Last of chemo, Disney, and Radiation

Ahh, back home from lovely Florida -- or more specifically, Disney. It seems to be an entity unto itself! We had a blast, but by about 1/2 way through our littlest ones were saying, "I don't want to go to Disney anymore!!" So we told them we were going to the zoo, aka Animal Kingdom. It seemed to work for Levi! I could go on and on about how much fun it was, but if you've been there, you know all that and if you haven't...well, you've probably heard a million people say how great it is, yes!? The nice part is that it's nothing like the usual amusement parks like any Six Flags or Cedar Point. It's much more experiential and (don't tell the kids) occasionally educational. They actually try to teach you something sometimes. Granted, I don't agree with Disney's philosophy on lots of issues, but the education I'm referring to is more about conservation issues - though again, it seems to be a meca for plastic and energy consumption. But I've learned they're at least 'trying' (in some respects) to be considerate of earth's resources.

As far as my treatments, I'm working out the last of the chemo issues - and it's not so pretty. My fingernails have finally 'bit it.' They kept saying that my nails would get nasty, and in the scheme of things, it's not really that bad, but my hands look like a construction workers. No offense to my hard working construction folks, but it's not very lady-like to have peeling, splitting ugly fingertips! What's happened is that the nail bed has dried up and separated from the nail itself. Very odd. One thumb nail has actually peeled off...from the bottom up. And a few others have disconnected at the top. Sigh. Could be worse!

Another strange issue I'm working though is sore muscles. I've got tremendous knots in my arms, which is nice for that bulky, I've-been-exercising look, but it's not very comfortable. And if my soreness is from vacuuming or cleaning a bathroom, that's kinda unusual also. Dehydration? Too much tension?? Who knows. I've made it my job this week to sleep and drink water/Propel. Not bad! It's not necessarily fixing the muscle thing, but making me feel better none-the-less.

And now...radiation. I went on the 25th or so of Feb. for 'mapping' which got me set up for the actual treatments. They had me lay on a foam or something in the position needed for treatments (arms overhead w/ head to one side) and then added a chemical into a bag around the foam in order to make an impression of my upper body. This hardened and is what I use to lay on during treatments. They also added three small tattoos (one under each arm and another over my sternum) which are 'landmarks' to help w/ positioning. Obviously positioning is critical in all this. Wouldn't want to zap the wrong thing!

While we were at Disney, the Dr. used a CT scan they did at the mapping to identify the angles and whatnot for the treatment. At my "first" appointment this week Wednesday they took some x-rays to see if I was in a good...you got it...position (where's Ms. Dale, my HS English teacher and her cursed thesaurus!) and then a dry-run of treatment for the doc to check. That turned out fine so they did the actual first treatment. Treatment itself takes less than five minutes.

They said as far as side-effects, the biggest is dry, irritated skin -- think sunburn. And fatigue. This all happens in about the 2nd or 3rd week. So far, after treatments 1 & 2 I did done nothing but sleep. Today was better, so I'm thinking that was simply recovery time from moving and traveling. Noah came home Wednesday and asked, "Can you move??" My answer, "Yes, but I don't want to." Noah: "Sweet! I get to make dinner. I'll start a movie, too!" That's my boy! I think he thought I'd be down for the count until the end of April. Sorry, Buddy!

Radiation treatments are every day M-F for 33 'sessions' or until the end of April.