Small update 1 - Radiation

I’ve had a few updates last week and this week, so I thought I’d write a few small posts to break up the text.

Radiation

I had an appointment with Dr Mohamed last week to discuss another part of my treatment plan, radiation. He is a very well respected doctor at the cancer clinic and he’s also one of the doctors that looked after my mom years ago.

My Aunt will likely tell you that back then he was very handsome and had a really soothing voice that made it hard to pay attention to what he was talking about. Well, things haven’t changed much…he’s still very handsome with a really soothing voice – but for me his direct communication and caring nature really made me pay attention to what he was saying. There is no doubt in my mind that this doctor is very smart, very experienced, and cares for his patients.

Dr. Mohamed said that it looks like I will have to receive radiation for 5 weeks, with it occurring 5x/week for a total of 25 treatments. Apparently the whole appointment only lasts 30 minutes, but I need to go every day.

We didn’t talk too much about the exact plan, because right now there isn’t one. I may or may not have radiation treatment right after chemo, or surgery might go first. I might have to wait until my chemo is done, or radiation might interrupt chemo treatments. It really all depends on how my body reacts to everything.

For example, if my body stops reacting to the one type of chemo I am on right now, they will switch to the 2^nd type. If it stops reacting to that, I will start radiation right away. I guess the goal is to get the tumours completely out before surgery. But I’m not 100% sure on that one. For now, I have another appointment to see Dr. Mohamed during the first week of October, as that is when I should be done chemo.

One side-effect of radiation is that your skin/body will react like it has just received a really bad sunburn. Sun damage is cumulative, so to minimize the effects of the radiation I need to wear sunscreen on my chest and shoulders all throughout the summer. I’m on the hunt for those ‘rash-guards’ that surfers wear to protect their skin from surfboards – they often have SPF in the clothing. They are also made out of a material that makes it easy to swim in the water in.

The kicker is, the ones made for women are often UBER short and as we all know, that is one thing I am not. If anyone has any ideas/leads/or stores to try, please let me know!