Did you know when you are getting ready to go through radiation therapy they have to give you tattoo’s? No not the cool tattoo’s just little blue freckle tattoos. They use the tattoos to line up the radiation machine to give you the dosage in the exact same spots each and every time.
I am not going to lie to you I do have a tattoo already and that is much larger than a freckle and hurt a lot less than the freckles do. I think the reason that it hurt so much is because the area where they put it, on the collar bone, sternum and rib cages, do not have much cushion there to absorb the pressure of a #2 pencil going in. I understand the reasoning but I still do not like the blue freckles.
When you do radiation therapy it is Monday through Friday every day. Mine was for 33 days or 6 ½ weeks. When you are laying there on this table and the “girls” pointing to the sky you remember how much you miss modesty, at least I did. The radiation tech lines you up, gets the machine in the correct position and then goes to the safe zone of their lead proof booth. Now does this make sense to you? I am here to treat for cancer and they are in a lead booth so they don’t get it? Well I guess I understand but it still seems like backwards logic to me.
When you are laying there and the machine is going around zapping you at a 360 degree angle. You do not feel anything and it is hard to be sure that anything is happening. For the first week or two of treatment you may be thinking that nothing is happening. Until you start getting your burn, it is not like a burn from water at first it starts as more of sunburn. I learned that if you apply Aloe Vera (like for a sunburn) it does help with the discomfort and peeling that will occur. About the same time you will notice that you will start feeling more and more drained.
I really do not know why you feel so tired, I mean all you do is lay there and the machine does all the work. The exhaustion keeps getting worse throughout the treatment and will last for a few weeks past the end of the treatment. It is hard to explain to people who have not gone through this treatment how you feel so tired, they don’t see the effects, your hair is growing back from chemo and they think you should be doing better but you are exhausted.
If you have a loved one or friend that will be going through this treatment just trust me the smile may be there by the energy is gone. Help your friend, clean their house, cook them meals, watch their kids just be there for them. They will need this for about the last 4 weeks of radiation.
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