Stop hey what's that sound

For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield

Week one of radiation is done.  So, what's radiation like?    I arrive a few minutes before my appointment each day and drop off my appointment card to let them know that I have arrived.  From there, I change into a gown that has been numbered and assigned to me.   I will wear the same gown for each treatment.  Nothing special about the gowns, just saves on the washing of gowns each day....all good for the environment.      Once they are ready for me, I go to the treatment room and lie down on the bed and put my arms up above my head.   The key is to lie down in the same position each day.    They have lasers that measure my position and then adjust me as needed on the bed.   This involves them calling out numbers and checking with monitors.   It moves pretty quickly but within that they are also very cheery and love chatting about what's happening.

Once I'm  positioned and taped - yes taped - to the table, they walk through the door.   As I can't move my head to see them go, there's a 'ding dong' that let's me know when I'm on my own.   That's when the fun starts.   The machines that zap me with x-rays move around me in a pre-programmed pattern.  My job is not to move while this happens.  They operate the x-ray machine remotely and it burrs and grinds all around me.   When the x-ray is active there's a continuous loud beep.   This goes on for 6 'zaps'.    The x-ray part takes less than 5 minutes.  

It's somewhat unnerving at first when you are left in the room alone with all the big machines hovering over you.   In that 5 minute period when I'm alone with the machines, ding dongs and beeps I try not to think about the fact that no one else wants to be in there with me; that the treatment is somewhat toxic; something that others want to avoid.    So why am I subjecting myself to this again?  What is so scary about being in the room with me?  Right, this is part of my treatment to reduce the risk of recurrence of my cancer.   'Ding dong' and they are back and I'm free to go.    Thank God it doesn't take any longer - who knows to where my thoughts would wander.