The set up

So I am back from getting the radiation set up.  Everything went okay.  They were running late because there was a man screaming in the set up room.  That is like the last thing I needed with my anxious nerves.  What in the heck is there to scream about???  Anyway, the set  up lady remembered me.  She was super nice.  Of course we talked about tattoos.  They usually do tattoos to help them guide the radiation but Dr. C told me they would not do it so I kept making sure they knew that.  They also tried the new eye cup again.  It was still metal....and it still burned my eye like nothing I can describe.  In fact, I got fresh lemon juice in my eye earlier this week and it was a walk in the park compared to this eye cup burn.  He thinks it is the lube they use so he wants to bring in some new lube and try again when I start my radiation treatments.

He did compare the lump to before.  It has grown since last week.  And it is higher than it's been before.  In fact, he said if I look down during the radiation, it would totally miss my lens which is where the radiation would go to give me cataracts.  But we agreed to try the eye cup anyway just to be safe.  Because a I didn't want the tattoos, I got marked up with sharpie...a lot.  They first said I have to keep it all on so they can find the right template spot.  But the nice lady put some sticker dots on my face and said I could take off the rest.  But it still looks ridiculous.  Wouldn't you know I have a super busy social weekend?  I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and wear the marks proudly.  They also made a wire template of the marks and gave me a CT Scan right then and there.  I didn't have that before so I have no idea what that will do but I guess it helps make sure they are on the mark.  The hardest part was looking down while my eye was closed...and keep it there.  They want me to do that during each radiation treatment.  I sure hope I can do it.  I challenge  you to close your eye and see if you can keep  your eye looking down as far as you can.  It is harder than it sounds.  The grumpy set up lady that had super dark heavy smokey eyes (remember the Ellen photo...yeah that) kept telling me to quit moving  my eye around.  Uhhh...yeah....it isn't on purpose lady.

These marker marks are covered with
 clear stickers so they won't rub off.

Anyway, I start on Tuesday, May 6.  I will have it daily for 3 weeks so with the Memorial holiday, I will finish on May 27.  That means I will still be treating it when I have my Moab trip planned.  I missed the deadline to cancel our cabin so we will probably try to go since I have to pay regardless.

I asked the nice nurse and she said she really didn't think I would have many side effects besides burned skin.  She said really the radiation is a different type of radiation than they use elsewhere so the fatigue others felt, I probably won't have.  I hope that is true. 

Dr. Cannon also filled out  my paperwork to get the time off work.  Much to my surprise,  he feels I can continue to work.  After much searching and talking, my boss has decided to just allow me the time off as long as it is only 1-2 hours a day.  More than that, I will need to go on leave.  I thought that was pretty generous.  I'm going to try my best to keep my leave to a minimum.  But we all agree I need to put my health first and not be a hero.

They insisted I have a set time each day for my radiation.  Except the first day, it will be at 3:30.  That should be good because I can work most the day and then just need to clean up loose ends when I get home from radiation.  And if I feel poopy, I can go to bed.

Philip has agreed to be my helper when he is here.  He will do my grocery shopping and he said he will make dinners as needed.  With our freezer of Dream Dinners, I think that is going to work okay.