Inside a Radiation Treatment

Welcome to my wonderful world of radiation treatment at St. Joseph Mercy hospital! Everyone there is FANTASTIC and it really has a family atmosphere. Every patient is there at the same time every day, so even among the patients there is a feeling of all being in it together. And some of the older patients have come to look forward to seeing Sarah come in each day. It's quite a joy for us to see her bring joy to the other patients. As you can see, the radiologists are very nice, compassionate, and even invited Jen and Sarah to come back one day and see what happens. Sarah was a bit unsure about the mask, but liked watching.

The basic gist of it is that they make a form-fitted mesh mask that they place on my face each day and strap it down to the table so that I can't move at all. Good idea I guess if I want them to radiate just the tumor and not other more important parts of my brain. Yea, yea - Insert joke here about how many parts of my brain could be evacuated without too much notice. :)

There are 5 different angles that they shoot the radiation from each day and the head of that machine over my head just rotates around and the whole thing takes about 5 minutes. They have marks on the mask and it's all computerized so that they hit the exact same places every day. Also, that way they don't have to put marks on my head, which was the case until just a few years ago. Pretty amazing.

So I am about a third of the way through the 30 radiation treatments, which are every morning at 9:00 M-F. At the same time, I am on a chemotherapy called Temodar, which is in pill form, and I take that every night - 7 days a week. The chemo basically makes the tumor more receptive to the radiation.

All-in-all, it's gone very well so far. Definitely fatigued in the late afternoon and especially evenings, but so far no appetite loss, headaches, skin irritation, etc. which they say should come at some point. Also, there's a cycle to it. I'm better on Mondays and more fatigued on Fridays, and they say that's normal and will continue, but each week my Monday "high" will be a bit lower and my Friday "low" will be a bit lower.

Jen has been a real hero. There is a significant burden on her with having to drive me everywhere while also picking up the slack at home with me feeling like doing nothing but sitting on the couch most of the time that I am at home. You couldn't ask for more love and selfless support from a spouse than Jen has given. And working at Ave Maria Radio - I could not ask for a more understanding and supportive environment and boss in Al Kresta.

Thank-you all for your prayers and support. It is no exaggeration to say that I can tangibly feel the prayer support of the Body of Christ. Please continue, because we will need it in the next 4 weeks.

God is good - All the time!

- Nick