it was up to me if I wanted an ultrasound for it, and I said that I did. I don’t want to ignore anything else that might be wrong with me! I told him, if it’s nothing then good. And he agreed. He did say that the cancer and treatment do pose a risk for blood clots, so he said he would set me up for an ultrasound.
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