radiology

I saw the consultant radiologist today, who said that I'm basically going to start getting zapped on the day after the late May bank hol for 3 weeks, concluding I guess around mid May... unbelievably, I'll hopefully be finished with treatment by mid June!!! OH EM GEE.

Radiology is, as the consultant put it, "not as bad as chemo, bluntly" - the key side effects sound like tiredness (I'm already knackered so this holds v little fear), skin irritation and a sore mouth/throat which sounds tantamount to a liquid diet for a few weeks to me.

The treatment will be Mon-Fri for 3 weeks, so 15 "fractions" of treatment. I will need a dental check up and also another scan (CT) beforehand. I will also need to have a mesh mould made of my face prior to treatment (which I'm obviously keeping as some quasi artistic item)

The radiotherapy is going to be targeted at both sides of my neck and right in the middle of the chest; the three main sites. It's not going to be a huge amount by any means, so I was told, but it'll still have an impact. The neck will get a bit irritated (see above). But the chest is the bigger impact, which is a little permanent - there's going to be minor scarring of the lungs which will be irreversible in the area to be zapped. But, they told me, it won't be noticeable

Anyway, it's sad, but, as the consultant said, they think this is the best source of treatment for me and most likely to knock the HL on head first time round. 

So yeah, I've signed up, basically.

6 weeks to go until I am done with cancer treatment. Hopefully forever. I'm really looking forward to it.