The pain is not bad at all unless I pull on the stupid drain, then I yell. It seems to be healing up well and isn’t really draining much, so hopefully when I go to the doctor this Friday they will pull the drain out.

Meanwhile, I have started radiation. It isn’t too bad. I go every day at 3:00. Once there, I take off my clothes from the waist up and put on a gown. I lay down on a metal table with my arms over my head, while the tech lines me up with the target marks they put on me, then slide into a large, round MRI looking machine for 2 minutes for a scan. I come out, have to lay there for about 6 minutes and the tech checks something and sends me back in for 7 1/2 minutes. I have to remain perfectly still throughout this entire process and that is very hard. As soon as she says hold still, my nose itches or my leg twitches or something. It is good for me to have my arms over my head for that long as it stretches all of the tight muscles across my chest. I am not allowed to have deodorant on during the procedure and there I am with my arms over my head and my nose right there at the arm pits. Smelly! Just kidding.

The machine has a constant noise like someone vacuuming and then when I roll into the machine it sounds like a train on a track going around my body. but I close my eyes and try to meditate. I read in the new Dan Brown book that it has been determined that yogis produce a healing substance when they meditate. I am no yogi, but I try to think happy thoughts. Anyway, the whole thing takes about 30 minutes or so.

On the way home, I start to feel, well not nauseous exactly, just really, really not hungry. Then a half hour or so later, I am very tired. Compared to chemo though, this is absolutely nothing. I don’t have any burns yet, but that might be coming. Apparently all of the side effects are cumulative, so I expect to become more tired and have effects on my skin. No worries though, I have fragrance free aloe lotion.

The next day, I do it all again. I have 33 treatments, so that puts me at the beginning of November to be done. I am counting down the days!