So tomo yrrow starts the 10 days of radiotherapy and a bit of a step into the unknown. Preparation last week included creating a method for accurately lining up the treatment machine so that it "fires" the x-rays at exactly the same spot each day. Compared to normal photographic x-rays these are quite high powered as they are designed to remove the cancer cells rather than simply photograph them.
This is done by using the scans from the CT machine and then "marking" the relevant areas using permanent tattoos; they are simply small dots on the skin but are in fact identical to the tattoos we get in tattoo parlours. I have 4 marks: just below the centre of the neck under the chin, one at the base of the sternum, and one at the shoulder, with the fourth at the elbow of the right arm. They enable the technicians to align the machines exactly each time to ensure the correct area is being bombarded.
There are 2 areas of "attack" in this treatment: first is the lesion in the arm itself which is quite swollen and prominent just now, and also pretty painful too. With luck the radiotherapy will reduce the size of the tumour and relieve some of the pain, but we are warned that initially the pain can increase before it gets better.
Second is a suspect area of soft tissue around the 1st thoracic vertebrae. They have noticed something there and feel its worth the treatment so better safe than sorry I say!
This treatment will last over ten days from this Monday, until Friday 6th July with a break on the middle weekend. After that of course we will review the progress and see what effects there are and from then further decisions can be made moving forward about the course and choice of treatment in the future.
One question which has come up in our minds relates to the original bladder cancer which of course was where this all started back before Christmas. The arm which was caused by the secondary metastasing of the cancer has been the big focus for 3 months with really nothing happening with the bladder cancer. We have made a mental note to ask the consultant about that when we see him next so at least we know if we should bear that in mind or whether the previous treatment has dealt with it.
For now it's into the radiotherapy tomorrow at Canterbury every day for 2 weeks and see how that goes.
The sudden realisation that you have cancer hits you like a sledgehammer. On 9th February after 2 months of tests and all sorts thats what they told me. In more ways than one it's a life-changing moment and your mind goes into overdrive thinking all kinds of worst case scenarios.
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