Friday, May 12, 2023

My first week of treatments is over. Aside from the nerves at the beginning of the week everything has gone well. I’m not yet suffering from any side effects. I often lay down to read in the afternoon and end up snoozing but I think that is just laziness and the fact that I’m a little bored.

I had my treat this morning before I had my actual treatment. I decided last night to change my knitting project into a crochet project but I didn’t have the right sized hook with me. So another trip to Michael’s was our outing for the day. The shelves in the store are really bare and the crochet hooks were almost non-existent. I found the size I wanted but it came in a set of six hooks and I wasn’t going to pay $15 for the one hook of the set that I needed. Thanks to Pat’s perseverance we found a hook, in a set of three, for only $2. It wasn’t the size I was looking for but I’ve had a chance to try it and it will be fine.

It’s a double-header hockey night so I’ll make some progress on my project.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

My treatment today wasn’t until the afternoon so I had time this morning to join an online bra and prosthetics workshop. Lots of options and lots of choices provided one can find a shop that caters to mastectomy surgeries. Ideally I would like to go to Kelowna to go to the shop that is owned by the workshop presenter. I thought from the video that a fitting was something that could be done here at the Lodge so I’ll check into that tomorrow. Failing that I’m sure we can find a shop somewhere in Vancouver.

No issues with my treatment today except for a coughing fit on the last zap; it took longer for that one but I was still done within 15 minutes. I was to see the doctor afterwards although I doubt we were with her for more than ten minutes. I asked what the radiation actually does – it breaks down the DNA of the cancer cells. You have multiple treatments because some of the cells are smart enough to recover so they zap them more than once to be sure they have got them all – even the smart ones.

Pat went out tonight for a open mic so I’m on my own for dinner. I had a half-hour walk today – up only one hill. I guess my treat would be stopping at a dollar store – so many things that I have no use for!

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

I went off to my appointment today all on my own – and I managed just fine. It is a quick trip and there are more comfortable places for Pat to sit than in the waiting room at the Cancer Clinic. I was there early but only had time to read a page and a half of my book before they called me in. My appointment tomorrow is in the afternoon so it will be interesting to see if they fall behind later in the day.

I was a bit flustered when I got to the treatment room. You have to strip from the waist up and I always remove my glasses and my mask. I was already on the treatment table when I realized I still had my glasses on. I asked if they could take them and they did – there is no way I want to see clearly what those machines, buzzes and beeps are doing. As I settled down I then realized I had forgotten to take off my mask – no way I wanted to be trying to hold my breath with a mask on. Once I got settled the treatment was quick.

I asked particularly about how much radiation I was getting. I get one dose from the top, one from the bottom of the table (although I don’t know how that works) and two doses on each side. There are two x-rays at the beginning that tell them whether or not I’m in the right position – that is what the tattoos were for.

My treat for the day was a trip down the hill to the Book Warehouse. Neither Pat nor I wanted anything and the store didn’t interest me much. The only thing I saw was the last book by Harper Lee but I’ll order that from the library or Libby (where I download books). We hadn’t had a very long walk so we crossed to the sunny side of the street and walked another block, then down another block and found a really nice grocery store – Whole Foods. We did a quick trip around the store, stopped at the bakery and picked up a couple of muffins.

When we got back “home” we sat outside on a bench for a bit. My stamina is pretty good on the flat sections but I really struggle with the hills (and we had two to climb back up).

I had a good long nap this afternoon and when Pat texted me that the Toronto game was starting I decided to stay where I was. I’ll probably join him later for the Calgary game.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

It took me awhile this morning to convince Pat that there was no need for him to tag along with me to my treatment. But I had second thoughts when we were having breakfast and he had no problem coming with me. He remarked that he knew I was nervous when I had trouble peeling my boiled egg. It was nice to have someone waiting for me when I finished.

Everything went very smoothly; we were later than I would have liked leaving the Lodge but we were checking in with a couple of minutes to spare (it is only a two minute walk but I like to be there early so I can sit and wait). I went to the washroom and before I even had time to sit down and open my book they were calling me in for my treatment. And 15 minutes later I was all done.

Holding my breath is still hard, particularly when I take a really big breath in and then they tell me to let some out. I must be unconsciously holding on to some of that breath because a couple of times when I was able to breathe again then reminded me to let out all the air. I think they did fewer x-rays this time and I think I had four, maybe five, shots of radiation (if they call them shots). I only say that because of the times when I had to hold my breath longer than a few seconds. I could be completely wrong though as whether it is an x-ray or the radiation I don’t feel or see anything.

My treat today was a trip to VanDusen Gardens. We didn’t see the entire grounds but Pat thinks we did about 5000 steps. I know I was pretty much done before we were actually finished but it was nice to be out in the fresh air.