Thursday was Pete's first radiation treatment. The entire procedure took just under an hour and part of the time was set up/preparation. When he came out he seemed a bit unsettled and explained that he wasn't fully prepared for it. He's not claustrophobic, but it seemed to be a similar type of situation. They placed the "mask" over his face and locked/clamped it to the frame under his head. He said it was so tight they had a difficult time getting it over his face and had to use quite a bit of force to engage the locks. It was quite obvious how tight it was fastened because when he came out his entire face (forehead, cheeks, chin) reminded me of one of those monster movie sea creatures because the diamond-shaped impressions in his skin resembled scales. The ones on his cheeks were the first to fade, the ones on his forehead were there for quite some time.
His head must be totally immobilized because it's critical for the targeted radiation to hit the exact locations that the physicist & radiologist have determined are the most likely to be harboring stray cancer cells. It must be an unnerving and disconcerting feeling to have your head locked in place as he described. That combined with not really knowing what to expect with the radiation seemed to have raised his level of anxiety quite a bit. I certainly don't blame him for feeling uneasy and tense.
We met with the nurse and then with Dr. W2 afterward and both recommended he take an anti-anxiety pill (ex: Xanax) before each subsequent treatment.
Today he had his second round of radiation. He took a pill beforehand and it seemed to be much less stressful for him. In fact he said that he was even relaxed enough to doze off for a bit of the time, so that's a good thing. The whole procedure again took a little less than an hour. He again emerged with those scaley looking diamond shapes etched into his face.
So far there have not been any adverse after-effects. Most of the information I've gleaned about radiation is that, much like chemo, it is cumulative and you are more likely to experience those effects after completing a number of treatments. Since he does have the weekend as a break between doses, and there are only 3 more treatments scheduled (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday) he will hopefully be able to avoid any unpleasantness. Of course, he is also taking prescribed steroids and something for his stomach, so with those additions he'll just be a bit tired in the end, which is one result that seems to be pretty consistent following these types of treatments.
Chemo treatment start date has been changed to Feb 9. Still waiting to get a call from MSKCC regarding the CT scan, and scheduling it to be done at their facility in Basking Ridge as was supposed to be done months ago. Also still waiting for results of EEG. Those were supposed to be ready this past Wednesday. Not happy at all with the neurologist.
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