Half way there....

I have not done an update in a wile so I thought I would get everyone up to date on what has been going on. Last week when I saw my radiation doctor, he set me up to have a “half way through treatment” MRI. So I went in on Friday to have the MRI. When we got the results we found out that the tumor has gotten larger. This may not be as bad as it sounds. It could be from swelling. The radiation can cause inflammation and with that comes swelling. Because of the swelling, we had to change my treatment plan. They have to take the swelling into account in the treatment. After the treatment was changed, I had to go back to the CT machine and have the entire mapping done over. It was not as bad as the first time. I didn’t have to do another body mold or anything like that, just the mapping. Unfortunately, with the swelling has come more pain. The therapists think it is pushing on a nerve. So for now we are trying to add Aleve to my daily medication. If that doesn’t work my doctor is going to send me to the pain management clinic at UAMS.

As for sleep, I am getting all kinds of sleep. It is amazing how much the radiation drains your body. I feel like I am sleeping all the time. I have been missing work 2 to 3 days a week just because I just can’t get myself out of bed. They are still being very understanding if I can’t come. I still get paid just like if I were there. It has been a long 20 treatments, but only 10 more to go. I am so ready for them to be over with. I must say I will miss some of my therapists. They have been so nice, and I feel like I have made some friends. But that aside, I am still ready to be done with this. I will be going back to my cancer doctor on July 27^th. I will also have another MRI that day. It will have been 4 weeks since my last radiation treatment. So the hope is that all the swelling and inflammation will be gone. That way we can get a true look at what the radiation did. I know this post is not as long as some of the rest, but there is really no way to talk about the daily treatments. It’s the same thing every day at the same time.

I am counting down the days and staying strong. I know this will be over soon….