LifeNow

Of course, yesterday was actually Friday, July 2 – but for me it was radiation therapy session number thirteen. As of this weekend, I've completed almost a third of the forty sessions – and now have three days with no sessions. Actually, that is a bit of relief.

It's relief because I am now experiencing at least some of the symptoms commonly associated with radiation therapy. When I reported several more days of either very loose stool or up to half a day of minor diarrhea, the doctor said symptoms often started around two or three weeks of sessions – exactly where I am. The nurse I talked with first explained what to do for managing diarrhea caused by therapy. While talking with her, I realized I might be also be experiencing minor heat flashes, triggered by the combination of the Lupin hormone and the very hot weather of the past week.

Most sessions are now very routine, but there were two a bit different last week. Tuesday in the midst of the actual therapy, the radiation machine froze. With me still in position, engineers entered the room and tried to fix the problem. After about ten minutes, the decision was made to move me to another machine. What impressed me was the second machine was able to start up where the other machine stopped. The other thing that impressed me was that I was able to hold my full bladder for the length of the delay.

Yesterday, after the initial x-ray that starts every session, the senior technician came back in an said I had a bubble of gas in my bowel. She asked if I could pass it; I said I didn't feel anything that could be passed. She then suggested I just wiggle around – as much as possible while locked in by the cast of my pelvis – and she would take another image in two minutes. That worked – I suppose my wiggling caused the gas to temporarily break up and disperse throughout my guts. I complemented her for the advice on the way out.

Finally, I believe I am just beginning to feel a bit of the predicted fatigue associated with therapy – so, hopefully, I'll just be sleeping a bit more and briefly napping during the day.