Radiation Therapy, Day 1

From the title you should gather that today was my first day of radiation therapy, and you’d be right! I’m sure that y’all have had X-rays done. That’s pretty much the procedure. Except in this case, the “head” of the machine does move around me to several different positions to “zap” me.

I got a chance to talk to the nutritionist, Nutritionist Lisa, who is taking the place of Nutritionist Amy who is moving on to greater challenges in the hospital. Looks nothing like N. Amy. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I ran into another Nutritionist Amy on the hospital-side of things when I was stuck over there for several days last week. You remember. Well, the hospital N. Amy looked a lot like the VLCC N. Amy only with shorter blonde hair.

Now I have chemobrain. My memory can play tricks on me. So, I was confused for a few minutes when the hospital version walked into the room. When I explained my confusion, she said another patient had just told her the same thing!!

Anyway, N. Lisa and I had a great talk about my nutrition. Even though I’m not eating the way that they would like, I’m not losing any weight so whatever I’m doing must be working.

I learned a few things from her and she learned a bunch from me! :-) She didn’t even know about the “polymeal.” What kind of nutritionist doesn’t know about the polymeal? Actually, I’m surprised that Wikipedia even has an article on it.

As an aside, please note that the polymeal article mentions that alcohol reduces clotting! Since that seems to be an issue with me right now, I’m gonna hafta start drinking, again!!!! Since I’m allergic to the red wine mentioned, here come the grapes and Southern Comfort, or the Jose Cuervo, or if I can get a supply of it, the Cubano Anejo!

(It was a joke! Or at least, I think it was a joke. I could be wrong. I have been wrong before, you know!)

BUT, while we were talking nutrition after my radiation treatment, I started to get my “hiccups.” I always thought that they were a SFX (side effect) of one of my chemo drugs. So, since I hadn’t just had chemo, I wondered out loud what could be the problem and answered my own question. I realized very quickly that the “hiccup” was my tumor responding to getting kinda sick today with all the radiation passing through it. Just like it gets sick after all those chemo drugs start to make it sick. Pretty quick, huh? I still got it!

Maybe shortly my tumor won’t be giving me any problems about sharing my stomach with food!! :-D

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I finally, finally, finally got some of my imaging today that I asked for how many months ago and that Dr. P said that he would get for me, when one of my kids was with me as a witness in the office. The files say they were written on 12/14/2007. I got it slightly more than one month later. It took over a month to get to me. You can tell how high I rate, as a customer, on their priority list.

I’m going to have to learn a new software program to do anything with the images, but, Good Gorram, was the initial tumor HUGE!

The other part of my learning curve will be to remember my anatomy! Some of the things I’m seeing aren’t the tumor, but actually things like the heart and the bladder. Yes, I do know which is which. But it’s just strange poring over images of my own insides!

So, Ben and I will work on that over the next couple of days.

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Just to correct my daughter, the anthropologist, but since AmerIndians are more of my specialty than hers, I’d just like to set the record straight.

She mentioned that the T-shirt that she and Ben had gotten for me had four Indian tribes named on it. They weren’t tribes; they were actual Indian names. Geronimo, who was often considered a chief, was in actuality a shaman and medicine man. He was also, probably, the fiercest warrior the Apache has ever produced. His last wish was to return to his homeland, but he died a prisoner of war in Oklahoma, February 17, 1909.

Chappo was also named on the t-shirt. Chappo was a son to Geronimo, while Perico (Spanish for parrot) was brother to Geronimo. Chihuahua, also named, was also a member of their merry band that fought off over 5,000 American troops for over 2 years.

Now you know why those four were mentioned with regard to Homeland Security, and why I like the shirt so very, very much. It even has my blood on it now from that Lovenox needle with the bent tip. Which reminds me, I gotta do some wash!

And, yes, I had to look up the names. My memory isn’t as good as it once was, but I’m just happy to remember that two of the names were associated with Geronimo.

BTW, Geronimo’s youngest son was named Naiche. That name is very close to the Cheyenne word for “thank you” –nia’ish, that plays a part in the movie The Last of the Dog Men. I had briefly considered the Apache spelling as a name for another dog, if I ever got another. My first was a black lab that I named Otsitsi (sounds like the French name, Gigi, O’gigi). I miss her!

Hmmm? Oh, it’s the first Oneida word I ever learned-BEER!

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Before I got home today and found Amy’s post on the blog, I was thinking about something that she had said in a comment a while back.

I have mentioned before that I have noticed a personality change in myself over the course of my disease. Normally, I try to minimize the “visible” changes as much as possible. But today, since I was out for the first time in a while and that’s usually when I notice the difference, I started to wonder if the change is getting noticeable to the folks who know me best, my kids.

So, Ben and Amy, are you starting to notice the change? Any specifics or just a gut feeling? Anybody?

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I did do some shoveling today. More snow blowing than shoveling, but it quickly tuckered me out and started a coughing fit. I feel like I should be doing more, physically, but at the same time, I realize the need to husband my strength. It can create an internal dilemma. Maybe this should have gone in the section above.

I just heard a loud noise, the wind and snow are blowing and my hearing is getting poor, so I got up to investigate. Si, con mi pistola en mi mano! It wasn't time for Ben to be home so I had to check.

But now I’m back at the computer and coughing up a storm. Move, get tired, and cough a lot, or sit around and do nothing but play on the computer?

I have been drinking more fruit juice lately, usually V-8, and tonight when I couldn’t even eat the soup and rice I had for lunch, I ate some melon, pineapple, and grape chunks that I picked up at the store today. It hurt for a while, but did taste pretty good. And the melon pieces they put in those trays don’t usually have much in the way of flavor.

Amy, I also picked up the bruchetta “sauce” that I had seen at Woodman’s when you were here. It must be kinda like a “pico de gallo.” If I can figure out how to eat the bruchetta, maybe the pico de gallo will be next! Italian to Mexican! :-)

I can’t think of anything else right now. There’s still something else to bitch about from my hospital stay, but I can’t think of it right now. Maybe later.

Kunolunkwa!

"As a juror, I will exercise my 1000-year-old duty to arrive at a verdict, not just on the basis of the facts of a particular case, or instructions I am given, but through my power to reason, my knowledge of the Bill of Rights, and my individual conscience. When needful, I will judge the law itself." -L. Neil Smith