The last five treatments (so last Friday and then the four this week) are a little different than the previous 28. These are more concentrated directly on the tumor bed site. They are even faster than the others (just one shot). On Friday, they marked me up with a sharpie again. I have a small X over my tumor site and then they put a dot of clear tape over the top so that the mark won't wash off. They also drew a wonky circle around the X which indicated the whole area to be radiated, but that washed off and they don't have to draw that part again. After my FINAL treatment on Thursday I can take off the tape and wash the X off of my body.
There is now this extra attachment on the radiation machine so that it is really close to my body (almost touching it) and there is a special metal plate that was made just for me that directs the radiation in the precise shape they determined was needed. I asked if I got to keep the plate as a souvenir since it was personalized for me, but they said no because it is full of toxic metal. They melt them down when you are done to make new ones. The dose of radiation in these final treatments is the same. I don't quite understand how it all works, but something about the wavelength and that the electrons will breakup at a certain depth inside my body and for that reason they can aim directly at the tumor site and the radiation won't go all the way through my body and harm my lungs or any other organs. The treatment field for all the previous ones was a big rectangle over my entire breast and some under my arm.
I saw Dr. Kuhn for the last time during treatment today. I will see her again in 6 weeks just to make sure my skin is all healed. She said my skin has held up really well. In the last week and a half it started to bother me a bit. First in my armpit (imagine a sunburn in your armpit that doesn't go away) and then under my boob. I think going to the pool and having wet skin/wet bathing suit rubbing didn't do me any favors. Luckily these final treatments don't hit in my armpit or underneath and so that skin should start healing now. Dr. Kuhn said to put Aquaphor on it and I have a big pot of it in Bryce's room. I'm so thankful it didn't start bothering me until the end. One of the techs the other day made a comment that it is common to start having skin problems after the first couple weeks. I would have done a lot of complaining if that had happened. Now I walk around with my hand on my hip a lot of the time so that the skin doesn't rub so much.
I took some pictures for you. This is where I've been going every morning (well Monday-Friday) for the last six weeks...
This is the door to the radiation treatment room. It's really thick! Jerry the technician told me the walls around the room are 5-6 feet thick in some places. Yikes!
This is really blurry, but you can see the table/bed I lay on covered with the white sheet. The bed moves back over that white circle, then raises up toward the ceiling, and then rotates around to whatever angle necessary. When Claire Claire accompanied me to treatment one day last week Jerry let her push the button to raise the bed up in the air. Once the bed is back over the white circle, that whole big machine rotates around.
These are the "stars" I get to gaze at while I lay there. They fade from green to blue to purple to white and the white is kind of bright if you look right at some of them so I usually just close my eyes. That circular part of the machine is where the radiation shoots out.
{Side Note} This is what I have left for eyelashes. It actually looks like more in this picture than when I look in the mirror. There is a huge gap about in the middle. I think some new ones are starting to grow but they are really short. I don't think "volumizing" mascara would be much help.
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