Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Started radiation yesterday

The first 7 sessions are a concentrated radiation dose with a machine called "AccuBoost" - your breast is squished in like a mammogram and the boost lasts 1/2 hour. I read a book. Because my surgeon did such a fantastic job and left markers in my breast, I was eligible for this process that focuses just on the cavity. This is like what I originally wanted, the partial breast irradiation, only this is from the outside while the PBI is from the inside.

Then the next 26 sessions are the whole breast radiation. I have had thoughts of not going back after the first 7 are completed - what are they going to do to me if I just don't come back? But I bought myself a ticket to see Cher in Las Vegas after the completion of the whole treatment session, sort of as a present for completing the whole damn thing. A Good For Me! As my neighbor across the street who is also dealing with BC said, radiation is just an insurance policy. Oh, and another neighbor was diagnosed last week. That makes four women in eight houses.

There is a lot of money in the cancer industry - the AccuBoost people give you a plushy pink bathrobe that you wear every day you go to treatment. I may hate the color pink when this blip in my life is done. But I also may love it even more!

And then Elizabeth Edwards died today and I felt sorrow. And then I looked up what kind of breast cancer she had. I bet I'm not the only person who did that.

But I'm happy and working and going swimming in the morning.