Radiation Begins... Sort of

I had my first appointment with the radiation oncologist today to begin "marking" me for radiation. I had no idea what to expect, and they did kind of surprise me. I left the appointment with three new tattoos... a new experience at a doctor's appointment.

The process today was to measure, mark & scan the area where my tumor was so they can focus the radiation on a very specific place every time it is administered. As soon as they called us back to the exam room, they told me that I'd be having a ct scan today (didn't know that). They will use this scan as well as my PET scan from October to determine the radiation area. They spent about 15 minutes positioning me for the CT and even created a mold under my legs that I will lay on for every appointment after this. It's that important that I am in exactly the same position every time. The tattoos on my hips line up with marks on the mold... not real sure why they had to put a tattoo on my abdomen. We'll have to see what they do with that one! I'll go back on Jan. 7 for final markings and then I should have my first actual treatment shortly after that.

On another note, I also noticed today that all of the bald people at the cancer center kind of give each other little smiles as we pass by. It's like being part of a club of sorts, I guess. I'm tempted to stop people and ask what kind of cancer they have, what they are doing, HOW they are doing, and I get the feeling they are wanting to do the same... but we kind of just smile & keep going. It's a different world in there.