Well the title of the article pretty much says it all.  Day 1 that I got back I was already feeling horrible.  The cytoxin chemotherapy does that to you I guess.  So Monday and Tuesday I got the chemotherapy and then today I received my first dosages of radiation. 

 

The chemo was terrible.  It made me almost instantly nauseous and frantically looking for a bucket to empty my guts into.  All I wanted to do was sleep through all of it.  But then I am up all night long doing the same thing.  But now I think the chemo is started to flush out of my system and now I have to deal with the radiation.

 

The device they have me propped up in is extremely awkward.  I sit in this bicycle seat with no handlebars or footpedals.  So all of my weight is going right on this saddle.  They strategically position the lung shields so that they line up directly over my lungs and then use masking tape to tape it into place.  They then had to take various xrays to make sure that the plate was placed in the right spot.  Once they were satisfied, they then began the radiation.  Keep in mind, I’ve already been sitting on this rather uncomfortable seat with 195 lbs for 10 minutes now.   They enclose me in this plexiglass type room and blast me with radiation from the entire opposite side of the room for 10 minutes or so.  Once the 10 minutes was up, they rotated me backwards on the seat and did everything over again.  I have to do this twice a day…once at 7am and once at 3pm.

 

The entire time they wanted me to wiggle my fingers and toes…I think this was to ensure that I didn’t fall asleep or something.   But I am not sure.  I’ll try to bring a camera along with me next time I go so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

 

Anyways, my first round of radiation is done and I have another on Thursday and Friday.  And then after my second dose on Friday I will receive the stem cells from my sister.

 

The reason I am writing this so late at night is because the nurse came in to take blood labs and such.  After she had woken me up, I realized that this is the best I’ve felt since I have gotten here.  She unhooked me from my IV pump and gave me a sleeping pill.  I celebrating by cracking open a Gatorade and sitting down on here to write a smidgen to all of you out there who are reading.   

 

Good night everyone and have a nice day tomorrow!

Eric