Well, Thursday morning came early. We had to be in LR at 8:10 for my appointment with CARTI. My family left Dallas at 2…yikes..glad I was here.

Our journey to a new building on the Baptist Hospital campus always proves to be something interesting. And this day was no different. We got a little lost…which is what happens when two control freaks (my dad and I) are in the front seat. We found the CARTI office and I went in and started some paperwork. They called us back and took all my vitals. I used to hate having my weight taken, now the standard process is to get your weight, then sit in a chair and take your blood pressure and temperature. I’ve never been a number person, but this is a new normal in my process every time I go into the doctors office.

Dr. Talbert came in and talked to us about what to expect and what will happen. Honestly, as I type this, my stomach is tightening up. It is still weird that I’m doing this. While I’m totally comfortable making the “I have cancer” jokes, it is still so weird to say them and then to recount a day like Thursday.

He echoed what Dr. Mendelsohn said about how my masses had shrunk and that it was a good sign that my body was responding so well to the treatments. He then began walking us through all the details of radiation. Now, I will go ahead and throw out something that I have really begun to learn about this whole things. The treatment process for EVERYONE is VERY DIFFERENT. They base so many things on the size of the masses, the locations, body type and weight. So, two people could have the same exact diagnosis, but their treatments could be very different based on the standard protocol, new studies, body type and so many more things. So, as you hear me talk about all that I am going through and relay all the complications, please know that if you or someone you know is going through this, then remember that my complications may not be the same for your situations.

I was glad to hear that Dr. Talbert is one of the leading doctors in this area for radiation treatment of neck and chest. Praise God!

So, on July 2nd (the reason we are waiting so long is because I had a treatment this week and one of my chemo medicines will make my skin more sensitive to the radiation, so he wanted to wait until it got out of my system) I will go to Little Rock to have scans done and get my markings. These marking will be super important because they will tell the ladies where to treat every time I go. So, they will probably cover them with some tape which will keep me from washing them off.

As far as complications, there are lots of different things, but again, we wont know about any of them until we get into the treatment process and know. One of the good things about going daily is that I will be right there at the doctors office if something does happen. In the area where they do the radiation, my skin could be irritated like I have a mild sunburn. But, there is an ointment that they can give me. There are other things like burning my saliva glands, breast tissue, and irritating the esophagus, but he really thought those were not things that I would really deal with, but things that he needed to tell me about.

He made a great point about these “studies”. In academia (something I understand more everyday) there has to always be a project or a study going on, so there are always things coming out, but I think that you can always find something if that is what you are looking for. So, I’m just going to try to pay attention to how my body changes once the treatments start and go from there.

So, July 2 is the marking session and July 8th will start my radiation treatments. I will go every weekday for 4 weeks. One of the good things is that so many of the long term effects happen to people who have treatment for 6 and 8 weeks, so he thought that I might not have as many complications. So, not a whole lot of info, but I thought it would be better to give you a recount as I go through the process instead of freaking you out from the beginning.

I did get my Neulasta shot yesterday. My counts were the lowest they have been on Thursday at 1.67. So, the only way my doctor let me get chemo was to make sure that I got the shot yesterday. I’ve been pretty tired most of the day today. I got out of bed late, took a nap, had lunch, took another nap, watched a movie, took a nap, ate dinner and now I’m watching TV. A pretty typical chemo Saturday.

yeah, they are as bad as the kids who were on a field trip
watching the hot donuts come off the conveyor belt

Resa shared her Paula Deen Chocolate Celebration magazine with me

So, we usually go shopping after chemo. We hit up Lifeway this time.

Dad and I both had books and stuff we wanted to look at Mom and Resa weren’t as amused.

Dad and I looked all over the store for them and came around the corner in the CD section and this is what we found.

We had dinner at Brown’s Country Store on our way back.

So, dad has become addicted to drinks at the Pilot gas station.

GUILTY!!!

My puppy came!

And sat on my head while I took a nap today.