Post 16: First Day of Follow-up Treatments

After having my stomach feel pretty bad for most of the weekend, I went into the start of my follow-up treatments with a little trepidation.

We had an early lunch at the condo at 11 AM on Monday, Jan. 5th and drove down to the hospital and parked. From there, we headed to the radiation oncology department and while Patty waited in the waiting room, I went back for my treatment. I had to remove only my shirt and put on a hospital gown for my top. I lied down on the padded bench of the CT scanner/focused radiation combined instrument and tried to relax as the technicians positioned my head on the customized cradle and then tightly affixed the masked to my face. This is not a comfortable position to be in and if you have any inclination toward claustrophobia, you would have to take a Valium each time. Prior to getting in this position the technicians helped me get my IPOD running so I could hear my music.

The entire treatment procedure takes around 15 minutes as they position both me and the instrument to focus the beam on the seven spots in my brain that they want to hit. If I relax and focus on the music, it's really not that bad. Two time a week they also take additional images while I'm in this position that Dr. DeMassi looks at for correct positioning. That takes another 15 min. But, all-in-all, it's really not that bad.

Before leaving, we spoke briefly to Dr. DeMassi who indicated to us that everything looked good to him.

We then left the hospital and drove back to the condo where we relaxed for the rest of the day. This Monday night was also to be the start of my oral chemo treatments. I was apprehensive about that too, given my stomach issues over the weekend. We had our dinner and when 9:30 PM came up, it was time for my Compazine pill. This went down fine. Then, at 10:30 PM, it was time for my Temodar pills. I had everything ready by my bed including another Compazine tablet, some Pepcid, and a towel in case I got sick. But, low and behold, I experienced no problems at all and did not have even the slightest bit of stomach upset.

In summary, the first day of treatments went without any incident and that's the way that it's been for each day since. Obviously, we are quite pleased with the way that this is playing out.