Radiation

First off I want to apologize for being so slow to update you, I've been a little more distracted since Tim doesn't have class anymore...

I began radiation treatments Monday December 12. There are 14 treatments total which occur 5 days a week.  It's real quick though, I'm in and out in 30 minutes.  The coolest thing about radiation is that they gave me 5 tattoos! Wahooooo! They are the size and shape of a dot from a pen on my skin...some describe them as black freckles.  I will say that if I were a rebel I would have totally gotten a tattoo, but now I think that anyone who gets a tattoo is really stupid because it HURTS, especially on the ribs. Ouch. So it's not all fun and games, they give tattoos for alignment purposes.  There is one in between my breasts, one just above my belly button, one a few inches below my belly button and one on each side about at my waist.  Each treatment I lie on my back and they align my tattoos with red laser beams to make sure they don't zap something that doesn't need zappin'.  I only know that I am being radiated because I hear the machine rumble and a sign lights up on the wall that says, "Beam On." I feel the effects after, but every day is different.  This machine is a monster and looks like a supersize version of a kitchen aid.  That's the best way I have found to describe it. The radiation therapist's tell me that other patients have named it, one such being, "The Death Star," she was a trekkie. Basically it is a large powerful machine that takes a lot of energy to operate. They are treating the spots on my spine and rib in hopes that they can shrink...well in essence, kill all the cancer cells as to ease the pain I have been feeling in my lower back for the past few months before I begin chemotherapy.  That was a long sentence, but I'm not going to go back and edit it. Moving on.  The doctors and nurses went over all the symptoms I could potentially experience from radiation:
1.  Sunburned feeling in the specific areas
2.  Fatigue
3.  Nausea
The first week was not so fun, I felt sick to my stomach and most foods made me want to throw up, though I never actually did.  My mom was up here for my first treatment and then we went for Mexican food. Now if I think of authentic mexican I get an upset stomach.  Same goes for pot roast, which stinks because it was the first pot roast I ever made and I will say it was dang good!  I have been told this is how I will probably feel during chemotherapy.  Every day is a new adventure and I never know what will sound appetizing to me. Other than a change of appetite, I have felt tired.

I have not slept through a night in about 2 weeks because of the pain in my back.  Luckily they gave me a back brace to give extra support for my spine while I am going through radiation.  A major concern the doctors have right now, due to the the tumor on my spine, is that I could get a spinal cord injury which could cause numbness in my legs indefinitely.  At this point I am not too worried about that because my back has been feeling much better the past few days and I have been extra careful not to do anything strenuous.  I don't tell you this to worry you, but just to let you know what is going on.  Nonetheless, keep praying for me.

When I tell people about this, they always ask me if I take any medication for it.  The doctor gave me lortab (a fairly strong dose of it), which knocks me out but doesn't get rid of the shooting pain and I still wake up in a few times a night.  So I don't take that anymore. As for the nausea, I have zofran which does the job, for a little while.  I still really don't like taking drugs so I'm trying to hold off for as long as possible before I become a druggie due to chemo.

I have to chuckle to myself a little because as I was describing some of my symptoms to my sister, Lindsay, she just started laughing at me.  Seriously, how insensitive Linz ;)  I was telling her that  when I wake up in the middle of the night it is a slow and slightly painful process to roll over, I can't bend over and pick things up because of the brace but that I am getting good at squatting, I'm always really tired, I feel nauseated all of the time and a new addition is that I have weird cravings (The only things I wanted for two days were pringles and popped corn).  Sound familiar all you mommies out there?  Don't worry, I'm not pregnant...unless you consider the life-threatening tumors inside of me babies and my radiation therapists murderers, well mostly just Matt.

I met with my oncologist and he recommended having a port installed.  I had no idea what a port was until he described it to me.  It is a place where boats come and go.  They bring goods and ship things off.  Ok, that is a port but not the one I am talking about although it does something similar.  It is a device they will install under my skin (before the end of December?) near my collar bone that connects directly to a vein.  Instead of giving me an IV for every chemo treatment, a port is a more reliable means to get the drugs directly to my bloodstream.  They will still have to poke me with a stupid needle, but they won't miss and I won't look like I've shot up every two weeks :)  I have to say that I hate the idea of having something foreign under my skin! One reason I hate injections is because it is not natural to have something metal and sharp prick your skin however, soon enough I will have a device that lives in me. I will have it removed as soon as I can get away with! Sick!

What's next?  I finish radiation on December 31 then the following week is a freebee before I begin chemotherapy.  What am I going to do that week...what am I not going to do that week?!  I have officially decided that I am going to whack my hair off (typical Kelly move) and dye it super blonde.  I will still probably be in my back brace so I won't be able to do too much, but I'm going to have fun.  I still don't have many details regarding chemo, but I'll know soon enough and then tell you all.

I really love it when people send me cookies and chocolate. (That was Tim, he is reading over my shoulder and said he wanted to add something ;)

I wish you all a very merry Christmas.  My love and gratitude goes out to you all.  Thanks for all of your support and love, I can still feel your prayers very powerfully every day. Thank you!