Dick Foster - My 2010 Challenge

Love, hope, joy are powerful healers.

I “Broke” the Radiation Machine!

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Today was an “exciting” day receiving my radiation treatment. Following the usual procedure, they secured my mask to the treatment table and took a couple of x-rays to make sure everything was aligned properly for the treatment. The radiation machine rotated around my head as I remain stationary and “shot” the radiation beams from the first few angles – so far so good. Then the machine stopped for a lengthy period of time – not normal.

As I lay there, my mind started to wander, and wonder what’s going on. I had to work on my visualization and mental talk to keep my anxiety at a reasonable level. A few minutes later, Jackie comes in and said there’s a problem with the machine and they need to restart the unit. Her question to me was, “Would you like to stay here (with mask in place) or get up while they figure out what’s going on.” That was an easy question to answer – get me out of this mask, now! After 30 minutes or so, they decided that the machine was not going to restart and they would have to get the engineer to figure out the problem.

So the rest of my treatment was canceled – as was treatment for those in the lobby waiting. They will call me to let me know about where and when I will receive treatment tomorrow – probably at Vanderbilt downtown.

So I’m not sure if this will count at treatment #5 or whether I will need to complete it on an other day. The doctor will review and decide.

Chemo and Radiation – June 28

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Yeah, today everything was on schedule! Blood work, no problem. No waiting for appointment with Dr. Barbara, my oncologist. And my chemo appointment was ahead of schedule! A great way to start the week. I’m feeling good and my blood work was okay for treatment. Three key “directives” from Dr. Barbara – do my exercises, keep eating to maintain my weight, and call immediately if anything changes.

Also, I’m on “vacation” this week. Actually, Autodesk is “shutdown” from today through July 5 as a cost-saving move. We did the same thing last year.  Of course, we’re not going anywhere on “vacation” – just taking it easy, getting treatments, and getting accustomed to my new “radiation regimen” that seems to have something happening every hour or two throughout the day. I will give you more detail in a blog later this week.

After chemo, Mary and I ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant with home-make guacamole and fantastic tacos. Since we’re on vacation, we might as well enjoy ourselves!

My radiation appointment at 3:00 in Franklin was right on time also. I wish every day went as smoothly as today’s appointments.

I’m feeling good today and eating well.

Getting Comfortable with My Mask

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Today was my third radiation treatment, and I’m at the Vanderbilt Clinic downtown. I did take a xanax to reduce my anxiety with the mask. As I explained in a earlier post, on Monday I had an “anxiety attack” from claustrophobia when they put on the mask over my head and shoulder. Today my anxiety was much less. Because we were on a different machine, they had to take additional x-rays and measurements, so it was another 30-minute session with my mask.

Deep breathing, visualizing myself relaxing on the beach, and thinking positive affirmations (along with the xanax) helped me get through the treatment just fine. I think I will forgo the xanax medication next week, as my mask is becoming my friend 🙂

I’m grateful that I’m still feeling fine, eating regular foods, and maintaining my weight, actually I gained a couple of pounds this week. If I don’t push myself too much and get plenty of sleep, fatigue is not much of a concern.

Radiation Canceled Due to Mechanical Problem

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Unfortunately, my radiation treatment was canceled at the last minute because the radiation machine was not working. The explanation we received was that if anything is not working properly on the machine, it automatically shuts down and will not function again until the problem is fixed. Fortunately, before we left the house, I called to see if the treatments were “on schedule” since they were about an hour late the day before. That’s when we were told my treatment would be canceled today.

Oh well, that adds one more day at the end of my treatments, which will now end on August 9.

Later in the evening, we received word that my treatment on Friday would be at the Vanderbilt Clinic in downtown Nashville because the one-and-only radiation machine at the Franklin clinic would not be functioning on Friday since they were waiting on replacement parts.

Feeling good. No side effects. Still working.

2 Down, 31 to Go

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My second radiation treatment was a bit easier than the first. Again, the xanax medication helped relax me. Today’s session was also shorter than yesterday, 15 minutes at the most.

The clinic was backed up, so the wait was longer than the treatment. Oh well, another opportunity to learn “patience.”

I’m feeling good. At a full meal this evening and still gaining some weight.

Not much else to report.