Radiation Treatment - My Experience

It has been quite some time since I blogged, so I thought it was about time I update everyone on my journey.


I guess you could say that life has finally caught up with me and I've been busy, busy BUSY!


I finished chemotherapy treatments December 28, 2011. I must say I "went out with a bang" as I spent New Year's in the hospital as a result of my blood counts dropping dangerously low once again and another uneventful trip to the emergency room.


I recovered quite nicely thanks to prayer and good doctors and was released after a short stay of 4 days.


My last 4 chemo treatments were the very hardest. I had a total of 8 treatments with the first 4 seemingly so easy it was unbelievable and the last 4 so hard at times I wasn't sure I could take it anymore.
In the end, I found a strength within myself that I didn't know I had and was able to withstand horrors I didn't think were possible.
I know on my own I couldn't have taken the first step, but God's grace was sufficient for me and in my weakness, He was made strong.


I began 22 rounds of radiation January 25, 2012 and completed it on February 23,2012. I went every day, Monday through Friday for roughly 30 minutes a day.
I had heard all the horror stories about radiation and fully expected to be in the throes of agony and complete and utter torture for 22 days. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Now, I understand that treatments for different types of cancer are different ranging from the different methods used to the different strengths and dosages of radiation and chemotherapy given and it even depends on the area of the body that's being treated.
Some people due suffer greatly with radiation therapy, but thankfully I was not one of those people.


I was placed in a large machine like a PET scan or MRI machine and the technicians marked different areas of my body with permanent marker that would be radiated.


My cancer was in my upper right chest area so they radiated the tumor from 9 different positions starting at the very base of my throat and moving slightly downward.


I was told that since I have very fair skin that I would likely develop a rash or sunburn in the area that was being radiated. I didn't develop any of these complications, however I did experience some tenderness of the skin in that area.


Also, since the radiation was hitting the very base and back of my throat, just 4 days before I was to complete my treatments I developed a mild sore throat. It's a little hard to describe that type of "sore" as it was more like being irritated.


Different things like warm, salty soup, citrus products and extremely cold liquids hurt my throat. The most annoying thing was it felt as though there was a knot at the back of my throat and I did experience some difficulty swallowing so small bites were a MUST. Any bread products were almost impossible to swallow and I would take a few bites and have to drink milk or eat some yogurt in order to coat the throat so I could finish my meal.


All of this faded away in about 7 days and was certainly the least of my pains that I experienced on my journey.


Upon completing radiation, I received a diploma and a cute cap. Since my hair had not yet begun to grow back from chemo, I made good use of that cap.


All in all, radiation was not the horrible experience I expected. I got tired very easily and seemed extremely fatigued all the time but I wasn't in any kind of pain or sick like I was with chemo.


Upon the completion of radiation treatments, my doctor ordered a PET scan for May 29, 2012 to see if the treatments were successful in vanquishing the last remains of the cancerous tumor that was sitting on my right lung. I will receive these results June 8, 2012 the very day that I was diagnosed last year.