It was great to have Alex home, and he didn't seem to mind a night in a bed that didn't go up and down with the press of a button. He managed a good night's sleep - fantastic.
Thursday 30th August was his tattoo day. I've been fascinated by tattoos for a while now, but today Alex was going to get his own tattoo. At Chinese Toothache time we reported to the Radiotherapy section of RPA for his initial appointment.
We've never had to know much about Radiotherapy before, but I'm sure all that is about to change. This is one of the main types of treatment for cancer as it uses radiation to kill cancer cells or injure them so they can't multiply. In Alex's case, it can be used to treat the lung cancer and also the many tumours on the spine.
The process seems to be that he will lie down on a machine called a linear accelerator - this has a flat 'bed' and a huge overhead 'arm'. Bear with me - I'm trying to explain what is no doubt a highly specialised and incredibly expensive piece of machinery. In this initial appointment, the very friendly nursing and specialised staff were wonderful and did a great job of taking the apprehension out of the experience. They had his CT scans already programmed in to a bank of computers and what seemed to be a whole bench of medical equipment. They used markers on the bed to position him, and then cross referenced the CT scans showing all the tumours with the laser beams in the top of the linear accelerator. He had to lie perfectly still for what seemed ages but probably was only about 5 lifetimes. Ooops. Five minutes.
Then they all seemed to agree on two particular specific points on his chest and these were tattooed. Watching this gave me a whole new appreciation for how long it must take to produce some of the amazing tattoos I've seen, and if they are done the same way, then how painful it would be (even for those people who are no stranger to needles).
The tattoos will be vital in the upcoming treatments. Once he is placed on the bed in the same position, they can use the tattoos to make sure the radiation is directed at the same place each time. In this initial planning session, they also worked out the doses of radiation to ensure that enough radiation reaches the cancer but does as little damage as possible to the surrounding tissues.
His first day of treatment is to be Tuesday 4th September and he will have 10 sessions, one each week day. Having the weekends "off" allow the normal cells to recover. The plan at the moment is that Chemotherapy will follow.
The good news is that radiotherapy doesn't hurt, and it doesn't feel hot or cold. Staying still for the time the machine is zapping you is probably the most difficult part of the whole process. It doesn't make you radioactive, so we will have to have a running competition on nicknames for Alex during this process. Simon - you may have to adjust "glow boy" for a while! With only 10 sessions planned at the moment, the doses must be quite high, and so the side effects hopefully won't be too bad.
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