Adjuvant RT Experiences

Today was my last ART treatment, #37. A cigar and beer on the deck with some blues music playing was in order since it was a nice afternoon here, then a quick nap before dinner.

This process has had to be the most efficient time waster that I have ever experienced. All I could think about is getting up every early morning to prepare (eat, pee, shower, poop, drink a lot) and wait for my turn on the rack. There were two days with equipment issues prior to my 9:00am slot where I came back at 6-7:00pm for treatment so no days lost, nice to have a second Varian machine that can do the same treatment when a machine is down most of the day.

So far I am doing well, no side effects of consequence like some of the lucky ones had shared with me. The treatment rule was full bladder, empty colon, so they could proceed. Some of the techs were pretty good about letting me know how I looked each day and also recycled me a couple of times when something was off too much to adjust for. They suggested Gas-X to help with a gas issue they noted early on.

The only conclusion I have come to at this point is that the Varian Triology IGRT/IMRT process seems to be the way to go and those that had standard radiation treatment more than 5+ years ago probably missed this technology and its benefits. I may be saying something completely different in a couple of weeks and swearing at it but it seems to do a great job of adjusting with daily scans and focusing the radiation where it needs to go within a millimeter or two. Pretty neat technology.

Thanks to all who helped me understand this process and possible side effects better. I was prepared for everything and did my best to come prepared each day. I behaved on the weekends just so I would not have bad Mondays and hoped for the best. I have been getting pretty tired at times in the last two weeks which was about the only unanimous comment I received from everyone. Here’s hoping that I snap back to my new normal next week. Thanks again.

good news. You'll be better soon. The effects clear fast.

Andrew

Sky - The last 11 months has really gone slowly for me, can’t hardly remember retirement a year ago. it started with the PCP call with the higher PSA and has just been waiting for every step of the journey. There has been no point of not waiting or prepping for something.

It was like time stopped last week, every day seemed like it had 48 hours in it. I was just waiting for the machine to hang on Friday and have to come back that evening. When it completed its final scan, I then knew I was done as soon as I visited the bathroom on the way out. I wanted to thank the techs for putting up with me but they were onto the next patients like every other day.

They should have a bell to ring at the end like you suggest. It would help all the others who are in the endless treatment cycles to know that someone actually got done. I noticed the people in the radiation waiting area slowly changing over the 7-1/2 weeks and always wondered if they were done at some point or just went to another time slot after the first week. Chatting time was short since they held to the schedule pretty well and you or the person you were talking with was called within a few minutes. Barely got through the traffic or weather and time to move on.

I can see where your experience staying at Mayo would have allowed more interaction with others. On the other hand, I just slid down to Home Depot or Cub Foods after treatment and kept getting work down during the many weeks.

My chemo center has a bell, and everyone there is happy to hear it ring.

My first RT lab had one, and gave you a framed certificate and a group pic.

Current RT lab is a very small space, so no bell, but they have kids coming in, so the "celebration" is signing, then adding a lego brick to a wall "under construction", and adding your pet's pic to the waiting area wall.

ps: I should probably have also noted that I did start getting tired early in the day over the last two weeks. It was just a random day here and there then seemed like almost every day for the last 5 days. There were only a couple days where I was extremely tired though. The doctor and nurse both said this may go on for 7-10 days after treatment as the direct radiation effects fade alway. Pretty much what every one was saying so no surprise there.

Congrats Mumbo!

Thanks Sky and Capt, I now join your club and can enjoy the next couple of months.