big week

Hello everyone

Well this week on Wednesday at 9 I will be going to North Bend for my second chemo treatment.

On Thursday, since Ken is working I am having a pyjama party. Friends to come and stay with me while Ken cannot. I am certain there will be stories to tell about that one.

Then early the next day Irene (my friend from Portland who will also be at the "PP"

will drive me up to Eugene for my first radiation treatment.

This treatment will be Brachytherapy, which is also called High Dose internal radiation.  This is to treat the area of highest risk of recurrence/residual cells. (The area where the lymph nodes were with metastasis)

Radiation works by damaging the DNA of cells rendering them unable to reproduce.

A cylinder that  is attached to a machine is inserted into the vagina. (for lack of a better description, the cylinder essentially looks like a fancy tampon)

 Then when...(I guess when everyone else leaves the room??) radioactive cobalt flows into the cylinder, for about 10 mins (I think)

Radiation is a lot like real estate, it is all about location location location. The "dose" of radiation that the tissues get is totally dependent on how close they are to the source.  As a rough example (I do not know the details)...being 5 mm away from the source has the power to detroy tissue, yet being 8 mm away might only cause a burn (like a sunburn)

METRIC CONVERSION  a mm is a lot smaller than an inch.

Well anyways, this is the first form of radiation, and apparently it is "no big deal" at least that is what the people who will be GIVING it said  :)

I will get it 3 Fridays in a row.

I will not start FORMAL radiation until May 11th.  From then it will be 5 days a week for 5 weeks.  Then more chemo

Well I have said it several times and I cannot tell a lie, I have not yet made it to YOGA, but I WILL TODAY... if nothing else but to show off all my new hats, which fit SO much better without hair there.

love and peace

janet bates

jankenb@gmail.com