Radiotherapy Week #1

Hi guys, what's up?. 

Today is 15th of december 2013. Tomorrow will be 16th of december 2013. It will be my 16th season for the radiotherapy (such a coincidence!!). Yeahh, i know, it is late to write about the first week of my treatment. jejeje....

Well, the first week of my treatment was fine. At the first day, i had a little doubt to do the treatment. Why?. the things on my head were only the side effects of the treatments. The conversation with the intern doctor who told me that "if the doctor recommend me this treatment, it means that it will give me more advantageous than the disadvantageous". She delivered it well to me, it worked and it encouraged me (even my doctor could not say so and could not encourage me as she did). And for sure "every cloud has a silver lining". 

Finally, i went to the hospital for my first treatment. 

As shown at the video i posted before, we should do the registration on the administration desk  whenever we do the treatment. When i said to the nurse on the desk that i would like to do the administration (well, i spoke in French with strength accent), she just asked me to go directly to the room. In the other word, she has already known me. Am I an artist? or celebrity?. No, It was because i am the only one who could not speak French and perhaps the youngest one. I have arrived on the room, where the door was marked with "Tomotheraphy" and there was clock-liked-circle that indicated the delay of the treatment (if any). At the time, it was marked 0 min or there was no delay. 

Tomotheraphy Machine

Before i tell you the next story, i will explain a little bit about tomotherapy. Is it different with radiotherapy?. No, it is not different with radiotherapy. It is just developed way to deliver the radiation. This machine is combined with 3D scanner and radiation delivery system, all in one machine. The first step is the target of radiation was scanned. Having obtained the results, several parameters are precisely calculated, such as the dosage of radiation, position, size, shape of the target as well as the pattern of movement. With this machine, the radiation might be precisely delivered to the target and the size effects might be minimized as the less radiation reach the healthy cells (I hope!!!....).

For more information about tomotherapy, you may visit: http://www.tomotherapy.com/ 

I was waiting for my turn. Then, the door was opened and a guy (a nurse) said that it was the time. I entered the room, there were 4 persons at the time, 1 guy (Pascal) and 3 girls (Eve, Dorian, Marion,). Before the treatment, the guy asked me to get undressed (only with a short). I swear that they tried to speak english with me. Thank you!. I highly appreciated that.

 Here we go!!....They record my weight. It was 75 kg. Then, I layed down on the machine and the nurses help me to get well positioned. Do you still remember the three tattoos i had?. They help them to put me in the right position. It was quite difficult (about 5 minutes), perhaps it was because the first time. They moved my arm, head, bottom, .....my body. When they considered that i was in the good position, they put the mask on my face. It was very tight. I could not easily breath and move. I went inside to the machine and my head was scanned. It took 5-10 minutes. Then, i went outside the machine on the laying position with the mask on my head and i waited. It was very long to wait the operator set the parameters. 

Finally, the only guy came and spoke directly to my ear (in French) that "on va commencer le traitement pour gros 10 minutes, bon courage!" or " we will start the treatment for big 10 minutes, good luck!". Then i went inside again to the machine. The treatment was started by the appearance of stapler-liked-sound. You might imagine that the sound do the circle movement. There was a light at the first minute and then it dissappeared. At the same time with the light, i could smell something. I could not describe it but for sure, i dont like it. The big 10 minutes has passed and i went outside the machine again. They released the mask from my head, gave me the schedule for 1 week and let me go home. 

In the afternoon at the first day, i have felt the side effect already. I did not know why, i had got a headache and i would like to vomit. I started to vomit at the third day. I felt the same symptoms during the first week. One thing that i noticed was my sleep behavior changed during the first day. I slept in the afternoon and i could not sleep in the night. 

At the 5th day, i had a consultation with the doctor (the intern doctor). I told her my condition and she explained me that my brain was getting bigger due to the radiation so the pressure in my head was higher and it might provoke the headache and vomit. She then gave me a prescription for vomit, headache and sleeping.