Tatoos!

So today was a good day, something I define now as "made progress." 

I spent the morning at Boulder's Radiation Treatment Center.  Even though they hadn't received the records from MD Anderson, the doc was able to email with the MD Anderson radiation oncologist I saw last week and come up with an agreed-upon procedure to treat my cancer.  It's a wider margin than he would have taken, but he will try to avoid zapping my bones, in an effort to minimize the brittleness that affects bones subject to radiation -- something he at least acknowledged, that Guadagnolo (last week at MD Anderson) didn't.  He made more sense than she did, too, even though he has his own quirks.  (Was it really necessary to tell us that he got the top grade at his med school?)  What he described was a procedure that will curve around my bones -- so not a straight line.  Although, he did also say that the "line" for the treatment is not so precise that there wouldn't be bleeding across it (i.e., it's not 100% dose on one side of the line and zero on the other).

I was there for a while.  They drew blood and set me up for an IV so I could have "contrast" for a CT scan.  I spent a 1/2 hour going in and out of the CT scan machine before they actually did the scan.  First, they set up the inflatable pillow around my arm to keep it stable -- and moved me into the machine only to have the pillow catch an edge and move out of position.  Then, they repositioned, and sent me in, only to have the doc say he couldn't see enough of my arm.  So, they repositioned again, and finally they were able to get a good scan. 

After that, I got my tattoo's -- five little dots they put around the treatment area that will allow them to position my arm in the same place for every one of the 25 sessions.  "real tattoos" with dye and a needle, although maybe they'll fade -- and at least one of them will probably get taken out during the next surgery.

Then the head tech and I spent 20 minutes scheduling.  The best we could score was a mid-afternoon slot during September (3 pm).  I'll get a preferable morning slot (8:45) for October.  not the coveted first or last slots of the day, but OK.  I already knew I wouldn't be able to go to the Colorado River Biennial in Santa Fe next week, and that the CWCB meeting in Telluride the following week was unlikely.  Now there's two meetings I'll have to leave early or arrive late.  And a day-long work shop in Colorado Springs (2 hour drive) that won't make sense for me to attend.  Collectively, that means most of the work meetings now scheduled during the 5 weeks of treatment will be affected, but we knew that was likely.  Gotta keep trying to maintain my day job!

Meanwhile, though, I had a sobering experience this afternoon.  One of my work colleagues (another woman of water) has had her own misdiagnosis experience this last month.  But for her it's been her kid (who's Ben's age) having been misdiagnosed with Lyme disease for six weeks, as a result of which she may have meningitis.  Puts everything in perspective.