I just want to take a minute to send a shout out to all of the wonderful people who share encouraging words with me. I know to them, and maybe to most people, a Facebook message or a card in the mail might not seem like a big deal, but these thoughtful little gestures here and there let me know that people are thinking about me and that they care. Cancer can be a very lonely journey sometimes and it's nice to have reminders that I am not alone.
Today I got a little bit of what I think is good news. The radiation department was not as efficient as they usually are. (That's not the good news.) I normally don't have to wait more than five minutes before I'm called back for treatment, and when I see Dr. Au on Mondays he usually makes his rounds pretty quick. Today I waited almost twenty minutes for treatment and then waited at least that long to see the doctor. While I was alone in the exam room I caught a glimpse of my electronic chart on the computer monitor, so of course it made me curious. I started to read what was on the screen and noticed some numbers. 25/26 was first, then 0/2 and then 0/5. I knew today was treatment #25 so I figured it had something to do with my radiation schedule. I asked Dr. Au when he finally came in and this is what I learned:
26 is the number of treatments I will have to the entire affected area (chest wall, lymph nodes, underarm, etc). So only one more of those tomorrow!
2 is the number of treatments I will have to the chest wall only. This is good because my collarbone area and underarm are both having slight skin issues.... so it's nice to know they won't be getting zapped anymore.
5 is the number of "boosts" I will have, which are to the mastectomy scar area only.
This makes me happy because {knock on wood} my skin has held up well. Under my arm is pink and bothers me a little and just below my neck is itchy and looks like a rash and bothers me a lot. Other than that I feel like I'm doing very well. I'm happy that the problem areas only have one more treatment, and I'm happy to say that I will be done next Thursday!
Eight more to go.
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