Next Chapter: Radiation.

You have all heard me complaining about radiation. You know I don’t want to do it. You know I am fearful of what it will do to my skin. You know I am fearful that it will damage my expanders. You know I don’t want to put off getting rid of my expanders and getting my implants implanted any longer then I have too. You know I am torn between getting it started ASAP and waiting till the new year to get it started.

So I am not going to get into any of that again.

Last night Alan and I met once again with the radiation oncologist Dr. M. Again it was discussed the idea that rads is recommended based on my young (?) age, my HER2+ status and because only one node was removed and found to have a small (0.35mm) micromets of cancer. I still wish a few more nodes had been removed…but I again stated that I was more against a total node dissection then I was against rads.

So rads it is.

It’s a big time commitment. It will be daily (ideally once every 24 hrs, but there is some wiggle room in there) for 34 zaps. Not counting weekends and holidays (because obviously cancer doesn’t spread on weekends and holidays) this will take the better part of 7 weeks. Fun times.

I can expect to experience fatigue (but nothing like chemo), redness (like a sunburn) and that is about it.

So now that I have agreed to do it, the only question left is when to start.

Dr. M. was ok with starting ASAP. She was less then ok with starting in Jan. Usually rads starts 4 weeks after chemo…so that would put me at Tues. Nov. 20.

We found a happy medium and my rads will start the first week of Dec. Before then I need to be “mapped”. Mapping is when they tattoo little blue dots on my skin to mark the areas being radiated (think Phoebe from the show “Friends” when she tattooed the whole world on her shoulder).

Alrighty. Now…lets say this cancer comes back somewhere else in my body. It was the chemo’s job to stop that from happening. I did chemo. I did it for the recommended 6 infusions. So if the cancer comes back elsewhere in my body, well…not my fault. I did chemo. I did what I was told. If the cancer comes back locally, meaning it comes back right where it started, well…not my fault. I did (will do) rads. I did what I was told.

My conscience is clear. I have and will continue to, follow directions. I have put my trust in the medical professionals tasked with saving my life. But I once again reserve the right to quit rads at any time. With your permission, of course.

On a funny note…when Dr. M walked in the room she said “aren’t you the pink flag woman?” Nice, huh?