Wed. Aug 15, 2012
This morning
I took off early to go to the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Oncology
Dept. There they ‘simmed’ me or I went through a simulation. It’s a process
where they have me lie on a flat table in a room with a CT machine. The machine
takes pictures to show where the tumor is and then the technician puts marks or
‘tattoos’ on my body so that every single time I get on the machine for my
radiation, I will be laying in the exact same position as they administer the
radiation. I was expecting to have 3
tattoos. Nope. I have 5 tattoos. I asked if I could have a butterfly tattoo
since we were at it and he smiled and said that wasn’t an option. Oh well. You never know unless you ask!
The tattoos look like black freckles they will use to line me up with the laser beams. I
have one on either side of my torso, one at the base of my left rib cage, one
on my sternum area, and on close to my left clavicle. It was a pretty
straightforward procedure. The technician explained that Dr. Clark now has 3
days to look at my Pet Scan and tumor info and will determine where exactly my
body will receive high doses of radiation to shrink the current large tumor and
where to direct the low doses of radiation to ensure that the previous areas of
cancerous activity in my lymph nodes is gone for sure.
I feel very
optimistic about this process and feel at peace about where we are headed.
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