five in one

Everyone who is still up should go out side and howl at the full moon -- it's gorgeous.  Maybe more so this week in Boulder because we had rain for so long that we forgot what the night sky looked like!

Day 2 of radiation.  I paid a little more attention.  The arm with the rectangular screen is doing imaging -- taking the X-ray at the start to make sure my arm is in exactly the right place.  The arm with the circular screen is doing the beams for therapy.  The head on the arm has lead inside to constrain the beam so it shoots directly out; it's precise enough they don't believe a patient needs the additional protection of a lead apron.  It's also apparently a lower dose, even as compared to the X-rays at the dentist.  So, during treatment, the therapy arm rotates around and shoots its beams into my arm four times, each for about 30 seconds.  Then, the young women come back into the room and move me and the bench I'm lying on to the right so they can rotate the machine arm around under the bench, at which point it shoots the fifth and last beam for another 30 seconds across and under the bench to radiate the bottom of my arm.  Maybe I'll figure out how to draw a picture and post it on the blog this weekend.

My mom called while I was getting zapped, so we talked briefly when I got home.  She asked about side effects and I said none yet, other than nausea, which was from being anxious not the machine.  So the woman who takes 3 valium a day advised, "Call your doctor.  She can give you pills for that."  I love my mother very much and I appreciate she's trying to help. I'm just not sure it's my path.  Especially if I want to keep working.

Bill and I (Bill much more than me) also cut out drywall -- turns out the insulation behind it is SOAKED -- wring-it-out dripping wet.  Bill also ripped out the wood floor in the hall.  The flood aftermath just keeps getting better every day.  At least, though -- and I have said this also every day -- I thank our lucky stars (whatever they are) that we don't have sewage or even mud in our house like too many people do.  Just water and soggy insulation, dry wall and wood. 

This evening, Bill and Ben rode their bikes down to the Rio for Guys Night Out while Ladies Night went to Nomad Beads, made pretty things, ate appetizers and cake, and drank bubbly -- champagne and water -- to celebrate Pam's 50th.  I was exhausted by 9:30, had a necklace and earrings, so came home.  Again, I don't think I could be "fatigued" from the radiation yet; I think I'm just spending a lot of energy being anxious.  Maybe by Day 5 or so that'll abate -- not because I'm going to be happy about all this, but because it will just be routine.  Maybe. ;)