Radiation Treatment & Check-In with Dr. Swift

Clink to enlarge - Hard to see, but the Pink Area receives 100% radiation

3 down! So far, so good. Although the mask is too tight, I'm happy with how the radiation is going. Really, getting our car back from valet takes 5x's as long as the entire time I am in the room. Actually, it takes more time parking than we are actually in the hospital.


The mask is put on, and then the entire cancer killing machine (my technical name) rotates around me. It starts above my face then moves to the left around my head. It's crazy to think that it is spitting out radiation the entire time it rotates. Then it stops, rotates the other way and then I'm done.

The door to the room is crazy thick. They tell me I'm not radioactive, but given the thickness of the door, you would think that I am. 

After my radiation treatment, we met with Dr. Swift to discuss how it was going and to see if I was having any issues. Fay asked him if I could shave my head. We were told by the nurse, after my first treatment on Tuesday, that I should not because it would irritate my skin too much. Thankfully, Dr. Swift said yes! I haven't grown my hair out for six weeks since I was 15. I can't imagine what I would look like. I'm UPSET that Fay asked how many beers I can drink per day during treatment. Dr. Swift said one. ONE. Can you believe that I am limited to ONE. Though, he didn't say how large of a beer....

We had to cancel all physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions this week due to the timing of the Radiation Therapy. But, I've been doing my homework and stretches at home and I have walked 4 miles per day. I've had to nap every day, but I'm trying to limit the naps to 1 hour.

I took a picture of my MRI's the day after my surgery, Feb 10th, to compare with the one from last Sunday, March 15th. Amazing how much of the fluid has been absorbed. 

After surgery on left, 5 weeks out on right